Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, 6e by Richard H. Robbins

Author:Richard H. Robbins [Robbins, Richard H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Marketing
Publisher: Pearson
Published: 2013-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Modern Sugar

Sidney Mintz (1985:180–181) suggested that the consumption of goods such as sugar is the result of profound changes in the lives of working people, changes that made new forms of foods and of eating seem “natural,” as new work schedules, new sorts of labor, and new conditions of life became “natural.” This does not mean that we lack a choice in what we consume but that our choice is made within various constraints. We may have a choice between a McDonald’s hamburger and a Colonel Sanders chicken leg during a half-hour lunch break. The time available acts to limit our choice, removing, for example, the option of a home-cooked vegetarian lunch.

Sugar has become, as it did for the nineteenth-century British laborer, a mainstay of the fast-food diet in the United States, the perfect complement to fat. Both fat and sugar are made more attractive by the clever use of language. The fat side of our diet is advertised with words like “juicy,” “succulent,” “hot,” “luscious,” “savory,” and “finger-licking good.” The sugar side is advertised as “crisp,” “fresh,” “invigorating,” “wholesome,” “refreshing,” and “vibrant.” And the sugar in soft drinks serves as the perfect complement to hamburgers and hot dogs because it possesses what nutritionists call “go-away” qualities—removing the fat coating and the beef aftertaste from the mouth.

Thus, sugar fits our budgets, our work schedules, and our psychological needs while at the same time generating monetary profits and growth.

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