Refined tastes sugar, confectionery, and consumers in nineteenth-century America - Woloson, Wendy A. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-262) and index
Preface and acknowledgments -- Introduction : Refining tastes -- Sugarcoating history : the rise of sweets -- Sweet youth : children and candy -- Cold comforts : ice cream -- Sinfully sweet : chocolates and bonbons -- Icing on the cake : ornamental sugar work -- Home sweet home : domesticated sugar -- Conclusion : Sweet surrender -- Postscript : Sweet and low down
"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."--Jacket