Sweet Nexus: Sugar and the Origins of the Modern World

What many of us do not realize is that we live in a materialistic world. Our society has now turned into one which is that of a consumer society. But do we ever stop and think about just where and who makes these materials? The commodities that are involved in our every day lives are made by people who " are very distant from us geographically and culturally" (87). The problem with not knowing where these products come from and who makes them is that we take them for granted. In the global Market, "people produce what they do not consume, and consume what they do not produce"(87). This is very true, and I do not agree with it. 

While the reading is mostly about Sugar and its history, slavery has a huge toll on the conversation topic.  Europeans did not have a big supply on sugar because it was very difficult to produce. The task involved many hours of labor and this is where slavery came in. Black slaves were forced to do the job in many locations, although they did not want to.

Back to the topic of history of sugar, I was surprised to hear that products ingested sniffed, drunk, or smoke, "produce an alternative state of mind have been central for exchange and production". These itens are items such as, "coffee, tea, cocoa, tabacco, and sugar".  it is said that these products are, “A growing taste for rare and stimulating commodities had a transformative effect no the world and its people”. Sugar wasn't made popular until the Restoration of he Stuart line, when it was then spread out and used by merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans. Before this, Sugar was very limited to anyone even the elites. 

Now a day, sugar is in everything that we eat, and I bet that none of us could live a day without it, and even those who could would definitely suffer in one way or the other:). Sugar has become much of a need, and its surprising that it never was before it spread around the world.