The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets explores the fascinating story of our desire for sweets—the impulse that prompts us to decorate elaborate wedding cakes, scoop ice cream into a cone, or drop sugar cubes into coffee. Through the collective knowledge of 265 expert contributors, from food historians to chemists, restaurateurs to cookbook writers, neuroscientists to pastry chefs, the Companion takes readers around the globe and throughout time, affording glimpses deep into the brain as well as stratospheric flights into the world of sugar-crafted fantasies. Celebrating sugar while acknowledging its complex and often dark history, this volume is the definitive guide to one of humankind’s greatest sources of pleasure.
Awards
- James Beard Award Finalist
- Honorable Mention, Association of American Publishers PROSE Awards
- Library Journals’s Best Print Reference 2015
Praise for The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets
“OUP’s Companion is nothing less than 944 pages of sheer brilliance!”
– AGA Living magazine
“I’m not sure if I’m more excited learning about wasanbon (the most famous sugar used in traditional Japanese confectionery), or sitophilia (which describes sexual arousal involving food), but lurking between the candy-coated endpapers of The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets is something gratifying for everyone.”
– Rosanne Gold, The Huffington Post
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