a stand-in for everything good — and evil

August 6, 2018 6:14 AM

"Sugar is survival. It is a respite for palates swept clean of childish joy for too long. It is sexual desire and pleasure, and also temptation and sin. And it is a commodity, one historically produced with some of the most brutal labor practices on the planet. In the Western imagination, sugar is pleasure, temptation, and vice — and in modern history, it is original sin." Sugartime, by food writer and 2013 Great British Bake Off contestant Ruby Tandoh
posted by everybody had matching towels (6 comments total)

One of the best things to come out from Bake Off is the continued career of Ruby Tandoh, who has used the platform to speak about issues related to food. Thanks for posting this
posted by The River Ivel at 11:05 AM on August 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I don't follow GBBO contestants, but man this is great writing. I've just re-watched a few of the first episodes in the series she was in, and it's striking how different her voice is now. I think she knew she was good, but didn't embrace the confidence that she now shows.
posted by Gorgik at 12:03 PM on August 6, 2018

I just finished binge watching several seasons of GBBO and wow, Ruby's level of confidence has come a long way. Thanks for the link.
posted by Bornanerd at 1:07 PM on August 6, 2018

This was a wonderful read, thank you so much for sharing.
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:17 PM on August 6, 2018

Goddamn, leave it to humans to turn the enjoyment of sweetness into some racial dichotomy. Worst species I ever heard of, I swear. I wanted to a make a light joke about how the other flavors should learn from sugar on how to taste so good, but the article took a heavy turn. Kara Walker is incredible, I had forgotten the sugar sphinx!

Mishti is really good, I dated a girl born in Bangladesh for many years, on occasion I was treated to Bengali sweets her mother made. They were usually quite a shock, filled with delicious but unfamiliar flavours, many of them were quite wet with some sort of milky stuff. I find myself craving them from time to time but have no clue whatsoever to their individual names were. Mishti I'm only now recalling as a word I heard associated with them, I think I assumed it was more specific at the time.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:20 AM on August 7, 2018

The author mentions Sydney Mintz near the end of the essay; his book, Sweetness and Power, is a little old, but explores a lot of these ideas in great depth.
posted by TedW at 9:15 AM on August 19, 2018