Study Fails To Find Anyone Who Actually Likes Honey Cake

“Some people just won’t depart from tradition no matter how mediocre – or just plain awful, in the case of my mother-in-law – the traditional dishes might taste.”

Tel Aviv, October 2 – A comprehensive research project covering one of the preeminent traditional foods eaten in honor of the Jewish New Year has determined that despite its apparent ubiquity, no one actually finds honey cake appealing.

A multi-year study covering hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel and throughout the world looked at survey results regrading some traditional items of Jewish cuisine, and discovered that although many households prepare the so-called delicacy to express an aspiration for a sweet new year, not a single person, when questioned anonymously, confessed to liking the dish. No such lack of popularity could be seen for any other Jewish food, though some respondents had strong negative feelings toward jellied calf’s foot (p’tcha) and sweet noodle pudding (kugel) with fruit pieces.

Dr. Divsha Miodownik of Tel Aviv University led the team conducting the research, and is credited as lead author on the article to be published in the upcoming issue of Tradition magazine. Dr. Miodownik described the measures taken to ensure consistency and anonymity among the survey participants, including multiple occurrences of the same question and a double-blind mechanism for collecting the data. “We needed to make sure our respondents recorded their true feelings about the foods, so anonymity was key,” she explained. “People are more willing to be honest if they can be confident their friends and family won’t know they’ve been faking it all these years that honey cake actually does something for them on Rosh Hashanah.”

“Personally,” she added, “I’ve never withheld my dislike for it, and I don’t know why everyone pretends to look forward to it, or to trade recipes for something that in the end always comes out awful. I mean, what’s the point?”

Culinary historians note that the use of honey cake to signal the onset of a sweet new year precedes the ready availability of cane sugar or beet sugar that are much more conducive to palatable baked goods. “Some people just won’t depart from tradition no matter how mediocre – or just plain awful, in the case of my mother-in-law – the traditional dishes might taste,” said Ann London, author of several cookbooks on Jewish cuisine. “Many of the dishes originated under certain circumstances, but I see no reason to adhere to the same ingredients and recipes when we have so many options available now that actually have something to recommend them. Who can say no to a sweet new year as signified by a rich, velvety chocolate cake?”

“The thing is everyone expects honey cake, as if there’s some obligation that hasn’t been fulfilled if you don’t serve one,” she continued. “That’s just plain idolatry.”