Healthy or harmful?
Let’s be clear: cakes are not universally unhealthy. Consider this scenario.
Susannah had a big night of cooking in front of her – her twins, Angus and Lilly, turned 10 the next day and she had promised them trays of cupcakes to share with each of their classes at school. First she makes a few phone calls to parents: the twins have friends who are allergic to dairy, to eggs, there is a coeliac allergic to gluten, and a diabetic.
Susannah decides to make flourless orange and almond cupcakes (no gluten), individual apple and raison crumble cupcakes (no eggs and minimal sugar), rose and vanilla cupcakes, zucchini and walnut cupcakes (Angus’s favourite), and chocolate butterfly cupcakes (Lilly’s favourite). Ninety cupcakes in all.
She creams organic butter and raw sugar; adds rich orange-yolked eggs from the chooks; the zucchini is picked from the veggie patch; apples and oranges from the orchard; bright pink rose petals from the garden; spelt flour and almond meal is sourced from the organic range at the supermarket; fair-trade cocoa and chocolate are purchased at the health food shop. Instructions for the teachers are written to make sure allergies are catered for, and the cake boxes are despatched to school.
On the birthday afternoon, both the year four classes come together to share the cupcakes and sing happy birthday to Angus and Lilly. Teachers and students alike savour the fragrant cupcakes covered in drizzles of icing, decorated with rose petals and crystallised fruit. All except the new girl, Madeleine. She picks up a cupcake and sniffs cautiously. After nibbling an edge off the icing, she wraps the cupcake in paper and hides it in her bag.
The next day, Mrs Morrison, the principal, is sitting in her office wondering if she can wait til morning tea before she eats her cupcake, when Madeleine’s mother storms into her office.
“How dare you allow my child to eat junk food?” she asks. “Madeleine needs to stay slim and healthy. This is outrageous!”
Can these beautiful cupcakes be labelled “junk”? Fresh butter and eggs, zucchini, walnuts, apples and dried fruit and a celebration, an occasion for joy and friendship: nutritious, surely, and so socially valuable.
There is too much history and tradition bound up in cakes to eliminate them from our diet. Eat cake, not as a substitute for real food, but as a normal part of life and living. And perhaps as a bridge over conflict, discrimination and ignorance.
Let’s be clear: cakes are not universally unhealthy. Consider this scenario.
Susannah had a big night of cooking in front of her – her twins, Angus and Lilly, turned 10 the next day and she had promised them trays of cupcakes to share with each of their classes at school. First she makes a few phone calls to parents: the twins have friends who are allergic to dairy, to eggs, there is a coeliac allergic to gluten, and a diabetic.
Susannah decides to make flourless orange and almond cupcakes (no gluten), individual apple and raison crumble cupcakes (no eggs and minimal sugar), rose and vanilla cupcakes, zucchini and walnut cupcakes (Angus’s favourite), and chocolate butterfly cupcakes (Lilly’s favourite). Ninety cupcakes in all.
She creams organic butter and raw sugar; adds rich orange-yolked eggs from the chooks; the zucchini is picked from the veggie patch; apples and oranges from the orchard; bright pink rose petals from the garden; spelt flour and almond meal is sourced from the organic range at the supermarket; fair-trade cocoa and chocolate are purchased at the health food shop. Instructions for the teachers are written to make sure allergies are catered for, and the cake boxes are despatched to school.
On the birthday afternoon, both the year four classes come together to share the cupcakes and sing happy birthday to Angus and Lilly. Teachers and students alike savour the fragrant cupcakes covered in drizzles of icing, decorated with rose petals and crystallised fruit. All except the new girl, Madeleine. She picks up a cupcake and sniffs cautiously. After nibbling an edge off the icing, she wraps the cupcake in paper and hides it in her bag.
The next day, Mrs Morrison, the principal, is sitting in her office wondering if she can wait til morning tea before she eats her cupcake, when Madeleine’s mother storms into her office.
“How dare you allow my child to eat junk food?” she asks. “Madeleine needs to stay slim and healthy. This is outrageous!”
Can these beautiful cupcakes be labelled “junk”? Fresh butter and eggs, zucchini, walnuts, apples and dried fruit and a celebration, an occasion for joy and friendship: nutritious, surely, and so socially valuable.
There is too much history and tradition bound up in cakes to eliminate them from our diet. Eat cake, not as a substitute for real food, but as a normal part of life and living. And perhaps as a bridge over conflict, discrimination and ignorance.
Healthy or harmful?
Let’s be clear: cakes are not universally unhealthy. Consider this scenario.
Susannah had a big night of cooking in front of her – her twins, Angus and Lilly, turned 10 the next day and she had promised them trays of cupcakes to share with each of their classes at school. First she makes a few phone calls to parents: the twins have friends who are allergic to dairy, to eggs, there is a coeliac allergic to gluten, and a diabetic.
Susannah decides to make flourless orange and almond cupcakes (no gluten), individual apple and raison crumble cupcakes (no eggs and minimal sugar), rose and vanilla cupcakes, zucchini and walnut cupcakes (Angus’s favourite), and chocolate butterfly cupcakes (Lilly’s favourite). Ninety cupcakes in all.
She creams organic butter and raw sugar; adds rich orange-yolked eggs from the chooks; the zucchini is picked from the veggie patch; apples and oranges from the orchard; bright pink rose petals from the garden; spelt flour and almond meal is sourced from the organic range at the supermarket; fair-trade cocoa and chocolate are purchased at the health food shop. Instructions for the teachers are written to make sure allergies are catered for, and the cake boxes are despatched to school.
On the birthday afternoon, both the year four classes come together to share the cupcakes and sing happy birthday to Angus and Lilly. Teachers and students alike savour the fragrant cupcakes covered in drizzles of icing, decorated with rose petals and crystallised fruit. All except the new girl, Madeleine. She picks up a cupcake and sniffs cautiously. After nibbling an edge off the icing, she wraps the cupcake in paper and hides it in her bag.
The next day, Mrs Morrison, the principal, is sitting in her office wondering if she can wait til morning tea before she eats her cupcake, when Madeleine’s mother storms into her office.
“How dare you allow my child to eat junk food?” she asks. “Madeleine needs to stay slim and healthy. This is outrageous!”
Can these beautiful cupcakes be labelled “junk”? Fresh butter and eggs, zucchini, walnuts, apples and dried fruit and a celebration, an occasion for joy and friendship: nutritious, surely, and so socially valuable.
There is too much history and tradition bound up in cakes to eliminate them from our diet. Eat cake, not as a substitute for real food, but as a normal part of life and living. And perhaps as a bridge over conflict, discrimination and ignorance.
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