![Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure by [Kawash, Samira]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51yntKa43AL._SY346_.jpg)
From Publishers Weekly
In an extended work of thoroughgoing research without any strong polemic, Kamash (Dislocating the Color Line) traces the evolution of perceptions about candy in the American diet, from rare treat to sin to food. Since sugar, rather than fat, is now largely considered the dietary fiend, a whole host of conceptions about candy foisted on the public by marketing, advertising, and media since the early 20th century are being reversed. Kawash walks the reader through candy's changing fortunes, from the manufacturing innovations at the beginning of the last century, from the addition of the starch mogul, an automated machine that allowed candy makers to create ever more fascinating confections to the use of chemists in order to perfect flavors, to the enlistment of snazzy advertising themes that enticed people to see sugar as energy food (the calorie was the best thing that ever happened to candy) and good slimming fun. Yet some complained of candy's deleterious influence on children and women, who were considered particularly vulnerable to its pleasures. In her proficient cultural study, Kawash looks at the manipulation of glucose, fructose, and creative derivatives of corn and soy in the ever-more-pervasive move toward processed foods, which blurs the definition of candy. Agent: Kirby Kim, WME. (Oct.)
From Booklist
*Starred Review* There’s more to candy than meets the eye (or taste buds). In this lively, engaging, and deliciously descriptive work, Kawash fills the gap left by culinary histories that don’t consider candy a food, revealing how the American mass production of candy in the twentieth century paved the way for the highly processed—and nutritionally problematic—foods we eat today. For a small, seemingly innocuous treat, candy has a turbulent history and much-maligned reputation. With gusto, the professor and author traces the effects of scientific, business, military, cultural, and domestic developments on candy: from the pervasive (and unfounded) perception of candy as a poisonous threat more than a century ago to its use as a military staple in the world wars and the truth about supposedly tainted Halloween treats. Advertisements, newspaper clippings, and more showcase some amusing and jaw-dropping misconceptions from the past. As nutritional understanding developed, and breaking foods into their nutrient components allowed manufactured foods to become more accepted, new products like sugar-coated cereal and snack bars kept the sweetness but dropped the candy label. Kawash makes a balanced case against accepting ultraprocessed foods at face value. With a helpful heaping of information in every verbal bite, this fascinating social and culinary history gives readers a deeper understanding of the powerful forces at work behind the brightly colored wrappers. --Bridget Thoreson
