3 ms·

I grew up in Italy. Over there[1], it's rare for people to use sugar in savoury foods (maybe just a pinch here and there, at most). When I moved overseas (I mo

I grew up in Italy. Over there[1], it's rare for people to use sugar in savoury foods (maybe just a pinch here and there, at most). When I moved overseas (I moved around a bit then settled down in Australia), it was really hard for me to get used to the fact that most commercially made food had sugar in it. I couldn't stop thinking "why there is sugar in my sandwich", "why there is sugar on my pizza" and so on. Then I eventually moved over the poverty line (as a new migrant I was broke at first) and started eating "better" food, and I realised that the sugar thing was not a trademark of all Australian food, but just a trademark of Australia's junk food. Nowadays, in my head I associate the "sugary" feeling to junk food, and the "non sugary" to higher quality food. (Obviously all of the above only applies to savoury dishes). I'm told that in other countries the average sugar contents tend to be even higher (usually in the form of corn syrup). What is the commercial motivation behind the widespread use of sugar in cheaper food? I personally find it unpleasant but perhaps I'm in a minority? Or maybe there are other factors at play maybe related to food processing etc.? [1] (not really everywhere though because of regional differences)

smsm42 6y ago
Sugar is cheap calories and cheap "tasty", so junk food will have a lot of it. For me, also an immigrant, lots of US foods are too sweet and some sweets are plain intolerable for being oversugared (yes, cake or pastry is supposed to be sweet, but not that sweet, there should be a balance!) But sugar is a cheap way to make something feel tasty, especially to an unsophisticated taste, and people get addicted to it. I know because I was a sugar addict once. I drank liters of cola, and ate tons of junk food. And then when my blood sugar started to approach the red zone, I stopped and now I avoid added sugar foods at all, except an occasional pastry once in a while. And it does change how you taste things. The cheap high of added sugar is replaced with rich gamut of actual food taste.
rland 6y ago
Because sugar is addictive. It's not really about taste, per se. Sugar is metabolized quickly, and then is followed by a huge insulin spike shortly after. The whole process is up in 4-5 hours. While you're eating, it feels like you're getting something--those are the same signals that trigger the insulin. More substantive foods containing fats and proteins (probably, that's the stuff you like) take much much longer, >8hrs, and correspond to a more muted, but longer term, insulin response. So, if you eat a bag of chips with a sugary coating, you get a signal of "oh this is super fulfilling!" while the insulin is spiking, and then a "my stomach is empty again" in 4 hours when the whole thing ends. This makes you buy more of whatever thing had a bunch of sugar in it.
jaclaz 6y ago
Side-side note, but I am disturbed by the fact that the bread is called by Subway "Italian". There is normally no sugar at all (or much less than the 2%) in "common" Italian bread though there are particular kinds of bread that do contain it. Traditionally (at the time where there were not any children snacks at the supermarket, and even if there were noone bought/used them) it was traditional to give children as a mid-afternoon snack a slice of bread briefly soaked in water wirh some white sugar on it (as an alternative to an even more traditional slice of bread with some olive oil and a pinch of salt). When the kid was grown enough, like - say - 10 or older sometimes a few drops of (red) wine might have been added to the bread and sugar.

smsm42 6y ago

Sugar is cheap calories and cheap "tasty", so junk food will have a lot of it. For me, also an immigrant, lots of US foods are too sweet and some sweets are plain intolerable for being oversugared (yes, cake or pastry is supposed to be sweet, but not that sweet, there should be a balance!) But sugar is a cheap way to make something feel tasty, especially to an unsophisticated taste, and people get addicted to it. I know because I was a sugar addict once. I drank liters of cola, and ate tons of junk food. And then when my blood sugar started to approach the red zone, I stopped and now I avoid added sugar foods at all, except an occasional pastry once in a while. And it does change how you taste things. The cheap high of added sugar is replaced with rich gamut of actual food taste.

rland 6y ago

Because sugar is addictive. It's not really about taste, per se. Sugar is metabolized quickly, and then is followed by a huge insulin spike shortly after. The whole process is up in 4-5 hours. While you're eating, it feels like you're getting something--those are the same signals that trigger the insulin. More substantive foods containing fats and proteins (probably, that's the stuff you like) take much much longer, >8hrs, and correspond to a more muted, but longer term, insulin response. So, if you eat a bag of chips with a sugary coating, you get a signal of "oh this is super fulfilling!" while the insulin is spiking, and then a "my stomach is empty again" in 4 hours when the whole thing ends. This makes you buy more of whatever thing had a bunch of sugar in it.

jaclaz 6y ago

Side-side note, but I am disturbed by the fact that the bread is called by Subway "Italian". There is normally no sugar at all (or much less than the 2%) in "common" Italian bread though there are particular kinds of bread that do contain it. Traditionally (at the time where there were not any children snacks at the supermarket, and even if there were noone bought/used them) it was traditional to give children as a mid-afternoon snack a slice of bread briefly soaked in water wirh some white sugar on it (as an alternative to an even more traditional slice of bread with some olive oil and a pinch of salt). When the kid was grown enough, like - say - 10 or older sometimes a few drops of (red) wine might have been added to the bread and sugar.