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The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair with Our Favorite Treats
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.
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.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2008
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167 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 17, 2019
Having recently read Bob Holmes' Flavor, I thought this would be an interesting followup as a tighter focus on one specific flavor. What it was, was a disappointing follow.
In the introduction, Chen mentions that she had long been collecting bits of information on all things relating to sweet, taste, and sugar until she had multiple file cabinets of random notes. And that's sort of how this book reads, a lot of random stuff kludged together with duct tape, bailing wire, and a meandering thread of self-referencing commentary. Chen likes sweets. She loves desserts. She goes on and on about how she "can't resist" or "is addicted to" anything sweet. (And, apparently, the more mass-produced, artificial, cloying, and cheap -- as long as it's chocolate or chewy -- the better.) So there's a lot of the I, me, my going on. The problem with that is two-fold. First, it's boring. Second, she assumes that because she does, likes, or experiences something a certain way, then it's a universal truth. Phrases like "no one can resist" and "we all" and "who doesn't love..." are common.
Much of this material has been covered before and better. It's as if she read a half dozen of the better known books about the food industry and flavor perception and either quoted them or booked interviews with the exact same people who told her the exact same things. Then she dumbed it down to the level of a women's magazine article. (And that's not a slur on women, but on the editors of magazines who apparently don't think much of their readers' cognitive abilities.)
I almost DNF'd this several times. There are better books out there. Holmes' Flavor and Michael Moss' Salt, Sugar, Fat are two that come immediately to mind. I wasn't a fan of Wansink's Mindless Eating, but he does explain his research better than Chen does.
In the introduction, Chen mentions that she had long been collecting bits of information on all things relating to sweet, taste, and sugar until she had multiple file cabinets of random notes. And that's sort of how this book reads, a lot of random stuff kludged together with duct tape, bailing wire, and a meandering thread of self-referencing commentary. Chen likes sweets. She loves desserts. She goes on and on about how she "can't resist" or "is addicted to" anything sweet. (And, apparently, the more mass-produced, artificial, cloying, and cheap -- as long as it's chocolate or chewy -- the better.) So there's a lot of the I, me, my going on. The problem with that is two-fold. First, it's boring. Second, she assumes that because she does, likes, or experiences something a certain way, then it's a universal truth. Phrases like "no one can resist" and "we all" and "who doesn't love..." are common.
Much of this material has been covered before and better. It's as if she read a half dozen of the better known books about the food industry and flavor perception and either quoted them or booked interviews with the exact same people who told her the exact same things. Then she dumbed it down to the level of a women's magazine article. (And that's not a slur on women, but on the editors of magazines who apparently don't think much of their readers' cognitive abilities.)
I almost DNF'd this several times. There are better books out there. Holmes' Flavor and Michael Moss' Salt, Sugar, Fat are two that come immediately to mind. I wasn't a fan of Wansink's Mindless Eating, but he does explain his research better than Chen does.
September 15, 2008
This book was not nearly as good as I had hoped. The author tried to touch on too many topics and so left them all a little unfinished. She interviews many different sorts of scientists and others who study sweets and flavors and they really carry the book. I wish I could have just read all her interviews word for word. Instead she injected a little too much anectodal evidence for my liking--especially because her anecdotes just say the same thing over and over again. I get it--you like cake, me too, what else? It is however, an easy read, which was nice.
July 31, 2012
It's about sweets, sugar, eating, and food. What's not to like?
March 13, 2020
Interesting, but not so much. Chen's personal love affair with sweets is meh, otherwise fun that she pokes into many of the corners of curiosity. She causes me to wonder whether I've lost a childhood delight in sweet or whether I never had it.
September 26, 2012
Just finished Joanne Chen’s The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair with our Favorite Treats. I’m a huge anthropology of food fan thanks to a prof at good ol’ MHC so I’ll never hesitate to pick up a book like this.
While others may be more fascinated in the biological background behind sweet or the chemical composition of sugar substitutes, I was more interested in Chen’s discussion of the way sweetness and taste are constructed based on a variety of factors.
She also included a good deal of the usual, and by that I mean the talk about how economic status determines a lot of what you eat and what kind of food is available to you. Chen also brought in discussions of why Americans are so terrified of sweet (or food in general) while other cultures (like the French and Japanese) find ways to embrace food while living healthier than the more cautious US. As someone intrigued by all of this and who reads a lot on the topic, I found Chen’s writing of it to be a bit basic. She didn’t give me any more than I had read before. But all in all, she gave a well-rounded picture of sweetness and I would recommend taking this all in with some chocolate covered pretzels (which is exactly what I did)!
While others may be more fascinated in the biological background behind sweet or the chemical composition of sugar substitutes, I was more interested in Chen’s discussion of the way sweetness and taste are constructed based on a variety of factors.
She also included a good deal of the usual, and by that I mean the talk about how economic status determines a lot of what you eat and what kind of food is available to you. Chen also brought in discussions of why Americans are so terrified of sweet (or food in general) while other cultures (like the French and Japanese) find ways to embrace food while living healthier than the more cautious US. As someone intrigued by all of this and who reads a lot on the topic, I found Chen’s writing of it to be a bit basic. She didn’t give me any more than I had read before. But all in all, she gave a well-rounded picture of sweetness and I would recommend taking this all in with some chocolate covered pretzels (which is exactly what I did)!
February 16, 2012
Some of it was boring to get through but I'm glad I read this. The biggest thing I learned is that everyone has different numbers & kinds of tastebuds & they are in different locations. This affects how you determine taste, levels of sweetness & bitterness, reactions or non-reactions to it. A PROP test can determine if you are a "taster", "non-taster", medium, or super-taster. People who react badly to vegetables my have 100 to 1000 times a greater sensitivity to bitterness than you.
Food can be sexist. We perform "eating identities". Cakes & confections are associated with females & meat & liquors are associated with males. For a man, it's not so much the eating of steak that defines his masculinity & power, but how much he's willing to spend on it. For a woman, it is not so much the cake that enhances her feminine status but her ability to resist it & the maintenance of her figure in spite of it.
Fact & interesting info in here. I recommend it.
Food can be sexist. We perform "eating identities". Cakes & confections are associated with females & meat & liquors are associated with males. For a man, it's not so much the eating of steak that defines his masculinity & power, but how much he's willing to spend on it. For a woman, it is not so much the cake that enhances her feminine status but her ability to resist it & the maintenance of her figure in spite of it.
Fact & interesting info in here. I recommend it.
August 20, 2017
When I picked this up I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting it to be such an interesting, informative book. I loved reading about all the studies done and theories out there on sweets. It has me wondering, once again, what kind of taster I am - I know I am not a non taster.
This was a book that I could discuss with my family easily. A good way to share things about nutrition with my children without sounding like a parent. My son even asked me once what I had learned new in the book today. Little things such as the differences of strawberries in the states, France and Japan, a short history of sugar, nutrasweet and splenda. There were some things I knew before, like tasters taste bitterness when eating some sugar substitutes, but I didn't realize that texture is a part of it as well.
This was a book that I could discuss with my family easily. A good way to share things about nutrition with my children without sounding like a parent. My son even asked me once what I had learned new in the book today. Little things such as the differences of strawberries in the states, France and Japan, a short history of sugar, nutrasweet and splenda. There were some things I knew before, like tasters taste bitterness when eating some sugar substitutes, but I didn't realize that texture is a part of it as well.
July 8, 2008
Very interesting book - covered so many different aspects of our attraction to sweetness. I was fascinated by the concept of tasters and super tasters and the chemistry behind sugar replacements. Me, I have no problem with sugar and fat. I think I was born on the wrong continent. I'm with the French - when you say "heavy cream" I say "whipped!"
A good book to read to take a look at your associations with foods and how to improve the relationshp and let the guilt go. Food is to be enjoyed. We have the most gyms and diet experts in the world and yet we are the fattest.
Before I get all soap-boxy, I'll stop. But read it. It's worth thinking about.
A good book to read to take a look at your associations with foods and how to improve the relationshp and let the guilt go. Food is to be enjoyed. We have the most gyms and diet experts in the world and yet we are the fattest.
Before I get all soap-boxy, I'll stop. But read it. It's worth thinking about.
June 10, 2009
Not As Sweet As Can Be
I bought this book hoping it would be another madcap adventure in the land of plentiful sweets, but was disappointed to find investigative reporting applied to sweet stuff. Though the book is definitely uber-researched and well-written, I kept waiting for author Chen to bust out a chapter on her favorite sweets. Instead, she teases the reader with tiny personal insights, then dives headlong into the complications of the chemistry of sweet. Fascinating, if a bit dry at times. Place this book on your whole-grain cookie shelf: good for you, but not sinfully delicious.
I bought this book hoping it would be another madcap adventure in the land of plentiful sweets, but was disappointed to find investigative reporting applied to sweet stuff. Though the book is definitely uber-researched and well-written, I kept waiting for author Chen to bust out a chapter on her favorite sweets. Instead, she teases the reader with tiny personal insights, then dives headlong into the complications of the chemistry of sweet. Fascinating, if a bit dry at times. Place this book on your whole-grain cookie shelf: good for you, but not sinfully delicious.
September 13, 2011
Parts of this book on sweetness and the human relationship to sweets were fascinating, while others felt dry, overdone, or just not explored sufficiently. Chen interviewed some brilliant food scientists, but I like some of their books on the topic better (Wansink, Marion Nestle, etc) Plus, it wasn't really a thorough exploration of the psychology and physiology of sweets, but instead a very personal journey through her own understanding of sweets and the role it plays. But, interesting and mouth-watering throughout!
September 26, 2010
Meh - it was ok. I didn't feel like the book had any focus. It was more historical than thought-provoking, which is what I hoped the book would be. More like Michael Pollan's books than a historical narrative or explanation of sweetness. I will say that the last 2-3 chapters were exactly what I was hoping for, and really caused me to think about the relationship between sweet, socioeconomics, and science. If only the rest of the chapters were as engaging!
August 13, 2009
As I've noted elsewhere, this book could have used some good editing--it's one of those "too long to be an article/too short to be a book (without generous margins and leading)" titles. But there are some great and fascinating tidbits in here about the science of tasting, the differences between real sugar/sugar substitutes/high-fructose corn syrup, and the like. It's a fairly quick read, so it's easy to zoom through the less interesting parts.
November 21, 2009
This caught my eye at the library because of the obvious draw the cover has on it! I have a major sweet tooth and I thought this might be able to tell me why! It did, kind of. But it certainly opened my eyes to the whys of what people choose to eat. I often refer to myself as a food snob and now I know why. But I also used to look down on people who enjoyed eating mediocre food, and now I cannot judge them any longer. It is just their genetics that bring them the pleasure of that food.
March 30, 2013
Chen explores the history, science, psychology, and pleasure of America’s relation with sweetness. Sweets for Chen mean cookies, cakes, pies, desserts, ice cream, and chocolate. This book is incredibly useful for bringing together the latest knowledge from every corner as it impacts on what sweetness means in American culture. (But strange that in a book on sweetness, she has almost nothing to say about candy itself.)
December 12, 2009
A straightforward work of pop science. You might argue too straightforward; a lot of Chen's "discoveries" are things that we probably already knew, intuitively or otherwise. Repetitive too; this could have easily been trimmed down into a very decent magazine article. Instead, it's a so-so book; unprovocative, inoffensive, unremarkable.
May 19, 2013
2.5 stars. Liked the information presented but felt there was too much filler (mostly generalizations along the lines of "We feel X about dessert because Y"). I was interested in the info about tasters, non-tasters, and super-tasters - and the exploration of why some people experience certain tastes more intensely than others. I did appreciate that the author was unabashedly pro-dessert!
October 10, 2009
Alright, but a bit disappointing. I was looking forward to reading about one of the things I like best (sweets!), but the book was not as focused as it could have been. There are some good bits of information, but the book really doesn't gel.
June 25, 2011
i think i would've liked this book more if i hadn't already read lots of food marketing/nutritional science type stuff before. felt like a lot of the studies in here were ones i already read about in other books. oh well!
September 6, 2008
Meh. I don't know why I keep picking up pop science books.
April 12, 2008
I think I new a lot of this stuff anyway, but it was pretty interesting and fairly comprehensive.
June 10, 2008
Quite interesting!
Read
June 17, 2008Yummy and entertaining!
August 4, 2008
A joyride through the land of sweet. You learn something, you salivate at the constantly mentioned foodstuffs. Informative. I like the author's voice.
July 28, 2008
I learned more about the biology, psychology, and history of taste and sweet things. It was fascinating.
August 2, 2008
An interesting non-fiction about why we are all such sweet addicts. There is lots of information about artificial sweeteners, which I found intriguing.
September 23, 2008
Too technical for me. Had to stop reading after the first third
July 26, 2009
A meandering, interesting, but empty read. I learned a little about the chemistry of taste, and could certainly concur with the author's desire for sweets, but wouldn't recommend the book.
May 21, 2012
Very informative. I love food, especially ice cream. Reading this only confirmed what I love. I discovered I am a super taster.
November 26, 2012
I think I read this and liked it, but it was so long ago that I'm not at all certain. Dates are super approximate.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews