Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, was so incensed by the recently reached federal debt compromise that he declared, “This deal is a sugar-coated Satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see.”

In the often crude, blunt and earthy world of journalism, I’d often heard of the proverbial s**t sandwich. Often, it would be an editor telling we mere mortal reporters why, for instance, we would be going yet another year without even a cost-of-living raise, or why our insurance premiums were going up, or why we would all be sharing the workload from the latest round of newsroom layoffs.

“Well, what can I say?”  the editor would say, anyway.  “It’s a big ol’ s**t sandwich, and we all gotta take a bite.”  (The lower down the management-employee totem pole, however, it sure seemed the bites were bigger.) But I digress.

Congressman Cleaver, I’ve never heard of a sugar-coated Satan sandwich. In fact, I don’t even recall mention of a Beelzebub Baklava, though that would likely be sweet, too. Wash it down, I suppose, with a Lucifer Latte?

I remember as a preacher’s kid, our little country church would have a monthly potluck after a Sunday service. Fried chicken, of course. Casseroles, naturally, and an assortment of appetizers, inevitably including (shudder) deviled eggs. For desert, there would cookies, pies and the cosmically-opposed be Angel’s Food and Devil’s Food cakes.

Guess which one went first? I always thought the Angel’s Food rather bland and spongy. But the Devil’s Food, that was rich. I felt almost sinful getting seconds of the black, dense and decadently delicious desert. Once I even asked my Mom to make some Devil’s Food Cake just for us. Heresy. . . a confectionary gnosticism!

“I won’t have it in the house!” she declared. “I will make some ‘chocolate’ cake, though.”

And, one time she did. It wasn’t as good, somehow. It was dry, crumbly,and  chalky. Maybe the preacher’s wife just couldn’t get her Pentecostal soul into it. I guess when it comes to baking a good D****l’s Food Cake, the devil’s in the details. Really.

It seems Ol’ Scratch has the inside track for culinary sinfulness. Consider: You’ve got you Angel’s Food Cake, Angel’s Hair Pasta, Hot Cross Buns, and maybe a couple more heavenly sounding dishes. But on the other side, there’s Satanic Fudge Brownies, Deviled Eggs, Ham, Crab, Devil’s Spit barbecue sauce, etc.

Of course, many people of faith have serious problems with no-no foods. Observant Jews and Muslims avoid a variety of foods judged non-Kosher, in the former case, or Haram, in the latter. (In other words, forget those dry-rubbed pork ribs, among some other things). Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons and Rastafarians shun coffee (though many Rastas will use marijuana as part of their religious rituals).

What will my LDS, Adventist and Rasta friends say when they see St. Peter whipping up the perfect Caramel Macchiato in heaven?

And, I hear a nice wedge of Devil’s Food Cake goes down well with one of those.