Renowned cultural anthropologist from the USA, Sidney Mintz, died recently at age 93 (November 16, 1922 – December 27, 2015). He analysed how the British consumption of sugar is linked to the history of slavery, capitalism, and imperialism.

“Nutritionists can construct diets for the species based on the best scientific information available, but there is no infallible guide to what is naturally the best food for human beings. We appear to be capable of eating (and liking) just about anything that is not immediately toxic. Cross-cultural studies of dietary preferences reveal eloquently that the universes that human groups tret matter-of-factly as their “natural environments” are clearly social, symbolically constructed universes. What constitutes ‘good food,’ like what constitutes good weather, a good spouse, or a fulfilling life, is a social, not a biological, matter. Good food, as Levi-Strauss suggested long ago, must be good to think about before it becomes good to eat.”

Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, 1986: 8.

Header and photo above by Social Science Insights