The Pecan Tart Society

Maybe the coffee shop needed to be busier, maybe I had just a wee bit too much time on my hands. I would like to think that profound thoughts were just a part of coffeehouse ambiance. What ever the reasons, one morning as I was setting out the days baked offerings I found myself in a dilemma as to which pecan tarts to display for sale. This shouldn't pose too much of a problem since the answer is obvious.

The pretty ones.

Not the ones that bubbled just a bit too much over the side, or had a crack in their pastry.

The pretty ones.

THOSE are the ones people will buy, and pay full price for I might add.

In walks early morning regular Forest, who usually is unable to utter any form of communication before his "shot in the dark"... (espresso lingo for a regular cup of coffee with a shot of espresso added), and in his case copious amounts of half and half and honey.

"It's not fair!" I state as I pull his shot.

He looked at me, knowing I was just getting started on this one. "In a perfect world there would be no segregation of pretty pecan tarts and the not so pretty ones." "Tarts are judged by how they look on the outside and whether they are just as tasty, maybe even a bit more so, does not count. The attractive ones are given full honor, are paid full price and taken home to be ogled and awed at before being consumed. Most likely if they were overcooked or undercooked, all of that would be unimportant...because they look good. Placing them side by side, the unpretty ones are destined to get marked down in price. No one will buy them at full price. Keep in mind these pecan tarts may be the moistest, flakiest, most yummy of them all but because of their exterior presentation, they are not deemed worthy of full value."

How tragic is that?

More tragic is that by this judgment, this placement in the bargain basket, many people miss out on how delicious these not so pretty tarts truly are. Granted some are burned and hard and there just is no covering up their flaws...this isn't about them, this is about the ones that ARE good and that get passed by because of some crack in their pastry or over-bubbliness of their fill. Perhaps we need to look beyond the exterior flaws, and decide for ourselves.

A person might get more than they bargained for.