In the last year or so, lemon bars have come to be associated with the bisexual community.
Many people are a bit confused about the origin of the association.
There are quite a few stereotypes that are harmful, but stereotypes are often also used by members of those communities themselves as a sort of self-deprecating humor.
Two fairly well-known examples: bisexual people apparently can't sit in chairs properly and always roll up the hems of their jeans.
These are, of course, not true of every member of the community. That hasn't stopped them from becoming common inside jokes.
Lemon bars are a relative newcomer to "bisexual culture" however, and the delicious addition can be traced back to Reddit.
Reddit user u/Tuxedo-T-Shirt explained the origin of the lemon bars in a post on subReddit thread r/bisexual.
He started out by offering a lengthy explanation of the origin of lemon bars as a dessert, and why he chose them for his welcome message to new Redditors.
"You see, lemon bars were created by someone who wasn't content with the texture of most pastries. They wanted something fruit-flavored warm from the oven, but pie just didn't have the right feel to it, and jelly-filling could only go so far. They experimented with several recipes until they finally found an ideal combination of sweet and sour in what we now know as the modern lemon bar."
"This refusal to compromise and this desire to have theircakelemon bar and eat it too is predominant in the spirit of bisexuality, in which we refuse to hide who we truly are and compromise our true desires just to fit in to a society that often ignores our validity. The combination of flavors represents our interest in both male and female genders, and the wonderful burst of flavorfullness represents our interest in everyone inside and outside of that gender spectrum, as well as our own vast degree of sexuality that runs the gamut of that spectrum."
He could only carry on with the pomp and circumstance for so long before he could no longer keep a straight face, metaphorically speaking, though.
"LOL I can't hold it anymore, I'm sorry, I'm TOTALLY making all of that shit up."
The real reason lemon bars became a bi thing?
"So I just started using lemon bars because I love them and you don't often hear them mentioned in typical conversation."
"I came out, I felt immediately welcomed and warm and fuzzy, and when I saw others coming out here, I commented with the phrase, "Welcome to the Bi Side, we have lemon bars." or something similar."
"I only said this because I remembered seeing T-shirts that said, "Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies." And cookies being associated with that aspect of Star Wars. I thought it was kind of fun. Then I remembered watching the South Park Movie (I don't think many of you were even out of diapers when that came out) in which two popular tv actors were arrested and sentenced to death for their profanity and the main characters banded together to try to rescue them."
"In their effort to recruit for the resistance, they added the words "...Punch and Pie" to the end of their recruiting emails. People inevitably showed up for punch and pie, and some left when they found out there wasn't any, but the theme of offering treats to people to come to something kind of stuck."
You can read u/Tuxedo-T-Shirt's full post below:
from bisexual
Lemon bars have since spread beyond Reddit to become a thing with the larger online bisexual community.
from bisexual
Apparently there were quite a few people who were unfamiliar with lemon bars, though.
The lemon bars have spread beyond a simple Reddit meme.
They have become part of the community identity and a symbol of pride and hope.
"I want to say thank you for coming up with the bisexual lemon bars of initiation. I've used them to subtly celebrate pride. In my family, I'm out to my mom - only my mom. I wanted to learn to bake, and I just so happened to bake lemon bars on June 1, only having heard of them because of you. They are my favourite dessert now. I shared them with my family. I've made two pans. People want them for parties. They're a success, and I'm being humble when I say they are the best things in the world."
"No one knows what they mean to me, but I find it really warming that they're enjoying something that means something to me, even if they don't know it does."
"Thank you for the lemon bars, and thank you for your wonderful presence on this sub. :)" -RedChairGaming
"Tux, you know what you created for me (and probably a lot of other people)? Probably an awesome coming-out tool. I've not tried it, and I'm not gonna try them now because I'm not ready, I still have a lot of things I want to get through before coming out, but the day I'm ready, for sure, I'm gonna do it with lemon bars and I know it's gonna be easier because of you. Thank you Tux." -ParadoxOnLegs
The internet works in mysterious ways, and an offhanded comment or joke can easily become a meme.
Sometimes, though, it goes a little further than that and becomes an integral part of a community.
