My youngest child, twelve-year-old James, is the pickier of my two picky eaters. He’d be happy if I made pizza or hamburgers for dinner every night, which means he is not usually happy about what ends up on the table.
As a general rule we do not serve dessert after dinner, but vacations and special occasions usually involve some kind of evening treat. It is on these very occasions that the dessert pocket comes into play.
dessert pocket (noun)
[box] 1. the space in one’s stomach that remains empty regardless of how much food is consumed at dinner 2. the area of the stomach reserved solely for dessert [/box]
After a rare dinner during which James ate all the food on his plate, he sat back and declared that he was full. Matt teased him, saying that he assumes this means James wouldn’t have any room for dessert. James protested, invoking a phenomenon he dubbed the dessert pocket. According to my gastroenterologist son, the dessert pocket is located in the upper left corner of the stomach. I would argue that a woman’s dessert pocket is generally on her ass, but maybe that’s just me.
My artistic representation of the dessert pocket. Unfortunately that is not my body.
I initially laughed at the idea of a dessert pocket, but my kid is right. I can be stuffed to the gills, and I still have room for one piece of chocolate. Kinda like the jingle, “There’s always room for J-E-L-L-O,” except jello is a pretty lame dessert.
So go forth and use your new word of the day! What do you put in your dessert pocket?
Love the new words I am learning today – dessert pockets and pudding tummy. Pudding tummy sounds like something you end up with if your dessert pocket is filled too often.
Exactly, Heather! Pudding tummy is a little too accurate of a description of my midsection – I’ll stick with dessert pocket!
Does desert pocket have to be a singular affair? Just asking. I think the pockets of parachute pants might be more applicable in some cases. Oh, my wife agrees with your assessment, too. I think when she passes I’m going to have, “She never sat in a hard chair” on her gravestone. lol Funny stuff!
I think you are right, Rich. Unfortunately some of us have multiple (large) dessert pockets. Anything that harkens back to parachute pants make me shudder a little.
I always have room for cookies…or cheesecake…or brownies. I’d like them to go elsewhere though besides my dessert pocket. There would be other areas on my body a little less noticeable.
I would like mine to go to my chest!
I put so much in mine: chocolate, Diet Coke, fast food, cake..etc…I love junk food. I love to eat.
Me too, Amber. I just wish eating was calorie free.
that is too funny, yes i always have a spare dessert pocket..potentially several depending on what desserts are being served!
Exactly, Catherine. Life’s too short not to eat multiple desserts!
now I know why Dino is always hungry for dessert after stuffing his face at each meal. Wow…thanks for the information.
I think I have a dessert trunk on my butt, stomach, arms, and legs.
So it’s not just a boy thing, huh? Of course my son is so skinny you can see through him – I have no idea where he puts all that food.
LOVE this.
Is wine a dessert? I can always fit a small slice of wine. Oh wait. I mean. Um. I can always fit a small slice of something if I have wine! Cheesecake. Carrot cake. Vanilla. Caramel. MMMMM> sorry have to run. Kitchen just paged me. Must be an emergency.
You’re a funny gal, Kristi. Even without a glass of wine!
My darling daughter is the Queen of the dessert pocket and always has been! We can be out to dinner and enjoy salad, entree, bread, sides, etc. and all be completely stuffed to the gills. When the waiter comes and asks, “Does anyone have room for dessert?”, the daughter, having just expressed that she will not be able to eat for 3 days says, “There’s ALWAYS room for dessert!” The truth of the matter is, she takes a couple of bites of her dessert then her dad finishes it off!
I always share dessert when when eat out. I would be a great dining companion for your daughter 🙂
Of course there are the times I think I have room in my dessert pocket but push from being full to feeling sick with one bite of cake. It is definitely a fine line but one I always seem to step over!
I hear you, Kate. It’s just hard to resist!
My kids always pull the “dessert pocket” line too and always say “we need just a little something to change the taste” (always implying that dinner sucked, I guess!)
Ha! But even if dinner is great, I prefer to end the meal with the taste of chocolate in my mouth – so I can relate.
We always talk about our dessert stomachs- we have one for regular food and then one for dessert. Kind of like cows.
Exactly! Although I don’t particularly like comparing myself to a cow. My dessert stomach is much larger than my regular food stomach, and that’s the one that interferes with my pants buttoning 🙂
Test that boy for Mensa! Genius! And, yes, always room for dessert. Or three. Especially ice cream!
Yes, ice cream fits in that pocket so nicely, doesn’t it?
So THAT’S what that space is called! lol. I think my dessert pocket is unusually large…
And I think mine is in the lower abdomen, and it jiggles a little…
Dana, I go through this with my 11 year old all the time. It’s so hard to argue with this concept, because I can be “doubled over” stuffed, but there is still room for banana pudding 🙂 Yum!
xoxo
Carica
Yep – it is hard to argue with a dessert pocket. We all know it exists!
Desert pocket, that is my new name for my ass. It is amazing, though, that kids always seem to have room for dessert but not steak.
I’m like that too. Give me a brownie over steak any day. And I guess the natural place for a pocket is your ass, right?
Funny! And genius. Scarlet has a very big dessert pocket and we constantly call her out on it when she’s too full to finish her dinner, but not too full for dessert. It’s highly suspect, but I have it too. Ice cream and cookies, please.
I have it too, Tamara! I’d rather eat dessert than dinner anyway, so I think that’s part of it for James too. He inherited my sweet tooth, poor kid.
HaHa – leave it to a kid (especially a boy) to come up with a term for always having room for dessert.
I have to say – I’m an exception but that is because I usually fill the dessert pocket before dinner with potato chips!!
Ha! I’ll take a sweet treat over a salty one any day. Although chocolate covered pretzels are the perfect combination…
BWAH HA HA HA! I have multiple dessert pockets! 😉 Love this post so much!-Ashley
Thanks, Ashley! I’ve got a smart kid (with a major sweet tooth).
The dessert pocket definitely made me giggle and so going to have to remember this one for sure now!! 🙂
Or use Lizzi’s term – “pudding tummy.” That makes me giggle.
right now, i am filling my dessert pocket with chocolate covered peanuts!
Yum – I am partial to filling that pocket with anything chocolate. And the peanuts are protein, so munch away!
Ice cream! It melts and there’s plenty of room for it. 😉
Yes! Especially Baskin Robbins ice cream – mmmmmm.
BR was my first job – it ruined me for life. I like EVERYTHING.
Ha! I never came up with the term “dessert pocket”, but I remember having this exact same conversation with my parents when I was a kid… (And with my husband after a big restaurant meal when some indulgent dessert is calling my name!)
We teased my son about it, but I do think he’s right. I doubt the pocket is hot pink like I depicted, but it’s there nonetheless.
I’m glad that this is a trans-Atlantical notion. Here it’s called a ‘Pudding Tummy’, and no matter how much you eat, there tends to be that small, unfilled space for something sweet and sumptuous. Your kid’s on the money there.
(also, you should TOTALLY say that’s your body and see how long you can get away with it for 😉 )
Pudding tummy – love it! I’m going to tell James and add that to our vocabulary.