Recent Reads: A Dark History of Sugar by Neil Buttery – informative, interesting, and often a difficult read, as it should be
I don’t know exactly how I came across this one, but I find food histories fascinating, particularly when they’re focused on one specific item and how its cultural importance affected…everything. This is a good example, following the history of sugar, particularly processed white sugar, through its development, its growing popularity, and the absolute horrors that were undertaken to fill greed both toothsome and financial.
It is, as I said, sometimes a very difficult read, but it would be lying if it wasn’t. None of the enslaving countries come out well, obviously; Britain comes out particularly badly. Like, worse than you’d think, even considering, you know, well…Britain.
It’s a little difficult to say I enjoyed this one, because it’s full of awful things while simultaneously being self-aware that it is in many ways only scraping the surface. But it was well worth reading, and if you’re the kind of person who’s interested in food histories, I’d recommend it.
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