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Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food
Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
 but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheese
Cheese

Cheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cattle, Water Buffalo, goats, or sheep's milk. It is produced by Coagulation of the milk protein casein....
s. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French
Old French

Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300....
 desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common desserts include cake
Cake

Cake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often Baking. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetener , a binding agent , fats , a liquid , flavoring and some form of leavening agent , though many cakes lack these ingredients and instead rely on air bubbles in the dough to expand and cause the cake to rise....
s, cookie
Cookie

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat-baked treat, containing milk, flour, eggs, and sugar, etc. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings?a cookie is a plain bu...
s, fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s, pastries
Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
, ice cream
Ice cream

Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients....
, and candies
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
. The word dessert is most commonly used for this course in U.S.
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
, Canada
Canadian English

Canadian English is the Variety of English language used in Canada. More than 26 million Canadians have some knowledge of English . Approximately 17 million speak English as their native language....
, Australia
Australian English

Australian English is the form of the English language spoken in Australia....
, and Ireland
Hiberno-English

Hiberno-English also known as Anglo-Irish and Irish English is English language as spoken in Ireland, partly the result of the interaction of the English and Irish languages....
, while sweet, pudding
Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also be a savoury dish.In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth of Nations countries, pudding refers to rich , fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts , or informally to any dessert....
 or afters would be more typical terms in the UK
British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
 and some other Commonwealth countries, including India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
.






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Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food
Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
 but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheese
Cheese

Cheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cattle, Water Buffalo, goats, or sheep's milk. It is produced by Coagulation of the milk protein casein....
s. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French
Old French

Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300....
 desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common desserts include cake
Cake

Cake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often Baking. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetener , a binding agent , fats , a liquid , flavoring and some form of leavening agent , though many cakes lack these ingredients and instead rely on air bubbles in the dough to expand and cause the cake to rise....
s, cookie
Cookie

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat-baked treat, containing milk, flour, eggs, and sugar, etc. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings?a cookie is a plain bu...
s, fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s, pastries
Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
, ice cream
Ice cream

Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients....
, and candies
Candy

Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added....
. The word dessert is most commonly used for this course in U.S.
American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
, Canada
Canadian English

Canadian English is the Variety of English language used in Canada. More than 26 million Canadians have some knowledge of English . Approximately 17 million speak English as their native language....
, Australia
Australian English

Australian English is the form of the English language spoken in Australia....
, and Ireland
Hiberno-English

Hiberno-English also known as Anglo-Irish and Irish English is English language as spoken in Ireland, partly the result of the interaction of the English and Irish languages....
, while sweet, pudding
Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also be a savoury dish.In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth of Nations countries, pudding refers to rich , fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts , or informally to any dessert....
 or afters would be more typical terms in the UK
British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
 and some other Commonwealth countries, including India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. According to Debrett's
Debrett's

Debrett?s is a specialist publisher, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of The New Peerage. The name "Debrett's" honours John Debrett ....
, pudding is the proper term, dessert is only to be used if the course consists of fruit, and sweet is colloquial. This, of course, reflects the upper-class/upper-middle-class usage
U and non-U English

U and non-U English usage, with U standing for upper class, and non-U representing the aspiring middle classes, were part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects in 1950s UK and the New England....
. More commonly, the words simply form a class shibboleth
Shibboleth

Shibboleth is any distinguishing practice which is indicative of one's social or regional origin.It usually refers to features of language, and particularly to a word whose pronunciation identifies its speaker as being a member or not a member of a particular group....
; pudding being the upper-class and upper-middle-class word to use for sweet food served after the main course, sweet, afters and dessert being considered non-U. However, dessert is considered slightly better than the other two, owing to many young people, whose parents say pudding, acquiring the word from American media.

Although the custom of eating fruits and nuts after a meal may be very old, dessert as a standard part of a Western
Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
 meal is a relatively recent development. Before the rise of the middle class
Middle class

Middle class is the group of people in contemporary society who are between the working class and nobility. This socioeconomic class includes professionals, highly skilled workers, and lower and middle management....
 in the 19th-century, and the mechanization
Mechanization

Mechanization or mechanisation is providing human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work. It can also refer to the use of machines to replace manual labor or animals....
 of the sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
 industry, sweets were a privilege of the aristocracy
Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number....
, or a rare holiday
Holiday

The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English language countries and continents, but will usually refer to one of the following activities or events:...
 treat. As sugar became cheaper and more readily available, the development and popularity of desserts spread accordingly.

Some have a separate final sweet course but mix sweet and savory dishes throughout the meal as in Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine originated from the various regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world ? from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa....
, or reserve elaborate dessert concoctions for special occasions. Often, the dessert is seen as a separate meal or snack rather than a course, and may be eaten apart from the meal (usually in less formal settings). Some restaurants specialize in dessert. In colloquial American usage "dessert" has a broader meaning and can refer to anything sweet that follows a meal, including milkshake
Milkshake

A milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage which is made from milk, ice cream or iced milk, and flavorings or sweeteners such as fruit syrup or chocolate sauce....
s and other beverages.

Desserts are often eaten with a dessert spoon
Dessert spoon

A dessert spoon is a spoon designed specifically for eating dessert and sometimes used for soup or cereals. Similar in size to a soup spoon, intermediate between a teaspoon and a tablespoon but with a pointed rather than rounded bowl, it typically has a capacity around twice that of a teaspoon....
, intermediate in size between a teaspoon
Teaspoon

Kari is extraterrestial.A teaspoon, a type of cutlery , is a small spoon, commonly silver and part of a place setting, suitable for stirring and sipping the contents of a cup of tea or coffee....
 and a tablespoon
Tablespoon

A tablespoon is a type of large spoon usually used for serving. A tablespoonful, an amount equal to the capacity of one tablespoon, is commonly used as a unit of measurement of volume used in Cooking weights and measures ....
. The expression dessert spoon is a misnomer however, as traditionally a dessert is eaten using the bare hands, without utensils, for example an apple. A pudding requires utensils, eg: a spoon to eat custard.