Insert A Cheesy “Just Desserts” Joke Here

I’m Norwegian, and I went on a class trip to Denmark while in university. We stayed at a fairly fancy hotel with a very nice restaurant — the kind of restaurant where a meal is several courses. Luckily for the wallets of my class, both food and lodging were covered by the school. Our class was small — about ten people — and I was the only one with any food allergies.

The restaurant was by reservation only and had two options per course every night: the standard dish and the special diet dish, which was made for everyone who had special dietary needs that night. That meant that if someone dining that night was vegan, I’d get a vegan meal; if someone was allergic to eggs, my food would be egg-free; and so on. It was certainly an interesting experience, and I got to try a lot of things I wouldn’t have chosen on my own.

But over the week, my meals became somewhat of a source of amusement for my class, as they were considered strange compared to the standard meal. The servers would always present our courses, and I would be asked to repeat mine to my curious and often chuckling classmates. Being the one eating those meals, the jokes got old after the first couple of days.

And then came the dessert of our final dinner of the trip. I don’t remember the other courses, but I was very surprised to get the same cheese platter as everyone else. I waited until the waiter had presented the array of cheeses before I spoke up.

Me: “Unfortunately, I’m allergic to milk, so I can’t eat this.”

I could tell by the waiter’s reaction that they’d most likely forgotten about my allergy. He asked me to not start eating quite yet and then disappears into the kitchen. He returned a minute later and picked up my (untouched) cheese platter.

Waiter: “I am so sorry, we had completely forgotten about your allergy. The kitchen is whipping up something for you, but it will be a few minutes.”

Me: “That’s no problem at all. I’m happy to wait.”

A few minutes later, the waiter brought out a new plate. After putting it down, he explained that this was homemade sorbet with a spun sugar decoration, fresh fruit, and milk-free dark chocolate sauce. Judging by the expressions of some of my classmates, their cheese platters were suddenly a bit less appetising. But don’t worry, I had multiple chances to inform anyone who asked that my milk-free dessert was absolutely delicious!