Hearing I was planning a piece on the Church’s penchant for puddings, Dante, my naughty godson, immediately dived into Google, determined to find tales of nubile pre-pubescent Ethiopians thrusting gold-encrusted truffles into the mouths of corrupt Medici popes. Much to his disappointment, he found no steamy papal peccadilloes; instead, he found controversy, murder and corruption.
The Papal See’s attitude to puddings and all things sweet has been, over the centuries, almost as contentious as that towards the liturgy – which is curious given that the Almighty sent an angel to bake a cake for Elijah in the wilderness. Chocolate in particular has had a chequered reputation within the church, alternately dismissed as the stuff of pagans and as a tool for poison, and then lauded as a reward following a fast.
