This book is an interesting well researched look at our interactions with sugar through history. ( )

This book is an interesting well researched look at our interactions with sugar through history. ( )

http://bibliophibian.blogspot.com/2009/08/twenty-taste-of-sweet-julie-chen.html ( )

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 with glimpses of personal preferences, 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. ( )

About:
Chen writes about all things sweet. Sugar, fake sugar, how we taste sweetness, the history of sugar, tastes and baked goods around the World, how and why you get full, how flavors are made, how sweets became "bad" and their relationship with weight are all covered.

Things I thought were interesting:

Some folks are "super tasters"

The idea that there is a "taste map" on the tongue where different areas taste different things (bitter, sweet, etc.) is a myth.

If you tell folks that a wine is from South Dakota and tell some other folks that the exact same wine is from California, they'll say the California wine tastes better.

Companies adjust the taste of their products to localities. A drink may be sweeter in one country than another.

If a restaurant sells zucchini cookies but starts calling them Grandma's zucchini cookies, not only will sales increase, but consumers will say they taste better.

In a study on chocolate cravings, only an actual chocolate bar curbed the craving as opposed to a pill capsule with cocoa in it. But people who fast and are shown favorite foods have the same brain area light up as an addict craving drugs.

People eat more when distracted, i.e. when watching TV.

Slim-Fast has 180 calories and 4 tablespoons of sugar per can and is supposed to make people thin. A can of cola has 150 calories and 3 tablespoons of sugar and is supposed to make us fat. Granted, one is supposed to be a meal replacement but still....

The 3 cheapest fruits are apples, bananas and oranges.

Anything under 5 calories per serving can be reported as having no calories. No calorie Splenda really has 4 calories.

More than a dozen feedback loops affect human food consumption.

Pros:
Fascinating and well written in an accessible style that makes scientific concepts easy to understand. Sources cited. There is a yummy looking cookie on the cover

Cons:
I thought it odd that Chen includes a shot from her knees up as her author photo. It's as if she needs to prove she's not fat even though she wrote a book on sweets. She mentions that 12 different processes affect food consumption in humans but provides no source for this fact. Lacks a satisfying conclusion. ( )