Sweetness And Power by Sidney Mintz Analysis

In Sweetness and Power, Sidney W. Mintz investigates the use of sugar as it transformed from a precious commodity only consumed and flaunted by the privileged to a ubiquitous staple present in most European households. Sugar's benefits as a calorie booster and its efficiency of production fed Europeans' increasing appetite for this sweet commodity while the price of sugar dropped at the same time. The capitalization of sugar accelerated its spread to not only the British market but the global market. This shift in accessibility directly resulted in sugar’s lasting role in the British diet and culture, but it came at the expense of colonization and the exploitation of enslaved people who gave their lives to satisfy the world’s addiction to sugar.

The percolation of sugar from the top to the bottom of the social hierarchy in the eighteenth century did not rely solely on the motivations of the latter to emulate behaviors of the former, in actuality, the benefits of sugar for the poor outweighed the superficial benefits for the rich. As the citizens of Britain got a hold of sugar, they quickly realized the beneficial nutritional makeup of sugar and effectively took advantage of it in their diet. The undernourished working class incorporated sugar into foods that they were already consuming in order to boost caloric intake as well as to broaden the flavor profile of the often bland foods that they consumed on a daily basis. They sweetened tea, an already popular drink for the British at the time, with sugar to create a “hot, sweet beverage… especially welcome given their diet and England’s weather” (Mintz 117), and ate complex carbohydrates such as porridge and breads with treacle, or molasses, in order to make these foods more appetizing and sustaining (Mintz 118). Alongside being a symbol of status, sugar solidified its place as a dietary necessity by being a source of cheap calories that enhanced the taste of foods people could already afford.

Britain’s implementation of forced labor and the free trade system became instrumental in sugar production as demand for this commodity increased. Mintz emphasizes the interconnectedness of production and consumption and writes, “As the production of sugar became significant economically, so that it could affect political and military (as well as economic) decisions, its consumption by the powerful came to matter less...” (Mintz 45). Sugar was making money for the British empire, and it was clear that the need to expand the market for this product took priority over gatekeeping it within a small social class. Producing granulated sugar from sugar cane requires a tremendous amount of life-draining brute force and technical skill, which is why Britain opted to outsource the production of sugar to its colonies and use slave labor to sustain the high outputs needed to feed consumers’ ever-increasing demand for sugar (Mortimer). As a result, slave trade and slave labor became contributing mechanisms which enabled sugar to be cheap and accessible for everyone who had a desire for it.

After the introduction of sugar from the Middle East to Europe in the 12th century, it was mainly associated with the wealthy as a symbolic representation of power and status, but the economic potential of sugar quickly led to the popularization and subsequent globalization of sugar. Consequently, a consumer revolution spanning a multitude of industries was born, which made even luxury items seem more attainable for people who previously could not afford it. Sugar as a sweetener, preservative, and key ingredient stabilized the British diet during a time where people were trapped in a monotonous cycle of eating the same complex carbohydrates, not for taste, but for survival. Sugar ultimately blurred the line between the haves and have-nots and united the people of Europe in a collective affinity for sweetness.