Historic (rec.food.historic) Discussing and discovering how food was made and prepared way back when--From ancient times down until (& possibly including or even going slightly beyond) the times when industrial revolution began to change our lives.

 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #20 (permalink)   Report Post  
Frogleg
 
Posts: n/a
Default Sugar

On Mon, 02 Feb 2004 11:36:04 -0600, Olivers >
wrote:

>We (hosts) serve to ourselves and to guests sweetened
>foods/sauces/condiments as part of ancient cultural memory, that we were of
>an affluence which allowed us to purchase sweeteners (in a time when sugars
>were vastly more expensive/harder to get than today).


My theory is that calorie-dense foods (fats and sugars) were the most
desirable when simple survival was the goal. Sharing these prizes
would be nurturing and hospitable.

>Certainly, in the US South, "sweetening" has cultural/societal
>implications. Pooor man's cornbread remains sugarless unto this day,


Don't think so. Sorghum and cane are common in old-time Southern
cooking.

>while
>most of the current mixes - the cornbreads of even modest affluence - are
>so heavily sugared as to be unpalatable. "Sweet" tea, massively pre-
>sugared, is a typical restaurant and home manifestation of "moving up"
>among the lower and lower middle class venues in which it is most often
>available. Unsugared hams are hard to find, and most of the pink loaves
>currently purveyed are more sweet than they are "hammy".


Regional, not class, preferences. Many Southerners put sugar in a lot
of things many Californians don't. Southern iced tea is normally very
sweet; it's unsweetened in other regions. Smithfield, VA, the center
of much classic ham production, produces mostly salt-cured products,
'though 'honey-cured' items are available.

The OP inquired about a "North American" fondness for sugar, which I
think is a mistaken impression. *I* wonder about the inclusion of
sugar in many dishes in Southern US cooking, But it's mostly, AFAIK, a
regional preference.


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Bat Nut, Buffalow Nut, Buffalo Horn Nut, Devil Pod, Black Buffalo Horn Nut, and Horn Nut Malcom \Mal\ Reynolds General Cooking 1 01-11-2012 04:19 AM
Dusk Horn Rats brooklyn1 General Cooking 34 28-03-2009 08:10 PM
What can a horn-rat not eat? James Silverton[_2_] General Cooking 56 04-03-2009 05:49 PM
Horn & Hardart's macaroni & cheese Duckie ® Recipes 0 14-08-2005 03:54 PM
Horn And Hardart: kjw Historic 1 30-01-2004 06:28 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:42 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2025 FoodBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Food and drink"