So, today I celebrated my 20
th birthday. So now not only can I not buy my own drinks, but I am also no longer
a young, vivacious teenager. Although I did not eat any birthday cake this year, I definitely ate... way too much. With the exception of this year, I have enjoyed a multitude of delicious, decorative, and
calorically dense cakes each year for my birthday. This is a common celebratory practice on birthdays, at least in the US. Even babies get a little cake for their birthday, which I don't know if that is healthy or not, but I do know from my first birthday onward I had a face full of frosting and sprinkles each year. With the way the population is growing, it makes me think about the staggering amount of cake we produce and consume annually. The cake industry is one I don't tend to think about, or at least I try to keep from thinking about,
until my own birthday or someone
else's I know rolls around. Grocery stores and bakeries must bank on cake batter, icing, and those dingy candles. It doesn't cost a whole lot to make your own Betty
Crocker delight, but those sales have to stack up with all the birthdays celebrated year-round. Furthermore, if you want a really nice cake from a specialty bakery, it doesn't run cheap
. Birthdays, like doctors and funeral homes, are a constant fuel to the economy because people are always sick, will eventually die, and can not avoid a birthday-no matter how desperately you may try. Birthday cake is often despised at the work place because co-workers are always having birthdays, and you don't want to look like the prick who won't eat a piece of cake; at the same time, this is why dieting in America is so difficult! Everything we do to socialize and connect with people involves food! Anyway, back to cake: we spend a relatively large amount of money on birthday cake for our friends and family. According to
partyworks.com, most bakers sell their cakes for three to four times as much as it costs to make. Still, it's a tradition that isn't going to cease because of its frivolous expense or contribution to obesity, and recently I have seen cake makers on Food Network that design some cakes that are serious works of art. The really intricate cakes they show involve creativity, artistry, and
architectural skill. I found some pics of a few of my favorites.
a young, vivacious teenager. Although I did not eat any birthday cake this year, I definitely ate... way too much. With the exception of this year, I have enjoyed a multitude of delicious, decorative, and calorically dense cakes each year for my birthday. This is a common celebratory practice on birthdays, at least in the US. Even babies get a little cake for their birthday, which I don't know if that is healthy or not, but I do know from my first birthday onward I had a face full of frosting and sprinkles each year. With the way the population is growing, it makes me think about the staggering amount of cake we produce and consume annually. The cake industry is one I don't tend to think about, or at least I try to keep from thinking about,
until my own birthday or someone else's I know rolls around. Grocery stores and bakeries must bank on cake batter, icing, and those dingy candles. It doesn't cost a whole lot to make your own Betty Crocker delight, but those sales have to stack up with all the birthdays celebrated year-round. Furthermore, if you want a really nice cake from a specialty bakery, it doesn't run cheap
. Birthdays, like doctors and funeral homes, are a constant fuel to the economy because people are always sick, will eventually die, and can not avoid a birthday-no matter how desperately you may try. Birthday cake is often despised at the work place because co-workers are always having birthdays, and you don't want to look like the prick who won't eat a piece of cake; at the same time, this is why dieting in America is so difficult! Everything we do to socialize and connect with people involves food! Anyway, back to cake: we spend a relatively large amount of money on birthday cake for our friends and family. According to partyworks.com, most bakers sell their cakes for three to four times as much as it costs to make. Still, it's a tradition that isn't going to cease because of its frivolous expense or contribution to obesity, and recently I have seen cake makers on Food Network that design some cakes that are serious works of art. The really intricate cakes they show involve creativity, artistry, and architectural skill. I found some pics of a few of my favorites.
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