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The Compass: Sugar-coated World: USA: Plantations and plains

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Sugar Coated World 

29/09/2021 GMT

USA: Plantations and plains

Sugar-coated World

BBC World Service - The Compass, Sugar-coated World, USA: Plantations and plains

How sugar became a central commodity to American culture, its diet and economy today

How sugar became a central commodity to American culture, its diet and economy today.

Lainy Malkani focuses on the story of sugar in the USA. From one of the oldest confectionery shops in New Orleans where the local delicacy of pecan nut pralines are made every day, to a former sugar plantation along the Mississippi river, she hears about the role of sugar in the history of Louisiana. 

She speaks to Khalil Gibran Mohammed about the legacy of sugar and slavery in the region, and hears from the manager of the Whitney plantation about what remains there today.  From there to the sugar beet plains of the mid-West, Lainy looks at how sugar has influenced government policy over time, and how the commodity has become central to American culture, its diet and economy today.

The Compass: Sugar-coated World

Lainy Malkani digs into the story of sugar and its hold on us

Lainy Malkani digs into the story of sugar and its hold on us.

Humans have always been delighted by sweetness, but its sticky hold on us is taking its toll.  In this three part series for The Compass, Lainy Malkani explores how sugar forged the modern world, from its role in the slave trade and the European colonization of the Americas, to the consequences of our dependency on it today. For some countries, their past is built on it; for others, their futures depend on it.  Across three continents – in Britain, the USA and Thailand, Lainy, the descendent of indentured Indian labourers in the sugar plantations of Guyana, digs into the past, present and future of sugar.

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