Sometimes the line between dessert and main course is blurry. Take the old tradition of sweetening certain vegetables, for example. Although the Amish generally prefer mild seasonings, they seem to find some dishes too bland without the help of added flavoring: the older people, especially, like some sugar with their rice when they eat it as a vegetable. Perhaps the Amish first enjoyed rice as a pudding before immigrating to America. The old dish was eaten in Germany in the 16th century. Whatever their first acquaintance with rice, many Amish have always preferred it with sugar, simply adding more if the rice is served for dessert. “When my mother made rice as a vegetable, she always made extra so she could have enough for dessert. She made it a little sweet as a vegetable, but she’d add whipped cream and pineapples to it for a dessert.” Particular combinations, varying from family to family, were traditionally eaten with rice. One woman in her late 50s explains, “We’d often eat tomato sauce over rice as a vegetable.” Remembers another, “We used to have cooked rice with milk and sugar added to it with cinnamon on top. That was served hot with raw-fried potatoes.”