September 26, 2025 at 4:00:00 PM
Alice Yoo ’27
At Mercersburg Academy’s dining hall, a variety of dishes are served daily, showcasing the school’s diverse community. Students get a taste of the world through dishes such as beef goulash from Hungary, chicken souvlaki from Greece, and tandoori chicken from India. We are being fed a cultural experience.
Then, it’s time for dessert.
The White Coats come carrying trays, and the dining hall buzzes as people wonder in excitement, what’s for dessert?
Suddenly options shrink dramatically: sugar cookies, chocolate pudding, maybe brownies. We see a pattern here. Desserts are largely American. Rarely do you see a bowl of cellophane-wrapped fortune cookies–the only dessert with an East Asian twist. And I repeat, a twist.
While the effort to diversify main dishes in the dining hall is commendable, it still needs to reach the dessert menus. Of course, there’s a reason main dishes are called main. However, desserts are just as much a part of global food traditions as entrees. Why does our imagination have to hit the brakes at the American bake sale?
The fortune cookie highlights the problem, regardless of its bland flavor and stale texture–not to mention how it often comes missing a fortune. Despite its association with Chinese food, the fortune cookie has a precursor from Japan: Tsujiura Senbei, brought by Japanese immigrants to California between the 1880s and the early 1900s. The modern fortune cookies we know now were developed in California, explaining why they are a far cry from desserts enjoyed across Asia.
The issue isn’t that fortune cookies aren’t authentic. Surely, many enjoy the fun of cracking one open to reveal their fortune inside. The problem lies in having one ambiguous, Americanized dessert as the sole representative of an entire continent’s desserts.
To clarify, there is nothing wrong with a good apple pie or a chocolate chip cookie. They are timeless favorites for a reason, bringing us a sense of comfort and familiarity that always hits the spot. Expanding the menu doesn’t mean replacing what we love and enjoy. Instead, it means adding more to our list.
There is a whole new world of desserts we have yet to discover. Imagine the dining hall serving sesame balls from China, gulab jamun from India, sfouf from Lebanon, malva pudding from South Africa, nalysnyky from Ukraine, brigadeiros from Brazil, or lolly cake from New Zealand. Offering them, even occasionally, would give students a broader insight into the picture of global dining.
The dining hall has made admirable improvements in diversifying entrees, and now it’s time to extend that effort to desserts. Including desserts from around the world is more than a way to add variety; it’s a meaningful gesture of inclusion, celebrating the rich cultural traditions and offering students a taste of home. After all, the final taste of a meal leaves the strongest impression.