Cake – we all love it, we all eat it. What on earth does it have to do with a cross-cultural blog?

Well firstly, it’s on my mind as it was my birthday yesterday 😊

But secondly, cake can actually highlight some cross-cultural differences.

For example – how do you cut the cake? 

Do you cut it in equal pieces for each person? I would consider that quite fair.

BUT there are some cultures where they would ask each person how much they want – smaller or larger are all catered for. That is also considered fair – but the two are quite different. We can apply this difference of the concept of “fairness” to how countries utilise and distribute their resources, to how people will operate in business and even how families share things amongst themselves.

Another example – how do you eat the cake?

In Australia, generally we cut the piece of cake, put it on a plate or serviette, and then the person eats it with their hands or using a cake fork if they’re feeling fancy.

BUT in India (and other cultures), the person whose occasion it is will be fed cake by hand by everyone else at the party (although more often it’s just their close family and friends who do this). It can also be made into quite a fun game when they also try to smoosh the cake in your face!

Or you could even eat it like this…though I wouldn’t recommend it! Image Source: Gratisography

So there you go – bet you never knew you could tie something so delicious to cross-cultural insights!