Red Velvet and Romance

What's the similarity between confectionery and hormonally driven mental responses, as the title may seem to suggest? Nothing, except they both have generated varying demands in the market over the years. 

Moving on from that somewhat disastrous attempt at generating your interest, let me elaborate a little. It would be unfair to say that romance has been turned entirely into a commodity by the advancement of technology. Finding love has become easier, more convenient, and with significantly more options than real situations. That's what makes it so reliable as an idea to develop a business around. The demand never subsides. Customers are offered more than what they need, and it is human nature to want to explore all their available choices. Understandably, this is seen as a way to combine monetary interests and customers' wishes to create a thriving ecosystem of dating apps and matrimonial sites.

Enough about that, but how does red velvet come into the picture? 

A bizarre approach at correlating food with feelings.

Surprisingly, when the cake started regaining immense popularity, it wasn't because of the taste. It was because of it's signature appearance. Cream cheese frosting and the unmistakable red interior. However, the cake originally got it's red colour from a chemical reaction between the slightly acidic chocolate, mixed with the alkaline baking soda and acidic liquid like sour milk. The practice of baking the cakes this specific way is not followed in a lot of places anymore, because addition of red food colouring is a lot easier. Interestingly, it still remains a luxurious comfort food. 

Should I address the baby elephant in the room? Yes, appearance is the dominating factor behind our choices, be it a dessert or a dating partner, especially in virtual scenarios. 

There's nothing wrong with that though. Swipe right if the person has pictures with 'their' husky puppy, swipe left if the person has an overused pick up line in their bio. Unless you're a saint and choose to ignore the fact that in the end, it all boils down to how well you can sell yourself. Naturally, a lot of people end up exaggerating and even if your Tinder profiles match, maybe the stars don't end up aligning together in your favour. 

So many choices, so much disappointment. Yet, the pesky little possibility of 'what if?' lingers at the back of your mind, and you try again until you find contentment, maybe even temporarily. I personally think dating apps are great primarily due to the wide variety of people you're given a chance to interact with, but maybe what's truly lacking is the genuine effort that is required to make a relationship work. People aren't given a chance to truly express themselves completely, but that's more of a generational constraint where it's simpler to seek other options instead of working things out, than a digital constraint. 

No, romance is not dead. That shouldn't be used as an excuse to treat the other person only with basic human decency. It's alright to not want commitment, it's also alright to want commitment. It is expected however, that boundaries are clearly defined. It is ultimately up to us how we choose to form our connections.

Oh and I'm sorry to all those I'm about to disappoint , but I'm not the biggest fan of red velvet cake. It was just to draw your attention, and if you've reached this far, it obviously worked :)