Written by: Stephy Jackson
While the holiday season is one of the most wonderful times of the year, our society has ruined it with the over-glorified tradition of gingerbread. Gingerbread is a tradition during the holidays, not because it tastes good or looks amazing, but only because we have been engaging in the custom year after year and nobody has questioned the true value of it. It is so tasteless and childish that it does not deserve to be called a holiday staple.
Gingerbread does not taste remotely of ginger; in fact, it doesn’t taste like anything at all—with the exception of cardboard. No matter how freshly-baked your loaf is, the flavor is still as if it were left on the counter for over a year or as if it never entered an oven in the rest place. Some people attempt to compensate for this dry tastelessness by adding far too much ginger and other spices. is creates an overly potent and tongue-coating assault that no one deserves to experience. While gingerbread is incredibly bland on its own, the addition of a random melange of spices only makes it a thousand times worse.
As an elementary school activity, making gingerbread men and houses was admittedly fun. But older individuals still seem to insist on partaking in these child- hood activities even though the fun has worn off. What’s the point of spending time decorating some cold, hard slabs of gingerbread with globs of sticky frosting and squished gumdrops when there are much better things to do that won’t bore you to near-death? For example, you could adorn some tree ornaments for a classier outlet of creativity, cozy up by a nice fire or do literally anything else.
The worth of gingerbread has been over-exaggerated by enthusiastic individuals who have yet to see that the baked good lacks flavor, appeal to interest, and overall value. Students are in school from August to December sitting in hard wooden desks, so why punish themselves with cookies made of the same material? There are so many other recipes, flavors and tastes out there that would do a wonderful job replacing gingerbread as the classic holiday cookie. The unruly reign of gingerbread must end. In no way should such a pathetic excuse for food be part of such a wonderful time as the holiday season.
