Not everyone eats sugary meals before bed. Likely a very rare thing, and also bad for your health.

If food were just about cold, hard, logical choices based on nutrition alone, we’d all just eat Soylent Red and Yellow.

People trade long-term detriment for short-term enjoyment all the time.

yummy

After a long hard day working at a shitty corporation, a yummy dinner isnt enough. I like that little extra yum yum before bed (like dark chocolate or semolina pudding with honey) coz it makes me feel happy. I like my vices, even though i know they are bad so i try to not go overboard

It starts with libations and food offerings.

Sweets were fed to the gods in ancient Mesopotamia and ancient India[7] and other ancient civilizations.[8] Herodotus mentions that Persian meals featured many desserts, and were more varied in their sweet offerings than the main dishes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dessert#History

The Romans continued the practice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_cuisine#Desserts

back to the main dessert article:

Europeans began to manufacture sugar in the Middle Ages, and more sweet desserts became available.[14] Even then sugar was so expensive usually only the wealthy could indulge on special occasions. The first apple pie recipe was published in 1381;[15] The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.[16]

And then there’s this guy:

Evidence for the domestication of the cacao tree exists as early as 5300 BP in South America, in present-day southeast Ecuador by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture, before it was introduced to Mesoamerica.[8] It is unknown when chocolate was first consumed as opposed to other cacao-based drinks, and there is evidence the Olmecs, the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, fermented the sweet pulp surrounding the cacao beans into an alcoholic beverage.[9][10]

Chocolate was extremely important to several Mesoamerican societies,[11] and cacao was considered a gift from the gods by the Mayans and the Aztecs.[12][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate#History

Now as to “why before bed”? It’s become a practice. But here’s the thing: nobody is making you eat a sweet nor at a particular time of day.

In the 80s it was rare to see people drinking water, except for “health food nuts”. It was far more common to see soft drinks/sodas. Over the years, society has become more accepting of drinking water. You didn’t have “hydrohomies” in the 80s. Be the change you want to see in the world.

I think it’s more cultural as it’s not uniform globally. I don’t care much for dessert as a concept, but I love a piece of cold fruit, like an orange, strawberry or melon after dinner. I find it helps reset the mouth after a flavorful meal. And I’ll usually have a cup of tea with it.

Desserts seem to pair better with coffee or tea, and having those after a meal is a fairly common ritual. I wonder if we have dessert after dinner because we often have coffee or tea?

I LOVE dessert foods, but I’m not a fan of dessert after a meal. Most meals I experience are over portioned as it is, there’s no need to add the least nutritional thing on top of it. To me it just seems like “let’s take the most enjoyable foods and eat them at the least enjoyable time.”

If we are having dessert at my house, which is typically reserved for special occasions, it is almost always an hour or so after we eat the meal.