Gerhard returns!

I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from him all week. Turns out he was on vacation. Gerhard writes:

One of my original brownie-questions was: “How come something so highly appreciated by Americans is regarded as a cake gone horribly wrong in Europe…something that shouldn’t be eaten but thrown away…?” By that of course I mean mainland Europe. I know I’m playing the Devil’s advocate here, but somewhere there must be the reason for the deep European aversion to brownies.

I’ve tried my hardest to answer the question, Gerhard. I think part of the answer has to do with the European definition of what a cake is, and/or what it’s allowed to be. The rest of the answer, I think, is that it’s simply a matter of taste. And who can account for that? This may be one of the irresolvable differences between us, but I’ll throw it open to the readership at large. Anyone out there have any ideas?