December, unsweetened, No. 9

12/12: Some good fortune

This blog chronicles the author's attempt to endure the month of December, 2019, without eating sugary foods or drinks.

Yesterday, I was invited out to a complimentary buffet lunch (free food) and was worried that the end of the serving table would be groaning under the weight of numerous dessert options.

As it turned out, mercifully, I had nothing to worry about. The restaurant was what we Americans would commonly call "Chinese," and desserts are, well, ... pretty much foreign to that corner of the world. That proved to be helpful for me on the 11th day of my unsweetened December.

I had skipped breakfast, so I arrived at the restaurant hungry and quickly blew through samplings of savory entrees. Having been years since I'd dined at a Chinese restaurant, I'd forgotten their dessert menus are models of minimalism, if they exist at all. 

One plate was full of what appeared to be shortbread or sugar cookies with a single sliver of almond atop each one. The other, of course, was a bowl full of the standard crinkly-plastic-wrapped fortune cookie.

Neither option moved the needle on my sweet-o-meter.

I grabbed a single fortune cookie, primarily to spark a little conversation among the acquaintances with whom I was seated, at a table for eight. I cracked open the cookie, read my highly forgettable fortune, and ate the broken shards of the cardboard-y cookie. It was clearly not a violation of my commitment to eliminate sweet treats from my holiday diet.

Instead of seeing a table full of seductive cakes and cookies, I spotted only two options that could even remotely qualify as dessert. Not a bit of chocolate in sight. 

Later research informed me that sugary desserts are a Western invention, a custom that those in the Eastern world commonly eschews. If anything, after a meal, they might enjoy some sliced fresh fruit. Apparently, they believe food is their medicine, or something like that.

In other words, I caught a break. I'm nearing the midpoint of the month without any seriously sugary temptations. I still can't report feeling any better, but I remain hopeful.