Why

Dessert

Is Reserved For The End Of Meals

The Word ‘Dessert’ and What It Actually Meant

The word ‘dessert’ emerged in the 17th century, derived from the French verb ‘desservir’, meaning ‘to clear the table’. Etiquette dictated that napkins and tablecloths be changed before the final course, which at the time was a delicate fruit course. In the 17th and 18th centuries, dessert mostly meant fruit-based treats, including jams, preserves, cookies, marzipan, meringues, or frozen desserts. 

But the flavour of desserts gradually became less important than their visual presentation. Dessert specialists were supposed to understand architectural design and be capable of replicating it in sugar paste – one artisan reportedly crafted the severed head of Louis XV, a battle scene with soldiers and cannons, and the Rock of Gibraltar, all from edible sugar.

The French Revolution Changed Everything

It took the upheaval of the French Revolution in the late 18th century to change desserts into the simpler, sweet dishes recognised today. As a result, a greater portion of the French population, namely the middle class, could afford to eat outside their homes. New restaurants introduced the concept of service à la russe, in which each customer ordered individual dishes to their liking, and they were delivered one course at a time. Meanwhile, the rise of cafés and tea houses throughout Paris further popularised the concept of single-portioned desserts. By this point, dessert as a final, sweet course was beginning to solidify.

The Russian Diplomat Who Locked In the Sequence

Prince Alexander Kurakin, the Russian ambassador to France, is credited with introducing service à la russe to French society. According to some sources, Kurakin introduced the style after being badly burned in a fire in 1810. Unable to reach out his arms, he introduced a style of table service where waitstaff would present diners with plates of food, one course at a time. 

Service à la russe didn't take off immediately, but by the mid-19th century, the French aristocracy started to see the practicality of the new style. In 1864, Urbain Dubois, chef to Prince Orloff of Russia, published a book explaining the benefits of the system. By the 20th century, France had fully accepted it. With courses now arriving sequentially – soup, fish, meat, then dessert – a fixed order of the meal was established.

By 1835, It Was Settled

By 1835, the definition of ‘dessert’ was officially limited to dishes served at the end of a meal. In modern France, the segregation of sugar became absolute, and the rules of French cuisine incorporate a strict constraint: sweet foods can only be served for dessert. Given France's powerful influence on culinary customs, it wasn't long before this custom with dessert served at the end became standard across the rest of Europe and across the Atlantic.

Dessert, Sugar and Revolution

It took cheap sugar, a French Revolution, aristocratic culture, and a structural shift in how food was served to put something sweet at the end of dinner and keep it there. Not every culture followed suit – in Chinese cuisine, for example, a dessert course is not conventionally part of a meal; the end of the meal is more often marked by soup or fresh fruit. In most of the Western world, though, the sequence is fixed. The question isn’t about the order, but about the fondness for something sweet. And that certainly enjoys a global appeal.