# In the UK people call cake "pudding" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365 "2020-04-08T18:27:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/21 "2020-04-08T20:21:14Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The Authority has spoken! 🙂 It is a bit weird that I didn’t mention my name though, now I come to think of it! For completeness then, kind of like black pudding etc: not a dessert, not a “type of pudding”. An entity unto itself. Actually, that’s probably why I didn’t think to include it… ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/22 "2020-04-08T20:23:04Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > And so far as I know, meat means meat means animal flesh. Historically, ‘meat’ just meant ‘food’; though that meaning really just holds on in some old songs, where they sing about ‘meat and drink’, though I doubt most of them back in the 1300s were clamouring for a vegetarian option. Irrelevant in the context of Pink Floyd, but why be on the Dope if you can’t be pedantic about stuff like that? ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/23 "2020-04-08T20:26:02Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > not a dessert … although if you make too many and have one for pudding with ice cream, syrup etc, it’s pretty good. A sort of distant cousin of a clafoutis. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/24 "2020-04-08T20:37:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Tapioca pudding is far more common than bread pudding, in my experience. I don’t think I’ve seen tapioca pudding in the wild for decades. This may be a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/25 "2020-04-08T20:39:49Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Tapioca pudding is far more common than bread pudding, in my experience. Not in mine. I’ve never seen tapioca pudding on a restaurant menu, while bread pudding isn’t rare at all. Of course my one and so far only experience with the tapioca variety was as a kid; a babysitter made some for us. The texture was… well, I didn’t bother to acquire that taste. I don’t think it had much flavor either. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/26 "2020-04-08T20:42:31Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Is American style pudding like [Angel Delight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Delight)? > > I didn’t like Angel Delight as a kid, and I have never tried it as an adult. I’d never heard of Angel Delight, but I agree with **Colibri** : it looks like what I’d call [instant pudding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_pudding). Which I, personally, think of as a “kids’ dessert.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/27 "2020-04-08T20:45:32Z")
In my experience, bread pudding is common in cafeterias and buffets, probably because it’s a good way to use leftover, slightly stale bread. It’s not really a type of the stuff most Americans normally think of when they use the word pudding. (Kind of like how cheesecake is not really a type of the stuff Americans normally think of when they use the word cake.) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/28 "2020-04-08T20:51:50Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > I don’t think I’ve seen tapioca pudding in the wild for decades. This may be a regional thing. I just got back from the grocery store about 30 minutes ago, in part to get some pudding. I bet you can’t guess what was the only flavor that was sold out? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/29 "2020-04-08T20:56:53Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Tapioca pudding is far more common than bread pudding, in my experience. Bread pudding was all over the place in New Orleans a month ago. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/30 "2020-04-08T21:04:07Z")
Where does [sago pudding](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sago_pudding) fit in your typology, **Yorkshire Pudding**? And is it still common in the UK? AFAIK, it’s unknown (at least by that name) in the US. (Someone will soon be along to contradict me, no doubt.) I happen to know about it from listening to the Goon Show, which was (for some reason) broadcast in Baltimore in the 1960s. This was the joke: I say, I say, I say! How do you start a pudding race? I don’t know. How _do_ you start a pudding race? Sago. (Not the Goons’ most brilliant joke.) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/31 "2020-04-08T21:18:26Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Not in mine. > > I’ve never seen tapioca pudding on a restaurant menu, while bread pudding isn’t rare at all. > > Of course my one and so far only experience with the tapioca variety was as a kid; a babysitter made some for us. The texture was… well, I didn’t bother to acquire that taste. I don’t think it had much flavor either. Yup. The texture is disgusting. Which is why I do not understand the [bubble te](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea)a phenomenon. Ewww. Texture matters. Although, perversely, I love lumpy mashed potatoes and oatmeal. I’m an odd duckling. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/32 "2020-04-08T21:28:05Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Where does [sago pudding](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sago_pudding) fit in your typology, **Yorkshire Pudding**? And is it still common in the UK? AFAIK, it’s unknown (at least by that name) in the US. (Someone will soon be along to contradict me, no doubt.) > > I happen to know about it from listening to the Goon Show, which was (for some reason) broadcast in Baltimore in the 1960s. This was the joke: > > I say, I say, I say! How do you start a pudding race? > > I don’t know. How _do_ you start a pudding race? > > Sago. > > (Not the Goons’ most brilliant joke.) Sago is in there with tapioca (and is similarly frogspawn-esque), as well as semolina and rice pudding as far as genre is concerned, but like tapioca and semolina (but unlike rice pud), it’s virtually obsolete. These were all once staples of school dinner puddings - up until the 80s - but whereas my 7 & 9 year old kids speak of school rice pudding, they’d be clueless if the other three were mentioned. I could be talking about a country or a brand of motorcycle. Well, maybe not with Semolina - they’ve conceivably seen me using that for baking. Of the four, I get the impression that sago’s prevalence waned first. And regarding nomenclature, sago is like tapioca: it’s fine to call sago - you wouldn’t necessarily need to say “sago pudding” for someone to know what you meant (providing they’re old enough to have heard of it). ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/33 "2020-04-08T21:40:18Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > American pudding would be unlikely to get away with being called pudding. You could have it “for pudding” at the end of a meal, but it isn’t a type \*of[/] pudding. If you ordered “vanilla pudding” or “chocolate pudding” off a menu and a smooth, creamy thing arrived in place of a dense hybrid of sponge and gunge, it would be unexpected (and probably disappointing). Just the opposite would be true here. If someone ordered chocolate pudding off a menu and got a dense hybrid of sponge and gunge in place of actual pudding it would be unexpected, disappointing, and possibly leave the diner questioning the intelligence of the kitchen staff. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/34 "2020-04-08T21:48:09Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Just the opposite would be true here. If someone ordered chocolate pudding off a menu and got a dense hybrid of sponge and gunge in place of actual pudding it would be unexpected, disappointing, and possibly leave the diner questioning the intelligence of the kitchen staff. How likely is American pudding to be on a menu, incidentally? Such a thing does exist here - you could get it in single-serving pots alongside the yoghurts in a supermarket - but as something to be served from a kitchen…no chance. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/35 "2020-04-08T22:21:36Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > How likely is American pudding to be on a menu, incidentally? Such a thing does exist here - you could get it in single-serving pots alongside the yoghurts in a supermarket - but as something to be served from a kitchen…no chance. I would expect to see it on the menu in rural small town diners, and Jewish Deli restaurants (the place on the corner near my home has it), and places that cater to the pensioner set. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/36 "2020-04-08T22:42:36Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Historically, ‘meat’ just meant ‘food’; though that meaning really just holds on in some old songs, where they sing about ‘meat and drink’, though I doubt most of them back in the 1300s were clamouring for a vegetarian option. > Irrelevant in the context of Pink Floyd, but why be on the Dope if you can’t be pedantic about stuff like that? Came in to be pedantic on exactly that point! My main reference would be the old Scots grace… _Some ha’ meat and canna eat And some would eat that want it But we ha’ meat and we can eat So let the lord be thankit_ Mostly what they would have had would be a little bit of meat surrounded by a whole big mass of turnips and barley ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/37 "2020-04-08T22:46:36Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Came in to be pedantic on exactly that point! > > My main reference would be the old Scots grace… > > _Some ha’ meat and canna eat > And some would eat that want it > But we ha’ meat and we can eat > So let the lord be thankit_ > > Mostly what they would have had would be a little bit of meat surrounded by a whole big mass of turnips and barley One man’s meat is another man’s poison. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/38 "2020-04-08T22:51:39Z")
And these days, One man’s Mede is another man’s Persian. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/39 "2020-04-08T23:17:25Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > And these days, One man’s Mede is another man’s Persian. Oh…oh god… ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/40 "2020-04-08T23:40:48Z")
> [@Garak](#): > > but my question to UK dopers is, have you ever had real pudding? Are you implying that UK pudding isn’t real? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365.md?page=3)