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Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America
American consumers today regard sugar as a mundane and sometimes even troublesome substance linked to hyperactivity in children and other health concerns. Yet two hundred years ago American consumers treasured sugar as a rare commodity and consumed it only in small amounts. In Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America, Wendy A. Woloson demonstrates how the cultural role of sugar changed from being a precious luxury good to a ubiquitous necessity. Sugar became a social marker that established and reinforced class and gender differences.
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Woloson explains, the social elite saw expensive sugar and sweet confections as symbols of their wealth. As refined sugar became more affordable and accessible, new confections—children's candy, ice cream, and wedding cakes—made their way into American culture, acquiring a broad array of social meanings. Originally signifying male economic prowess, sugar eventually became associated with femininity and women's consumerism. Woloson's work offers a vivid account of this social transformation—along with the emergence of consumer culture in America.
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Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America
American consumers today regard sugar as a mundane and sometimes even troublesome substance linked to hyperactivity in children and other health concerns. Yet two hundred years ago American consumers treasured sugar as a rare commodity and consumed it only in small amounts. In Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America, Wendy A. Woloson demonstrates how the cultural role of sugar changed from being a precious luxury good to a ubiquitous necessity. Sugar became a social marker that established and reinforced class and gender differences.
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Woloson explains, the social elite saw expensive sugar and sweet confections as symbols of their wealth. As refined sugar became more affordable and accessible, new confections—children's candy, ice cream, and wedding cakes—made their way into American culture, acquiring a broad array of social meanings. Originally signifying male economic prowess, sugar eventually became associated with femininity and women's consumerism. Woloson's work offers a vivid account of this social transformation—along with the emergence of consumer culture in America.
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Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America
American consumers today regard sugar as a mundane and sometimes even troublesome substance linked to hyperactivity in children and other health concerns. Yet two hundred years ago American consumers treasured sugar as a rare commodity and consumed it only in small amounts. In Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America, Wendy A. Woloson demonstrates how the cultural role of sugar changed from being a precious luxury good to a ubiquitous necessity. Sugar became a social marker that established and reinforced class and gender differences.
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Woloson explains, the social elite saw expensive sugar and sweet confections as symbols of their wealth. As refined sugar became more affordable and accessible, new confections—children's candy, ice cream, and wedding cakes—made their way into American culture, acquiring a broad array of social meanings. Originally signifying male economic prowess, sugar eventually became associated with femininity and women's consumerism. Woloson's work offers a vivid account of this social transformation—along with the emergence of consumer culture in America.
Wendy A. Woloson is bibliographer for the program in Early American Economy and Society and acting curator of printed books at the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Wendy A. Woloson is bibliographer for the program in Early American Economy and Society and acting curator of printed books at the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Refining Tastes Chapter 1. Sugarcoating History: The Rise of Sweets Chapter 2. Sweet Youth: Children and Candy Chapter 3. Cold Comforts: Ice Cream Chapter 4. Sinfully Sweet: Chocolates and Bonbons Chapter 5. The Icing on the Cake: Ornamental Sugar Work Chapter 6. Home Sweet Home Conclusion. The Sweet Surrender Postscript:. The Sweet and Low Down Notes Essay on Sources Index
What People are Saying About This
Warren Belasco
This is an intriguing, highly original history of the democratization of sugar marketing in 19th-century America. Separate chapters narrate the evolution of children's candy, ice cream parlors, fine chocolates, ornamental sugar works, and homemade sweets. In tracing the various ways that sugar became more widely accessible and more widely used, this book stands within the growing literature that deals with the origins and evolution of modern consumer culture.
Warren Belasco
This is an intriguing, highly original history of the democratization of sugar marketing in 19th-century America. Separate chapters narrate the evolution of children's candy, ice cream parlors, fine chocolates, ornamental sugar works, and homemade sweets. In tracing the various ways that sugar became more widely accessible and more widely used, this book stands within the growing literature that deals with the origins and evolution of modern consumer culture.
— Warren Belasco, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
From the Publisher
This is an intriguing, highly original history of the democratization of sugar marketing in 19th-century America. Separate chapters narrate the evolution of children's candy, ice cream parlors, fine chocolates, ornamental sugar works, and homemade sweets. In tracing the various ways that sugar became more widely accessible and more widely used, this book stands within the growing literature that deals with the origins and evolution of modern consumer culture. —Warren Belasco, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
