The Candy Project: the re-enchantment of candy in a liquid world

Abstract

Sugar consumption has become an extremely serious problem, especially since its incorporation into every type of food not only those considered to be sweet culturally. This is not exclusively a health problem but also a gastronomic one, since this “invisible sugar” is perceptible by the stomach but not by the senses. Sugar’s ubiquity has led to its demonization. The consumption of candy has been one of the victims of this process. A social image of “empty calories”, or food without nutrients, has been built up around it. In this article I want to emphasize what this “medicalized” image of candy leaves out: the social, imaginary, nutritional and gastronomic potentialities of this form of alimentation. It is true that since sugar became invisible we have no understanding of its power. But by focusing solely on negative aspects we overlook the potentiality of candy as, amongst other things, vehicles for nutritional socialization and education in taste. Redeeming candy thus involves changing the social imaginaries associated with it. This new imaginary is largely emerging in the field of internet and the new technologies.