Sidney, . (1986). Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. Chicago: Penguin Books.
While studying the history since the sixteenth century, there was an interpretation then of how they would cut close by common social causes. In this book the author proves as to how Europeans and Americans transformed the basic commodity, sugar, from a rare foreign luxury, to a common necessity of modern life. There is a lot of emphasis on how the English made sugar a symbol for the country to back on. Sugar featured in their literary, imagery and display of ranks. It not only describes how sugar changed the face of the world but all the food items that it was combined with that grew in stature because of the presence of sugar. The people from the Caribbean working …show more content…
It gives a lot of clarity regarding why the Africans were made to work so hard in the fields to get sugar for the people of Europe. The use of sugar became contagious as having sugar was fashionable and people were just getting used to trends being set in the area of food across the whole of Europe. Finally, the author considers how sugar has altered work patterns, eating habits, and our diet in our daily life. The modern technologist believes that the “grammar” of food should be abolished so that sugar can be more “palatable”. Chances of a person not having some sort of sugar product throughout the day, is quite remote.
Sidney Mintz is one of the most renowned authors, best known for his study on Anthropology of food along with his research in the rise of Creoles from the Caribbean. The book “Sweetness and Power” is one of the most influential publications in food studies and cultural anthropology. He taught at Yale for almost 2 decades and has an excellent career in