The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair with Our Favorite Treats [Hardcover]

Joanne Chen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 18, 2008

Dismissed as déclassé by gourmands, blamed for the scourge of obesity, and yet loved by all, the taste of sweet has long been at the center of both controversy and celebration. For anyone who has ever felt conflicted about a cupcake, this is a book to sink your teeth into. In The Taste of Sweet, unabashed dessert lover Joanne Chen takes us on an unexpected adventure into the nature of a taste you thought you knew and reveals a world you never imagined.

Sweet is complicated, our individual relationships with it shaped as much by childhood memories and clever marketing as the actual sensation of the confection on the tongue. How did organic honey become a luxury while high-fructose corn syrup has been demonized? Why do Americans think of sweets as a guilty pleasure when other cultures just enjoy them? What new sweetener, destined to change the very definition of the word sweet, is being perfected right now in labs around the world?

Chen finds the answers by visiting sensory scientists who study taste buds, horticulturalists who are out to breed the perfect strawberry, and educators who are researching the link between class and obesity. Along the way she sheds new light on a familiar taste by exploring the historical sweet­scape through the banquet tables of emperors, the pie safes of American pioneers, the corporate giants that exist to fulfill our every sweet wish, and the desserts that have delighted her throughout the years. This fabulously entertaining story of sweet will change the way you think about your next cookie.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her thoughtful first book, Chen, a longtime magazine editor and writer, examines the physical, psychological and historical relationship between sweet flavors and humans, especially Americans. She begins by looking at how we taste by examining the human tongue, and taste buds in particular, meeting up with a psychologist whose work strongly suggests that some of us simply taste things differently. But while the tongue just absorbs this information, the stomach and the brain communicate what we like, what we want more of, whether we've had enough or whether one or the other or both wants to override the system for a variety of reasons, including emotional ones, and permit overindulgence. The author follows a technician whose work includes finding and using flavor components such as the 1950s strawberry. Turning her focus to stateside sweetness in the second half of the book, Chen argues that for a variety of historical and cultural reasons we Americans are uniquely vulnerable to sweetness because of external factors, thus, our uneasy relationship with it. The result is a large industry for and about sugar, another against, yet another for artificial sweeteners and connected others such as those for nutrition, exercise and diet. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—This rollicking survey of desserts is as addictively compelling as the author finds red velvet cake to be. Referencing agricultural history, gastronomic invention, medical research, and social changes, Chen weaves readily between science and art, expertly including readers in her exploration of taste buds, kitchen technology, and up-to-the-moment news about weight and health. Not only is it fun to read about chocolate, sugar, and dueling recipes, but Chen also offers intriguing narrative on the history of candy (the name of which was borrowed by Crusaders from the 11th-century Arabic sweet called Qandi); how experiments like the Edible Schoolyard, funded by the Alice Waters Foundation, can instill food literacy in adolescents; and the economics of food shopping that distinguishes gustatory selections made by wealthy and poor Americans. Accessible and focused by turns on such topics as fat, hybrid fruit, and artificial sweeteners, this volume can be dipped into or read in full. It's an excellent choice for teens who have any interest in knowing why candy bars are attractive and for curriculum planners in search of stellar writing to add to courses in science, history, health, or sociology.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (March 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307351904
• ISBN-13: 978-0307351906
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,997,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Riveting Look at the Culture and Science of Sugar and Sweet Tooths March 25, 2008

By Rachel Kramer Bussel VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The Taste of Sweet gives readers plenty of (delicious) food for thought. Sugar love Joanne Chen sets herself the task of explaining why it is we love sweets so much, but in the process, teaches about everything from taste buds to artificial sweeteners. It's a combination history lesson and science lesson, along with an impassioned argument that, just maybe, sweets can be good for you. I know - say what? But after reading The Taste of Sweet, I learned that it's not so simple as good or bad.

Chen's tone is thoughtful, easy to read, with personal anecdotes thrown in, but not enough to overwhelm her journalistic chops. She starts out talking mostly about candy and chocolate and ice cream, but along the way, it's clear that fruit, and how we taste it (or don't), is also important here. She visits flavorists who help determine the exact right taste of an oatmeal cookie, and those behind the scenes working to create a healthy alternative to sugar.

When she says, of artificial sweeteners like Nutrasweet, "We fear these sweeteners to some extent, but we also fear the prospect of living without them." As someone who both runs a cupcake blog and recently quit a 4-6 liter a day Diet Coke habit, I know just what she means. Her exploration of Sugargate and the various ways companies are trying to find the next big thing in fake sugar is a must-read, whether you partake or don't (though honestly, it made me glad I don't).

Perhaps the best parts of the book are those that explore the cultural meaning(s) of sugar. Chen has harsh words for those, like The New York Times, who go all out to praise upscale sweets emporium Dylan's Candy Bar while deploring lesser forms of chocolate. Here, we find that sweets aren't only gendered, but classed. Her assertion that our sugar snobbery "reeks of arrogance," both in privileging imported chocolates over that Kit Kat bar at the drugstore, as well as our general denigration of dessert as lesser and unnecessary, is one that is hard to argue with. At the same time, Chen also points out her own battles with self-control when it comes to sweets. She's an unabashed sweets lover, but not ignorant of the fact that they cannot replace vegetables (and her reaction to the combination of the two near the end is fascinating).

One thing that's clear after reading this book, whether you agree with Chen on all points, is that how sweet a given food is, or isn't, is extremely subjective. I had never heard of tasters, non-tasters, or super-tasters before this book (they have different numbers of taste buds), and that was simply fascinating, though also makes one wonder how not just manufacturers, but those preparing food for guests, can come to a common denominator. Chen's style is delightful, and she weaves together the various strands of her story perfectly. Dare I say this is the perfect book to read while enjoying your favorite candy (or cupcake)?

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A satisfying treat May 14, 2008

By Charlie

Format:Hardcover

About:
Chen writes about all things sweet. Sugar, fake sugar, how we taste sweetness, the history of sugar, tastes and baked goods around the World, how and why you get full, how flavors are made, how sweets became "bad" and their relationship with weight are all covered.

Things I thought were interesting:

Some folks are "super tasters"

The idea that there is a "taste map" on the tongue where different areas taste different things (bitter, sweet, etc.) is a myth.

If you tell folks that a wine is from South Dakota and tell some other folks that the exact same wine is from California, they'll say the California wine tastes better.

Companies adjust the taste of their products to localities. A drink may be sweeter in one country than another.

If a restaurant sells zucchini cookies but starts calling them Grandma's zucchini cookies, not only will sales increase, but consumers will say they taste better.

In a study on chocolate cravings, only an actual chocolate bar curbed the craving as opposed to a pill capsule with cocoa in it. But people who fast and are shown favorite foods have the same brain area light up as an addict craving drugs.

People eat more when distracted, i.e. when watching TV.

Slim-Fast has 180 calories and 4 tablespoons of sugar per can and is supposed to make people thin. A can of cola has 150 calories and 3 tablespoons of sugar and is supposed to make us fat. Granted, one is supposed to be a meal replacement but still....

The 3 cheapest fruits are apples, bananas and oranges.

Anything under 5 calories per serving can be reported as having no calories. No calorie Splenda really has 4 calories.

More than a dozen feedback loops affect human food consumption.

Pros:
Fascinating and well written in an accessible style that makes scientific concepts easy to understand. Sources cited. There is a yummy looking cookie on the cover.

Cons:
I thought it odd that Chen includes a shot from her knees up as her author photo. It's as if she needs to prove she's not fat even though she wrote a book on sweets. She mentions that 12 different processes affect food consumption in humans but provides no source for this fact. Lacks a satisfying conclusion.