Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History
“We are what we eat; in the modern, western world, we are made more and, more into what we eat, whenever forces we have no control over persuade us that our consumption and our identity are linked ( Mintz, 1985, 211).”
In his book, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, Sidney. W. Mintz takes a historical and anthropological approach to the production and consumption of sugar and in the process explains the place of sugar in the human food chain and how capitalism and market forces changed the status of sugar from a luxury item into an everyday essential. Market forces, profitability, demand and supply in a lot of cases determine the eating patterns of a country and using sugar, Mintz explains how consumption isn’t always down to individual preferences. He explains the impact cane production had on the caribbean and other colonies and how changes in the consumption of sugar in the western world determined the lives of many workers and the economies of countries.
The book is divided into five chapters, each a process in the journey of discovering the place of sugar in modern history. In the first chapter, ‘Food, Sociality and Sugar’, Mintz attempts an anthropological approach to life of which the ‘anthropology of food and eating’ is a part. A history of sugar should not just confine itself to the production, distribution and consumption, but rather dwell on the meaning it had on the population. Mintz’s anthropological approach to sugar explains how consumption of sugar leads to dietary changes not only in the western world but also in the colonized countries. Far from being the necessity it is today, sugar was an aspirational food that had different uses based on the social class and the age group that used it. Mintz explains the transformation of sugar as well as the transformation of the enslaved population and the working class through centuries. In the second chapter, ‘production’, he discusses the production of sugar and how the transformation of sugar from a luxury item into an essential changed capitalism, modes of production (labor and slave trade) as well as consumption patterns. He uses a historical approach in this chapter and gives a very factual account of the sugar trade. He talks about the early sugar plantations in the Caribbean and the Atlantic and how the production from these regions only served to add to the list of luxury items of the upper classes and goes on to describe how the demand for more eventually led to the creation of more colonies and sugar plantations elsewhere. He pits sugar as an important factor in the growth of world capitalism. In the third chapter, ‘Consumption’, Mintz focuses on the consumption of sugar and how production and consumption of sugar are deeply interlinked and also explains how the consumption of sugar penetrated social behavior. Sugar was no longer within the reaches of the upper classes or just the western world but also became or made available to everyone, including the countries and the laborers that produced it. Mintz rightly argues that the production of sugar accelerated the move towards a capitalist economy. Early sugar plantations and a colonial economy were pre industrial and was pre-capitalistic to begin with. However the manpower needed, the organization of the workers, the logistics involved and the transportation of the raw and finished goods between the core countries and the colonies planted the first seeds of the capitalist economy of today. Thus although a small portion of the diverse food chain, sugar played an important role not in just changing dietary preferences of countries and populations but also changed its political and social structure. Mintz explains this beautifully through the meanings that are attached to food.
In the fourth chapter, ‘Power’, he describes how food takes on new meanings depending on the consumption by different social actors and how the new tastes that were acquires depended on the will of the ruling class and also how this changed the destiny of the country itself-politically and economically. He explains how power plays an important part in changing dietary preferences. In reference to increased consumption of sugar in the industrialized countries, especially among the working class, he says, “Managers of such societies recognized the potentiality of workers to increase their own productivity if sufficiently stimulated, and to open themselves to new, learnable needs (Mintz, 1985, 181).” Sugar from being a luxury or a ceremonial consumption changed into something that signified a minimum standard in diet for the average person. This chapter then “displays how this perception of sugar as a necessity affects western processes of "modernizing" other cultures (Bauser, 1992). Mintz also explains how native cultures are modernized through the changes in culture and consumption and the role of sugar in it. As the commercial gains of sugar through its increased use became clearer, sugar was no longer toutes as a luxury but was promoted as a necessity that would increase the calorie intake. From aspiring to eat like the rich, sugar consumption became a necessity in making everyday meals. Sugar then is not just a food, a condiment or a spice but rather something more important, a sort of catalyst that accelerated the capitalist process, the colonization and the ‘modernization’ of native societies. In the final chapter of the book , Mintz says, “ In understanding the relationship between commodity and.person, we unearth anew the history of ourselves (Mintz, 1985, 214).” These last lines of the book sum up the entirety of his argument that as the meanings of commodities change, so do the person. And through the history of sugar, he explains the change in the societies, not just the eating pattern, but also the way people saw themselves, the relationship between the producers and the consumers and the way they worked.
Culture is not static and through appropriation or imitation changes over time. Sometimes it is a result of external forces that are beyond the control of the individual and the society. The introduction of sugar into the daily food of millions was not an accidental process but was determined by the profit that was earned. The consumption of sugar is much more than eating something sweet, it is about power, economics and much more. Mintz’s history and anthropology of an ubiquitous product like sugar work together to make us reflect on the relations among and the consequences of what we eat, how it is produced and consumed and who we are (Marino 1987, 551). The history of sugar, as a food, a condiment and a commodity therefore also serves as a history of the modern world. Sugar was one of the products that played an important role in accelerating the capitalist economy as well as colonialist expansion, changing the lives of millions around the world. Mintz’s book is an important work that captures the history of the modern world through the production and consumption of a commodity-sugar. Extensive fieldwork and the historical approach not only gives the book an academic flavor but also makes for an interesting read. In effect, Mintz is successful in pushing the reader towards introspection, to think more about the food he or she consumes. His book although written a few decades ago is relevant, especially when the food industry and the health industry together come up with different ideas and suggestions about what is healthy. The food that is marketed fervently is not always good for the consumer and the producers are not concerned about the well-being of the customer. Rather a new food or fad is introduced based on its market value and profit margins. The consumer has little say over this and this is what Mintz clearly explains in his book. Eating is not a simple process but rather a mirror into the history of the population and countries. The evolution of food provides an insight into the evolution of humans as well as the changing nature of culture. Mintz’s book explains how culture is not static and how food preferences and social order changes as a result of external forces. His book is not just a historical work of facts and numbers but dwells deeper to find out how societies change drastically but also remain the same at certain levels.
Bibliography
Mintz. W. Sidney. 1985. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin Books.
Marino. A. John. 1987. “Reviewed Work: Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney W. Mintz.” The Journal of Modern History. 59.3: 549-551.
Bauser, Michael. 1992. Book Review: Mintz, Sidney W.. Sweetness and Power. Accessed January 18, 2016. http://www.michael.bauser.name/19920612T054840Z.
