Somehow along the way my brain got wired to the belief that all food has a Platonic ideal - that is, an ideal interpretation, a dictionary definition of the way a certain thing should be. With that intolerance for nonsense, I've always approached desserts and bread with a purist's eye. What's the point of making a chocolate dessert if you have to substitute something for the chocolate, sugar, or flavor? To me, changing an essential quality of anything is like rerouting a river. We can try to change the boundaries, but why? Well for one, not everyone has a choice in the matter.