re: #128 Momkat56

I never really had what Americans would call dessert on either of my visits to China. No cakes or pies, just watermelon or mandarin oranges.

I learned that it’s part of Chinese food culture. Every meal should be a balance of spicy, salty, sweet, sour and bitter as much as possible. Having a typically super-sweet Western dessert would skew the balance bigly. Fruit is considered appropriate as a palate cleanser.

OTOH, moon cakes, the traditional snack for Mid-Autumn Festival are sometimes cloyingly sweet.

There’s always exceptions.