Monday, January 27, 2020
Week 3.1 & 3.2 - Sweetness and Power
This book's premise is a simple question: how did sugar transform from a rare and pricy spice to one of the most ubiquitous global commodities? In the sections assigned for this week, what are some of the social and cultural factors that led to this transformations? What are the economics behind the transformation of sugar into a global commodity?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sugar switched from being a rare spice and medicine that was only valued among the wealthy to a sweetener that became more economically common as the consumption of sugar went up. In the sixteenth century sugar became more popular as a decoration in England, which required some of the most whitest and expensive sugar. Along with the decorations of white sugar came fancy edibles that only the Royals could afford that were made with sugar pastes. These elaborate edibles became a symbol of power and status. However, in 1760, Mrs. Glasse's confectionery cookbook became popular once sugar became cheaper and was more common among the middle class. Once sugar prices became cheaper and more common, the decline of its status went down. Instead of the symbolism of power through sugar in the eighteenth century, producing, taxing, and shipping sugar became the new way for the powerful to remain powerful and in control of the commodity. Once the common use of sugar started to take off, it then was commonly paired with tea during break time at work for the working class members of London society. Sugar then became more popular among the poorer classes than the wealthier classes as "Tea became an economical substitute to the middle and lower classes of society for malt liquor" (p.114). The importance of sugar among the lower classes became more than just a sweetener for tea but also a source that filled the calorie gap of the poor in foods like bread, which then "Became a away to control the poor population since it deprived children of protein" (p.149).
ReplyDelete