| Deborah J. Warner, Curator, Physical Sciences Collection, National Museum of American History discusses her forthcoming book, Sweet Stuff, about the American history of sweeteners. She covers sugar, to be sure, but also molasses, honey, sorghum, and syrups (cane, maple and corn, both regular and high fructose), as well as the major artificial sweeteners (saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame and sucralose). These sweeteners have long been important to the American diet and economy, with connections to science and technology, labor and capital, politics and popular culture. In this talk Warner will focus primarily on government involvement in the sweetness industry and agriculture. Her starting point comes from Mark Foley, a Florida Republican whose congressional district encompassed the sugar mills around Lake Okeechobee: "While free markets sound good on the surface, we're quickly finding that the free market doesn't lead to the best end result. |
