Splendid Desserts

Virginia Gillham is the senior librarian at Wilfrid Laurier University
and an international figure-skating judge.

This book offers recipes for virtually every kind of dessert known to
the North American palate. All are made with a sugar substitute that
renders them low in calories. A number of things about this book are
troubling. Although we are told that the sugar substitute used in all of
these recipes is safe and low in calories, no specific details or
background information are offered. We also learn little about the
author. Is she a professional nutritionist, or simply someone in the
employ of the company that manufactures the product? If the former, do
her loyalties lie with the standards of her profession or with the
company that pays her? No nutritional analyses accompany these recipes.
One would have expected at the very least a comparison of calorie values
using sugar and the sugar substitute. Finally, although the book was
written and printed in Canada, we

are told that “recipes have been tested in U.S. Standard measurements.
Common metric measurements are given as a convenience for those who are
more familiar with metric. Recipes have not been tested in metric.”
The impression that the book is an advertising tool aimed at the large
and lucrative U.S. market is difficult to avoid.