Pervasive Sugarization

“The old art theories that separated sweetness and power collapse. For sweetness, it turns out, just is power: the most powerful thing.” (Morton 2013: 30–31)This paper explores the phenomenon that I propose to call pervasive sugarization. With this expression, I aim to convey how contemporary globalized society is increasingly attuned to and reliant on easily accessible and ubiquitous sweetness. This is favored by the frequently silent yet powerful omnipresence of sugars in a substantial portion of our dietary intake, particularly within the realm of processed foods that have assumed a predominant role as one of the world’s primary sources of sustenance. What has long been considered the most universal of all tastes has now become a threat, which calls for a profound, non-reductionist reflection on its role in contemporary societies. Confronting the complexity of such a phenomenon, situated at the crossroads of economics, politics, nutritional science, and various other disciplines, requires a philosophical perspective.Building on this purpose, I propose to consider pervasive sugarization as the gustatory dimension of the broader phenomenon of aestheticization. Before being normative or value-laden, aestheticization is a descriptive category of reality. Broadly speaking, it refers to a process, or a series of processes, that began between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, eventually becoming a defining feature of contemporary perception. At its core, aestheticization emphasizes sensations and hedonistic interests (Michaud 2003), as the constant pursuit of easy gratification across a wide range of phenomena and objects, far beyond the traditional artistic domains to which this function has historically been attributed (Iannilli 2018). This process entails applying aesthetic categories typically reserved for the realm of fine arts to our daily engagement with the world. Hence, to approach a “sweetening” of reality philosophically means to positively challenge the strict boundaries often drawn between ordinary and extraordinary experiences, prompting us to consider everyday practices—such as those involving food and gustatory taste (Perullo 2016)—as worthy subjects of aesthetic inquiry.The downside, however, is that contemporary aestheticization goes hand in hand with the economic strategies of consumption, beginning with its most material dimension of incorporation. Thus, aestheticization processes shape our sensory and cultural experiences of eating in that they make many of our food choices dependent on the criteria of immediate gratification and market promises. One of the most widely acknowledged results is that, in our contemporary milieu, we inhabit saccharophilic environments, with sugar-laden industrial foods being more accessible than fresh products like fruits and vegetables. Processed sugars emerge as the most cost-effective means of psychological reward, contributing to the development of addiction, which manifests itself in consumption patterns (Drewnowski et al. 2012). The connection between sweetness and pleasure is deeply ingrained from both a biological-evolutionary and also a cultural standpoint, with sweetness universally regarded as the primal and invariable vehicle for sensuous enjoyment (Borsato 2023). Yet, it has been the progressive narrowing of sweetness to a single organic compound—sucrose—that has radically transformed its value. Sugariness has gone through multiple processes of meaning acquisition, which the anthropologist Sidney Mintz (1986)—probably the first to highlight the power of refined sweetness—condensed into the notions of intensification and extensification: on the one hand, sugar has maintained its association with prestige, rituals, and exceptionality; on the other hand, it has been commodified, transforming into not only a widely accessible staple but also, among many other functions, into a substitute, corrector, and intensifier of other ingredients, paving the way for a multitude of similar designed sweeteners. Due to their omnipresence, the mode and threshold of perception for sweetness have thus changed, contributing to an easy sugariness and a general flattening of taste that accentuates its invasiveness.This brings us back to the central thesis of the paper, namely, that pervasive sugarization accounts for the distinctly gustatory facet of the widespread aestheticization where everything, even the most utilitarian and basic needs, must possess and does possess aesthetic value. Therefore, just as the reality we experience should have a “sugar-coating with aesthetic flair” (Welsch 1996: 5), the palatability of the food we consume must correspondingly be perceived as sweeter. As aestheticization dissolves the once-protected boundaries of fine art and emphasized sensory and experiential enjoyment, sugarization similarly vaporizes sweetness in every aspect of daily life. Consequently, we are witnessing a sweetening of experience, which is made palatable—meaning, sweet—in every sense: beyond the immediate pleasure of taste, sweetness becomes a common mode of experiencing, deeply connected with the triumph of a globalized atmospheric beauty. The immediacy of experience and the perpetual gratification of pleasure exhibit the traits of subservience to an overwhelming ultra-processed sweetness. Furthermore, this immediacy shows a precise conception of time, which, in the case of sugarization, refers both to the experience of consumption and that of assimilation. As is well known, free or added sugars are absorbed much more rapidly than other compounds, and this rapid absorption has direct consequences both on bodily reactions and on the value attributed to sweet experiences. Indeed, beyond its metabolic harmfulness, this process triggers a mechanism of compulsive consumption of experiences that aligns perfectly with what Lipovetsky and Serroy term transaesthetic capitalism, understood as the systematic integration of aesthetic parameters into all sectors related to consumption (Lipovetsky and Serroy 2013). In this sense, widespread sugarization leads to a form of gustatory addiction and a subsequent distracted consumption pattern.As noted at the outset, however, aestheticization is not merely a tool of alienation and an-esthetization of the society complicit with market interests; it also carries a positive dimension: it arises, in fact, as an egalitarian means of enhancing everyday experience through the diffusion of a collective aesthetic value (Matteucci 2016). Thus, I believe this potentially positive outcome cannot be achieved in the specific realm of gustatory experience by passively relying on pervasive sugarization. By virtue of the power sugar maintains, sugarization risks becoming a subtle form of control that, through endless desire and habituation, shapes choices and behaviors, fostering gustatory conformity. Yet this need not be discouraging. On one side, this possibly critical situation only makes it more urgent to confront—with philosophical audacity—a topic so seemingly ordinary. On the other, sweetness has always been both medicine and poison. That it has turned into a perceptual narcotic does not preclude its potential to be its own antidote. Reclaiming sweetness as a processual, ritual, and healing force can become an act of resistance against the pervasive and all-embracing phenomenon of sugarization.