I like the segment that reminds that (white = purity) is not strictly some anglo-european idea but exists in many cultures, including Africa and the Near East and south east asia which all have dark skin tones. Most of southeast Europe was olive-skinned anyway, and that's where most of the Christians resided
It's also important to recognize that in neoplatonic and some abrahamic philosophies, darkness and absence of the senses is believed to be the unadulterated essence of God, so darkness is not always considered malevolent in western culture
tasting history said people used to talk about it like “if an angel ate it they’d still be light enough to fly back to heaven” or something I’m paraphrasing nor do I know how accurate it is but it’s really cool!
@@DingsNotNota OP is not asking why it is called ANGEL food cake. He is asking why it is called Angel FOOD cake. The word "food" seems redundant and unnecessary. Same with Devil's Food Cake.
@@MatthewTheWanderer oh I thought it was relevant cause ‘angle food’ cause they would be the one eating it like fish food or something but I see the redundancy now I just wanted to talk about it :D
How I always took the differences: Devil's: very tempting and maybe not all that good for you. That much chocolate is not good for the glucose levels Angel's: light and fluffy, like a cloud. Also, it doesn't taste like much so let's throw some fresh berries on there for flavor (and color), so it must be good for you
Not to be pedantic, but chocolate is fairly healthy. It’s usually just coco solids (protein) and coco butter (fat). Neither of them should be nearly as bad for glucose as plain white flour and sugar in the angels food cake. As such, the devils version is probably healthier. The reason most chocolate is bad is that it’s also quite bitter, so sugar is added. The same might be true for devils food cake, where proportionally more sugar is added to counteract the bitter chocolate. But usually I find deserts of chocolate variety actually have less total sugar than non-chocolate kinds.
One of the great things about angel food cake is it does not want any gluten formation, so I can make it with gluten free flour substitutes for my sister, and the rest of the family gets a cake which is every bit as good as it would be made with real flour! It also helps that it was always my sister's favorite cake before she was diagnosed with Celiac .
Whenever I'm preparing something in the kitchen, an angel's food cake appears on one shoulder and a devil's food cake appears on the other, and they both start shouting a ton of advice on what I should do, and every time I have to tell them, "Shut up, guys! I'm just microwaving a pot pie! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
You should make a cake that has layers of angel and devil so you can get both in the same slice. Either cook like 6 shallow cakes or slice a taller cake.
Angel's food cake makes sense as being white, light and fluffy. In the cultural context it was created in, those qualities would be associated with the divine. Therefore its opposite, which is dense, dark and moist, is the devil's food. I dont think its origin is explicitly racist, but it might have been influenced by such.
I always thought that the extra richness of devil’s food cake and the lighter texture and less yolks of angel’s food cake were to illustrate that less rich food was seen as more godly and temperate (not that cake is a temperate food to eat, it’s a dessert but still) and thus the dichotomy
I lean towards the theory that the angel food was thus called because it was light, fluffy, and cloud-like and then someone made Devil's food to be the opposite. But I think it probably also draws on a notion that goes back to heretical groups and even some orthodox groups in the early church (through the influence of second-century neo-platonic thought) that physical pleasure is evil. That idea is rooted in the neo-platonic idea that matter itself is evil while the soul is good. We should focus on the soul and escaping this material world rather than on satisfying bodily desires. Thus, rich foods that bring more pleasure have a certain level of guilt associated with them. But for what it is worth as a pastor, this idea is pretty flatly contradicted in Scripture. Song of Solomon celebrates physical sexual pleasure within the proper context. Ecclesiastes says that even though this world is broken and much we do is futile, we should enjoy the good things of creation. And at a broader level, the Bible does not end with everyone leaving the physical world and "going to heaven." It ends with Heaven coming down to the physical world. The Christian hope is not escaping creation, but being raised physically from the dead and enjoying creation healed from its brokenness. The Bible is very pro-physicality and pro-pleasure. Even the prohibitions on things like promiscuity and gluttony are to set pleasure in its proper place and thus maximize it, not stifle it.
Cheat days once a week feel better than eating like crap every day, and sex as an expression of monogamous love feels better than an impulsive college hook-up. IDK why more people don't realize this
Very good explanation. I always find it so weird that people associate Christianity with this anti-material sentiment when gnosticism was a heresy for a (many) reason. I was speaking with my priest about alcohol and what he said boiled down to moderation. If it makes you sin, then don't consume it, but the pleasure itself isn't bad. Psalm 104 even says "wine gladdens the heart of man" as a part of a psalm all about the wonderful creation God has made!
have you ever considered making home oven pizza while leaving the oven door open? I've noticed that almost all pizza ovens have the air open to the environment, where as home ovens have it almost entirely sealed. My theory is that the build up of moisture in the air of a home oven leads to inhibited browning. In compassion the water vapor in a pizza oven could easily escape and get out of the way. Would be super interested to see what happens!
along the lines of the gluttony stuff there's also that stuff where things that have more distinctive tastes, things that are more flavorful, are somehow more sinful like what that freak kellog believed and having a cake that can be described to be quite decadent esp in comparison to angelfood cake feels like it fits in with that. it's so cool how christians have a thing for denying themselves anything they could take pleasure in so they can conjure retributive sentiments towards anyone who looks to be enjoying life too much, i love living in a death cult where the average person would rather take their own eyes out than suffer their neighbor having clearer vision than them
Racial history aside, why would anyone ever prefer the boring, virgin, white cake to the chad, dense, chocolate cake? At least in the context of food, "devil's food" sounds tastier (and unhealthier) than "angel's food".
some people/cultures just preferred lighter desserts especially back then, the fluffiness and sweetness feels special and different to other things they had regularly probably the same reason they thought white bread was 'fancier' than whole grain also vvc memes are terminally cringe
I mean angel cake is pretty good with heavier toppings like cream and berries. Also, brownies exist and are the ultimate chocolate dessert. Cry harder.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I immediately thought of deviled eggs which are pretty white but dense. (Edit: He mentions them in a different context, never mind, I wasn't that far into it when I wrote the comment) But I disagree with you on the chocolate thing. Chocolate is a heavy-handed flavour often with little nuance. It is like drinking a drink with too much sugar - it doesn't taste bad but a subtler version is more pleasurable to a lot of people.
counterpoint: you can eat more fluffy light cake before getting full this is what i base my entire diet around, why eat calorie-dense things when i can eat lighter things and enjoy the food for longer/more often?
My guy, are you putting mayo in your Ambrosia? Do people do that? My family has always used whipped cream of some sort, with sweat soaked mandarin sliced, maraschino cherries, pineapples chunks, walnuts and mini marshmallows.
As a millennial I've always associated these with 80/90s diet culture where fat = bad. Of course, given the age of these terms, that wouldn't make sense but I clearly remember Devils Food Cake having it's thing in that period with brands like Snackwells kind of marketing themselves as "healthy" devils food cake. But it also makes sense, as angels food is virtually fat free and therefore healthy under that paradigm, while devils food has a lot more fat from the egg yolks and chocolate and is therefore bad or devilish.
Its because angel food cake is light and fluffy and devils food cake is dark and rich and people always go "oh im gonna be naughty and have this rich chocolate cake"
So i haven’t watched the video yet, but this is what i always assumed. Angel’s food cake came first. It’s light, airy, and soft like an angel. Then someone came up with Devil’s food cake as the opposite to play off of the popularity of Angel’s food cake.
Adam hitting the "eat me" note faintly like Pete Townshend hitting "squeeze me". With that in mind: C'mon and eat meeee C'mon and eat meeee C'mon and eat me like you do I'm just so bad for you Mama's got a sweet cake, Daddy never sleeps at night
I think that's basically what Japanese cheesecake is. At least at one of my local sushi joints after a meal they'll give you a slice of fluffy cheesecake that is similar to Angel's food cake.
I would assume the increased side surface area allows the egg white batter to cling to them and rise more, resulting in a more even and light crumb than a typical round or square pan, where the batter will sag and sink in the center
@@scoobertdoobert7893 Absolutely! The walls are steep and give the cake plenty of room to rise. Of course, the cake must also be cooled upside down in the pan to maintain hight and texture. Bundt pans are ideal for this! You can absolutely make angel food cakes in any pan, but it's much easier to get the right texture with a bundt.
@@jasonslade6259Well yeah but we also associate red with hell. I associate hell with the color red way more than I do black. As a couple people point out, black isn't even that unholy of a color in a lot of contexts. Alotta priests wear black. Nuns wear black.
I tried looking it up but there seems to be no true conclusion; My guesses are as to why it isn't red is as follows; 1). Depictions of the devil being color red is pretty recent. Early depictions of the devil/satan were either a monstrous amalgam of multiple animal parts (Baphomet) or an angel-like figure emphasizing lucifer's heavenly origins. 2). Red wasn't a popular color of food. Tomatoes were considered poisonous and the most common "red" colored food is blood, which the consumption of is banned in abrahamic religions. 3). Mass production of red food coloring is recent.
"... why isn't devil's food cake red..." Well, the opposite of light is dark and heavy-- the Prince of Darkness is never called the the Prince of Red. Literalness is never worth it in such things. There is a whole lot that can be said about the meanings of devils, demons, satan, cherubim, angels, seraphim and such.
I always got so confused as a brit reading american books when the characters would mention devil's food cake. I didn't know angel/devils food was until I watched the video where safiya and tyler made their wedding cake
He's just dedicated to his content and not afraid to be himself on (most) things, don't assume things about any developmental disorders and/or personal problems you völlig falscher individual!!!
Great video. Interesting and well done. On the theme of racism in food history, how about MSG? Sorry if you’ve already covered it. I have a sieve for a brain Love the shirt, too
Its just so funny to me how food culture often aligns with Abrahamic Judeo-Christian culture and you an atheist have to explain the origin of these traditions to a largely Secular audience.
Idk Mr Ragusea, I think the racism cake angle might be a bit of a stretch. Angel= light and fluffy->make a rich and heavy cake that’s like the nega-version of angel food cake->name it after the opposite of angel. That seems much more likely than late 1800s bakers trying to subtly dunk on black people. Who I guess are supposed to feel like, despair upon eating the delicious angel food cake and be like “alas! I am too dark of skin to be like this fluffy and delicious cake, and by extension a part of the Kingdom of God. I am more akin to this (also delicious) cake, named after…the great deceiver! Damn it all! Big fan of the channel though!! Love the food-science-history-sociology variety show videos!
@ yeah I did watch the video, I just feel that after watching, he was a little too charitable to the “racism as origin to naming of angel food cake” theory. I don’t think he tries to push it as the most likely origin, but I think he should’ve been like “that’s a little far-fetched”.
@@plantain.1739ope, just rewatched the second half of the video, and yeah he definitely gives the last word to “light fluffy vs rich dark” theory. My bad, it’s a sleepy afternoon. I think I just got hung up on 13:40 where Adam hits us with the “could be that, or maybe it’s just racism”. Adam may have meant that sarcastically and I just misunderstood. As a wise man once said, whoopsie daisies.
Yeah, Adam is really into the self flagellating behavior. Not the first video where he's pulling this. He was a university professor if I'm not mistaken, and this is part of the necessary brainrot to be a professor in the US.
5:50 Wait, isn't ambrosia typically made with cool whip? I know it's barely a whilped cream, but I'd argue it's a far cry from mayo in almost every respect
Wikipedia: "Ambrosia can also include mayonnaise or dairy ingredients: whipped cream (or whipped topping), sour cream, cream cheese, pudding, yogurt, or cottage cheese."
South African here. I’ve never heard of angel food, other than the cake. I tried a quick and dirty Google search and found nothing. Anyone have any further details about the fruit salad thing Adam is referring to?
@@tann_man the problem is you thinking anyone is calling your ancestors evil. When we receive new information and are exposed to other perspectives, we have the choice to reconsider our own opinions. They didn't have an Adam Ragusea video to watch that might provide that information and perspective so it's at least understandable why they didn't change their optinions, which were forged by that of the society they grew up in. I can't blame them. YOU however, are making the choice to not even let yourself be exposed to new information or perspective. So while I obviously have no standing to call you "evil," if anyone has any ethical culpability, it's YOU and not your ancestors.
"We are diurnal" SPEAK FOR YOURSELF! I'm nocturnal and living in a diurnal society is so hard. :\ I wonder if the bags under my eyes will finally go away when I retire and can day-sleep like my body says to.
Well, it comes from the Western fundamentalist Christian idea of anything pleasurable being "of the devil." Speaking of pleasure, did you know the origin of corn flakes was supposed to be bland, something that wouldn't encourage feelings that pleasure brings lol. If you eat bland things you're less likely to seek out other forms of pleasure. I think it's the opposite, especially if you have adhd lol.
Buddhism also considers worldly pleasures to be destructive, and is 800+ years older than Christianity. It isn't just a western concept. Zoroastrianism also believes that indulgences are sinful, and that is a Persian philosophy that is 1000+ years older than Buddhism. But sure, it's allllllll just evil, racist, white people who say that it's bad to overconsume
Cool, I like that you've shifted away from covering real, factual racism/discrimination in food history to completely speculative bullshit shower thoughts you had. Its "angel food" because its white and fluffy, like a cloud. And its "devil food" because its black and dense, the opposite of "angel food". That's why it appears later, because it needed the context of "angel food". Please tell me more about Squarespace.
I like how Adam gives a bunch of different possible reasons and prefaces everything by saying he's no etymologist and people still pick out the bits about race and immediately shut off their brain because of how triggered they get. You can do better than this.
@@Rhetam No one is triggered. By calling chocolate cake racist, you're a boy crying wolf when you see a dog. Real racism exists, and people will dismiss it if you flood the mass opinion with such poorly thought out accusations. You are diminishing the meaning of objective words to feel morally and intellectually superior online. Sorry that your gaming channel failed, its no excuse to distract people away from real and present racism.
@@scoobertdoobert7893 Except nobody called chocolate cake racist. Adam literally just said that the naming of devil's cake might have a historical association with skin color and named reasons as to why that might be so. The fact that you think that anyone genuinely made that argument shows you shut off your brain as soon as race was mentioned. This is why you seem triggered. Ironically, you seem to be projecting by acting as if you're the arbiter of what does or doesn't have racial connotations. Acting morally superior and going "Ah. The boy that cried wolf once again!" because the mere mention of race makes you seethe for whatever reason. Don't worry about my gaming channel. I switched over to gamedev as a hobby instead. I'll show you when it's done.😎
I like the segment that reminds that (white = purity) is not strictly some anglo-european idea but exists in many cultures, including Africa and the Near East and south east asia which all have dark skin tones. Most of southeast Europe was olive-skinned anyway, and that's where most of the Christians resided
He literally says that.
I think it comes from our evolutionary fear of night time.
Yeah it's not a skin thing it's just black and white
@RossHouck yeah, that's why OP said they liked the segment where he said that
Usually people will take every opportunity to find something racist or as a reason to blame caucasians.
It's also important to recognize that in neoplatonic and some abrahamic philosophies, darkness and absence of the senses is believed to be the unadulterated essence of God, so darkness is not always considered malevolent in western culture
i personally never understood the "food" part of "food cake". why not just call it an angel's cake lol
tasting history said people used to talk about it like “if an angel ate it they’d still be light enough to fly back to heaven” or something I’m paraphrasing nor do I know how accurate it is but it’s really cool!
I think it's quite cute that it's angel's food vs devil's food
@@DingsNotNota OP is not asking why it is called ANGEL food cake. He is asking why it is called Angel FOOD cake. The word "food" seems redundant and unnecessary. Same with Devil's Food Cake.
maybe its "angel's food" cake vs angel's "food cake"
@@MatthewTheWanderer oh I thought it was relevant cause ‘angle food’ cause they would be the one eating it like fish food or something but I see the redundancy now I just wanted to talk about it :D
Eggs&
Sugar&
Flour&
Butter
How I always took the differences:
Devil's: very tempting and maybe not all that good for you. That much chocolate is not good for the glucose levels
Angel's: light and fluffy, like a cloud. Also, it doesn't taste like much so let's throw some fresh berries on there for flavor (and color), so it must be good for you
Not to be pedantic, but chocolate is fairly healthy. It’s usually just coco solids (protein) and coco butter (fat). Neither of them should be nearly as bad for glucose as plain white flour and sugar in the angels food cake. As such, the devils version is probably healthier. The reason most chocolate is bad is that it’s also quite bitter, so sugar is added. The same might be true for devils food cake, where proportionally more sugar is added to counteract the bitter chocolate. But usually I find deserts of chocolate variety actually have less total sugar than non-chocolate kinds.
Sounds like a job for Max Miller!
He's actually already made a video about angel food cake! "Fannie Farmer and the Modern Recipe"
One of the great things about angel food cake is it does not want any gluten formation, so I can make it with gluten free flour substitutes for my sister, and the rest of the family gets a cake which is every bit as good as it would be made with real flour! It also helps that it was always my sister's favorite cake before she was diagnosed with Celiac .
Whenever I'm preparing something in the kitchen, an angel's food cake appears on one shoulder and a devil's food cake appears on the other, and they both start shouting a ton of advice on what I should do, and every time I have to tell them, "Shut up, guys! I'm just microwaving a pot pie! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Conversely, in some Asian cultures, white is the color of mourning. Chinese funerals with white limos as an example.
You should make a cake that has layers of angel and devil so you can get both in the same slice. Either cook like 6 shallow cakes or slice a taller cake.
6:27 The shirt says Eggs&Sugar&Flour&Butt.
Angel's food cake makes sense as being white, light and fluffy. In the cultural context it was created in, those qualities would be associated with the divine. Therefore its opposite, which is dense, dark and moist, is the devil's food. I dont think its origin is explicitly racist, but it might have been influenced by such.
Always thankful for your posts Adam. Our interests seem to overlap in many ways. Keep up the good work.
I always thought that the extra richness of devil’s food cake and the lighter texture and less yolks of angel’s food cake were to illustrate that less rich food was seen as more godly and temperate (not that cake is a temperate food to eat, it’s a dessert but still) and thus the dichotomy
Great stuff, Adam! Keep up the irregular content
I lean towards the theory that the angel food was thus called because it was light, fluffy, and cloud-like and then someone made Devil's food to be the opposite. But I think it probably also draws on a notion that goes back to heretical groups and even some orthodox groups in the early church (through the influence of second-century neo-platonic thought) that physical pleasure is evil. That idea is rooted in the neo-platonic idea that matter itself is evil while the soul is good. We should focus on the soul and escaping this material world rather than on satisfying bodily desires. Thus, rich foods that bring more pleasure have a certain level of guilt associated with them. But for what it is worth as a pastor, this idea is pretty flatly contradicted in Scripture. Song of Solomon celebrates physical sexual pleasure within the proper context. Ecclesiastes says that even though this world is broken and much we do is futile, we should enjoy the good things of creation. And at a broader level, the Bible does not end with everyone leaving the physical world and "going to heaven." It ends with Heaven coming down to the physical world. The Christian hope is not escaping creation, but being raised physically from the dead and enjoying creation healed from its brokenness. The Bible is very pro-physicality and pro-pleasure. Even the prohibitions on things like promiscuity and gluttony are to set pleasure in its proper place and thus maximize it, not stifle it.
Cheat days once a week feel better than eating like crap every day, and sex as an expression of monogamous love feels better than an impulsive college hook-up. IDK why more people don't realize this
Very good explanation. I always find it so weird that people associate Christianity with this anti-material sentiment when gnosticism was a heresy for a (many) reason. I was speaking with my priest about alcohol and what he said boiled down to moderation. If it makes you sin, then don't consume it, but the pleasure itself isn't bad. Psalm 104 even says "wine gladdens the heart of man" as a part of a psalm all about the wonderful creation God has made!
What a rollercoaster of a video
have you ever considered making home oven pizza while leaving the oven door open? I've noticed that almost all pizza ovens have the air open to the environment, where as home ovens have it almost entirely sealed. My theory is that the build up of moisture in the air of a home oven leads to inhibited browning. In compassion the water vapor in a pizza oven could easily escape and get out of the way. Would be super interested to see what happens!
Always liked "death by chocolate cake" more as a name, felt like it more accurately described my experience eating the cake
along the lines of the gluttony stuff there's also that stuff where things that have more distinctive tastes, things that are more flavorful, are somehow more sinful like what that freak kellog believed and having a cake that can be described to be quite decadent esp in comparison to angelfood cake feels like it fits in with that. it's so cool how christians have a thing for denying themselves anything they could take pleasure in so they can conjure retributive sentiments towards anyone who looks to be enjoying life too much, i love living in a death cult where the average person would rather take their own eyes out than suffer their neighbor having clearer vision than them
Angel cake, you can add lots of items and it will absorb quite well, but I'm devil food cake all day.
That is a beautiful slice of chocolate cake
This feels like an episode of tasting history
Racial history aside, why would anyone ever prefer the boring, virgin, white cake to the chad, dense, chocolate cake? At least in the context of food, "devil's food" sounds tastier (and unhealthier) than "angel's food".
some people/cultures just preferred lighter desserts
especially back then, the fluffiness and sweetness feels special and different to other things they had regularly
probably the same reason they thought white bread was 'fancier' than whole grain
also vvc memes are terminally cringe
I mean angel cake is pretty good with heavier toppings like cream and berries.
Also, brownies exist and are the ultimate chocolate dessert. Cry harder.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I immediately thought of deviled eggs which are pretty white but dense. (Edit: He mentions them in a different context, never mind, I wasn't that far into it when I wrote the comment)
But I disagree with you on the chocolate thing. Chocolate is a heavy-handed flavour often with little nuance. It is like drinking a drink with too much sugar - it doesn't taste bad but a subtler version is more pleasurable to a lot of people.
@@pinkmuffin9842 Right, I prefer a chocolate genoise sponge cake over a dense and fudgy chocolate cake. I don't wanna feel sick eating a whole slice.
counterpoint: you can eat more fluffy light cake before getting full
this is what i base my entire diet around, why eat calorie-dense things when i can eat lighter things and enjoy the food for longer/more often?
My guy, are you putting mayo in your Ambrosia? Do people do that? My family has always used whipped cream of some sort, with sweat soaked mandarin sliced, maraschino cherries, pineapples chunks, walnuts and mini marshmallows.
Angels are most often depicted in bright white robes... that's probably the reason for the name
i know there are at least some depictions of lucifer having (or presumably gaining) black wings, as he is a fallen angel.
As a south african I was surprised by that revelation. 6:00
As a millennial I've always associated these with 80/90s diet culture where fat = bad. Of course, given the age of these terms, that wouldn't make sense but I clearly remember Devils Food Cake having it's thing in that period with brands like Snackwells kind of marketing themselves as "healthy" devils food cake. But it also makes sense, as angels food is virtually fat free and therefore healthy under that paradigm, while devils food has a lot more fat from the egg yolks and chocolate and is therefore bad or devilish.
7:02 did you position your laptop in the exact spot that makes your shirt say "butt" XD
Its because angel food cake is light and fluffy and devils food cake is dark and rich and people always go "oh im gonna be naughty and have this rich chocolate cake"
So i haven’t watched the video yet, but this is what i always assumed.
Angel’s food cake came first. It’s light, airy, and soft like an angel. Then someone came up with Devil’s food cake as the opposite to play off of the popularity of Angel’s food cake.
Having intrusive thoughts about Devilled Egg Cake
The one thing in learning more and more. The more ignorant someone is, the more certain they are. Also, ignorance is bliss.
Adam hitting the "eat me" note faintly like Pete Townshend hitting "squeeze me".
With that in mind:
C'mon and eat meeee
C'mon and eat meeee
C'mon and eat me like you do
I'm just so bad for you
Mama's got a sweet cake, Daddy never sleeps at night
Perhaps this is an instance where we invoke the "language evolves" mantra, and ignore the potentially ugly history.
8:12 *And those of us who were already here and taking up space they wanted. 👍🏽
etymology is always interesting
awesome shirt, man!
I have my heart set on making an angel's food cheesecake.
I think that's basically what Japanese cheesecake is. At least at one of my local sushi joints after a meal they'll give you a slice of fluffy cheesecake that is similar to Angel's food cake.
Well, here's a question... Why do we bake angel food cake in bundt cake molds? Why does it always have a hole in the center?
I would assume the increased side surface area allows the egg white batter to cling to them and rise more, resulting in a more even and light crumb than a typical round or square pan, where the batter will sag and sink in the center
@@scoobertdoobert7893 Absolutely! The walls are steep and give the cake plenty of room to rise. Of course, the cake must also be cooled upside down in the pan to maintain hight and texture. Bundt pans are ideal for this! You can absolutely make angel food cakes in any pan, but it's much easier to get the right texture with a bundt.
@ Ah the inverted pan technique. Ive seen it done for panettone but that makes sense for any light baked good. Good thinking
Very serious question here, which will also sound wonderfully snarky: So if the etymology here is all about color, why isn’t a devil’s food cake red?
Probably because black/brown is considered the opposite of white and remember the angel cake came first.
@@jasonslade6259Well yeah but we also associate red with hell. I associate hell with the color red way more than I do black. As a couple people point out, black isn't even that unholy of a color in a lot of contexts. Alotta priests wear black. Nuns wear black.
I tried looking it up but there seems to be no true conclusion; My guesses are as to why it isn't red is as follows;
1). Depictions of the devil being color red is pretty recent. Early depictions of the devil/satan were either a monstrous amalgam of multiple animal parts (Baphomet) or an angel-like figure emphasizing lucifer's heavenly origins.
2). Red wasn't a popular color of food. Tomatoes were considered poisonous and the most common "red" colored food is blood, which the consumption of is banned in abrahamic religions.
3). Mass production of red food coloring is recent.
"... why isn't devil's food cake red..." Well, the opposite of light is dark and heavy-- the Prince of Darkness is never called the the Prince of Red. Literalness is never worth it in such things. There is a whole lot that can be said about the meanings of devils, demons, satan, cherubim, angels, seraphim and such.
I always got so confused as a brit reading american books when the characters would mention devil's food cake. I didn't know angel/devils food was until I watched the video where safiya and tyler made their wedding cake
Angel food cake is okay, but usually not even comparable to a juicy chocolate cake
I love how insanely acoustic you are bro
He's just dedicated to his content and not afraid to be himself on (most) things, don't assume things about any developmental disorders and/or personal problems you völlig falscher individual!!!
Say the word
@@vynce_p fr
Great video. Interesting and well done. On the theme of racism in food history, how about MSG?
Sorry if you’ve already covered it. I have a sieve for a brain
Love the shirt, too
He has, it’s called something like “MSG is neither dangerous nor perfectly fine”
yum i havent had a slice in years. am due to enjoy some.. oh a tiny bit of vanilla ice cream too.
Love the shirt!
Huh, I’ve never heard someone stress the end of “SquareSpace” instead of the beginning
Zoroastrianism is the religion about evil things being heavy and good things being light. It's not Abrahamic. Nice work, Ragu Sea
*Us Brits* have a canned custard called ambrosia 😅
I will never eat another chocolate pastry or dessert ever again!
Or maybe start eating more... I'm not quite sure which way it goes.
The Muhammadi Ali clip comes to mind
This video is sponsored by... S Q U A R E S P A C E! Oh wait, Uh, Magic Spoon Cereal...
Gordon Ramsey and Simon Cowell are God!
Adam tries to go 5 minutes without white guilt challenge (impossible)
Thanks DAdam!
Its just so funny to me how food culture often aligns with Abrahamic Judeo-Christian culture and you an atheist have to explain the origin of these traditions to a largely Secular audience.
Adam Raguesea core 0:08
Idk Mr Ragusea, I think the racism cake angle might be a bit of a stretch.
Angel= light and fluffy->make a rich and heavy cake that’s like the nega-version of angel food cake->name it after the opposite of angel.
That seems much more likely than late 1800s bakers trying to subtly dunk on black people. Who I guess are supposed to feel like, despair upon eating the delicious angel food cake and be like “alas! I am too dark of skin to be like this fluffy and delicious cake, and by extension a part of the Kingdom of God. I am more akin to this (also delicious) cake, named after…the great deceiver! Damn it all!
Big fan of the channel though!!
Love the food-science-history-sociology variety show videos!
Watch the damn video, man. He literally says that.
@ yeah I did watch the video, I just feel that after watching, he was a little too charitable to the “racism as origin to naming of angel food cake” theory. I don’t think he tries to push it as the most likely origin, but I think he should’ve been like “that’s a little far-fetched”.
@@plantain.1739ope, just rewatched the second half of the video, and yeah he definitely gives the last word to “light fluffy vs rich dark” theory. My bad, it’s a sleepy afternoon. I think I just got hung up on 13:40 where Adam hits us with the “could be that, or maybe it’s just racism”. Adam may have meant that sarcastically and I just misunderstood.
As a wise man once said, whoopsie daisies.
Yeah, Adam is really into the self flagellating behavior. Not the first video where he's pulling this. He was a university professor if I'm not mistaken, and this is part of the necessary brainrot to be a professor in the US.
@@shuppagail He was also a journalist, they most white-guilting of professions.
5:50 Wait, isn't ambrosia typically made with cool whip?
I know it's barely a whilped cream, but I'd argue it's a far cry from mayo in almost every respect
Wikipedia: "Ambrosia can also include mayonnaise or dairy ingredients: whipped cream (or whipped topping), sour cream, cream cheese, pudding, yogurt, or cottage cheese."
Love etymology!
You just described the bible
I never liked how Angel's Food feel on my teeth.
Delicious but racist cake
South African here. I’ve never heard of angel food, other than the cake. I tried a quick and dirty Google search and found nothing. Anyone have any further details about the fruit salad thing Adam is referring to?
Apparently Ambrosia skewers are marinated fresh fruit skewers cooked over coals. Not Angel but maybe some association…
the last half of this video needed to be just one long shot of you demolishing both those cakes. I'm very disappointed.
Ragusea: "Why it's called devil's/angel's food cake"
Adam and Eve:
Tisk tisk Adam out here canceling cake for being racist. So woke. Jk JOKING. THIS IS A JOKE. The video is good.
Nah it comes off as smug. Not interested in a lecture about how evil my ancestors are. Dislike and pass on the rest of this video thanks
@@tann_man the problem is you thinking anyone is calling your ancestors evil. When we receive new information and are exposed to other perspectives, we have the choice to reconsider our own opinions. They didn't have an Adam Ragusea video to watch that might provide that information and perspective so it's at least understandable why they didn't change their optinions, which were forged by that of the society they grew up in. I can't blame them.
YOU however, are making the choice to not even let yourself be exposed to new information or perspective. So while I obviously have no standing to call you "evil," if anyone has any ethical culpability, it's YOU and not your ancestors.
If only you explained this in song ..
sweet shirt
Adam while eating a piece of yellow cake with salted caramel, "Why is it called Piss Food Cake?"
Why is the shirt from Epic Meal Time minus bacon strips?
Negrito vs blanquito
does your t shirt reference "ruff draft" by j dilla? the design is pretty similar
Always nice to have content creators that ARENT wildly ignorant.
Love you man!
Right right, of course. Racism. In baking. I bet that was it.
English is not my first language and it's the first time I realise it's not "angel's 'fruit' cake“. Huh.
Have you ever eaten such a cake? They have no fruit in them whatsoever.
@ No. I never even saw one. Only (miss-)heard the word in pop culture like movies, cartoons and such.
Lol that’s a funny translation error alot of times it can be served with like fruit or jam or similar so that probably didn’t help clear anything up 😂
@@MoxxoM Oh, I see.
It's just a chocolate cake bro
8:03 what a weird and completely false thing to say, but I guess Adam REALLY wanted this video to be about racism so he had to fit it in somewhere.
personally I think connecting this in any way to race ridiculous
welcome to 21st century america, were anything and everything is racist
"We are diurnal" SPEAK FOR YOURSELF! I'm nocturnal and living in a diurnal society is so hard. :\ I wonder if the bags under my eyes will finally go away when I retire and can day-sleep like my body says to.
where is ur shirt from?
Well, it comes from the Western fundamentalist Christian idea of anything pleasurable being "of the devil."
Speaking of pleasure, did you know the origin of corn flakes was supposed to be bland, something that wouldn't encourage feelings that pleasure brings lol. If you eat bland things you're less likely to seek out other forms of pleasure. I think it's the opposite, especially if you have adhd lol.
Buddhism also considers worldly pleasures to be destructive, and is 800+ years older than Christianity. It isn't just a western concept. Zoroastrianism also believes that indulgences are sinful, and that is a Persian philosophy that is 1000+ years older than Buddhism. But sure, it's allllllll just evil, racist, white people who say that it's bad to overconsume
But is it made with real angels? 🤔
nice
So why even bother? It's cake, it's good. Done.
My thoughts while watching this: dear god do not let the cake be racist
The sugar in it is the devil.
Thank God no one mentioned Yellow Cake to him
why tf devil is black and angel is white?
color balance is still awful wtf are you doing
Racism
Saved you 18min
Sometimes it's just a fucking cake. Not everything needs some racial diatribe. I'm out.
And now he's deleting comments that point this out. Pretty scummy and reactionary
0:00 to 6:40: The origin of Angel Cake and Devil Cake
6:40 Onwards: Top 10 reasons why Soylent is good for you.
Cool, I like that you've shifted away from covering real, factual racism/discrimination in food history to completely speculative bullshit shower thoughts you had. Its "angel food" because its white and fluffy, like a cloud. And its "devil food" because its black and dense, the opposite of "angel food". That's why it appears later, because it needed the context of "angel food". Please tell me more about Squarespace.
Im just here to be offended….keep scrolling
Cake is mid you need to put it in a cup first
That makes no sense and is straight up false.
@MatthewTheWanderer cup cakes are better the cake
@@andrewbrown6279 How so!?
@@MatthewTheWanderer way better frosting to cake ratio
@@andrewbrown6279 Okay, well, you got me there. I agree, even though most people I know don't like frosting very much.
Watch out people. Eating devil's cake is racist now... Jeez!
IS THIS A FUCKING BRAWLSTARS REFRENCE
8:42 If you were wondering, here it is
And here 13:44
You can do better than this, Adam
If everything is called racist, relatively nothing is accurately called racist.
I like how Adam gives a bunch of different possible reasons and prefaces everything by saying he's no etymologist and people still pick out the bits about race and immediately shut off their brain because of how triggered they get.
You can do better than this.
@@Rhetam No one shut off their brains, youre just looking for a reason to call people racist to feel morally superior
@@Rhetam No one is triggered. By calling chocolate cake racist, you're a boy crying wolf when you see a dog. Real racism exists, and people will dismiss it if you flood the mass opinion with such poorly thought out accusations. You are diminishing the meaning of objective words to feel morally and intellectually superior online. Sorry that your gaming channel failed, its no excuse to distract people away from real and present racism.
@@scoobertdoobert7893
Except nobody called chocolate cake racist. Adam literally just said that the naming of devil's cake might have a historical association with skin color and named reasons as to why that might be so. The fact that you think that anyone genuinely made that argument shows you shut off your brain as soon as race was mentioned. This is why you seem triggered.
Ironically, you seem to be projecting by acting as if you're the arbiter of what does or doesn't have racial connotations. Acting morally superior and going "Ah. The boy that cried wolf once again!" because the mere mention of race makes you seethe for whatever reason.
Don't worry about my gaming channel. I switched over to gamedev as a hobby instead. I'll show you when it's done.😎