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Sugar: A Global History
Contributor(s): Smith, Andrew F. (Author)
ISBN: 1780234341     ISBN-13: 9781780234342
Publisher: Reaktion Books
OUR PRICE:   $18.95  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: May 2015
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Cooking | History
Dewey: 641.336
Series: Reaktion Books - Edible
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5" W x 7.8" (0.80 lbs) 128 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
It's no surprise that sugar has been on our minds for millennia. First cultivated in New Guinea around 8,000 B.C.E., this addictive sweetener has since come to dominate our appetites--whether in candy, desserts, soft drinks, or even pasta sauces--for better and for worse. In this book, Andrew F. Smith offers a fascinating history of this simultaneously beloved and reviled ingredient, holding its incredible value as a global commodity up against its darker legacies of slavery and widespread obesity.

As Smith demonstrates, sugar's past is chockfull of determined adventurers: relentless sugar barons and plantation owners who worked alongside plant breeders, food processors, distributors, and politicians to build a business based on our cravings. Exploring both the sugarcane and sugar beet industries, he tells story after story of those who have made fortunes and those who have met demise all because of sugar's simple but profound hold on our palates. Delightful and surprisingly action-packed, this book offers a layered and definitive tale of sugar and the many people who have been caught in its spell--from barons to slaves, from chefs to the countless among us born with that insatiable devil, the sweet tooth.

Contributor Bio(s): Smith, Andrew F.: - Andrew F. Smith teaches culinary history at the New School in New York. He is the author or editor of several books, including the Oxford Encyclopedia on Food and Drink in America, Hamburger: A Global History, Potato: A Global History, and Sugar: A Global History, the latter three also published by Reaktion Books.