I’m sure there’ll be many an awkward eater who will recognise that moment when the dessert menu arrives...and your heart sinks. You just know that the chances of it including anything you can safely eat and really fancy are...well remote. You ask the waiter (hopeful voice) “Is there anything that doesn’t contain dairy/gluten/animal products etc?” already hearing the reply in your head... “You could have the sorbet or chef says (s)he can make you up a fruit platter...”

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I love a good sorbet.  I ate a very nice triple selection just the other evening consisting of scoops of cucumber, rhubarb and pomegranate deliciousness. It was prettily presented and a delicate and light end to my meal. But it wasn’t Crème Brulé. Or a steaming bowl of autumn fruits crumble with vanilla ice cream in a pool of rich and creamy egg rich custard.  There was no chocolaty sumptuousness or sticky toffee sauce concoctions or melt in your mouth pastry dishes to choose between. So on the good side no guilt feelings to combat.

But I do find that even after so many years of avoidance eating, it doesn’t get any easier to watch others relishing every spoonful of their lovely desserts. I shall be keeping a special eye open for restaurants in the awkwardeaters.com search directory where the puds’ are as imaginative as the mains and where diners have a choice that isn’t restricted to fresh fruit. After all we have sweet teeth too. And now and again, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t mind risking a cholesterol fuelled coronary. After all the fruit platters I’ve eaten I’m sure my heart could take it and for once it would stop it sinking as I read the dessert menu.

By Gilly Weaver | 5th January 2013

Photo by Jennie Robinson (originally posted to Flickr as Time for Lime)