The Aesthetics of Sugar Concepts of Sweetness in Contemporary Arab Culture

Dr..

Kamal Abdul Malik

December 30, 2022

We used to listen to Sabah’s voice singing: “I fed you sugar, I gave you amber to drink / And I made you stay up all night with my black eyes / Sugar, my love, sugar.”

My doctor friend commented on the song's lyrics that they are dangerous to health, and another said that it was better for the blackbird to feed the beloved the healthy "stevia" sugar.

What made me think of sugar is that sweet substance extracted from cane or beet juice, or malt sugar that can be obtained from starch and malt, which is less sweet than cane sugar.

And I remembered from my childhood plant sugar, that transparent candy that is made by boiling sugar with the addition of malt extract.

Sugar cane is a genus of perennial plant of the Poaceae family, native to hot Asian countries, its flowers are small in size, its stems are erect and polished, from which sugar is extracted, and its leaves are used as fodder for livestock.

In the medical term, diabetes refers to a disease as a result of a functional disorder and its causes are multiple, the most important of which is the lack of the hormone insulin, also known as diabetes.

In our Arab societies, there is a link between the idea of ​​sweetness as it appears in daily expressions and sugar as a common commodity linked to a long history.

People express beauty with sweetness, so a sweet young woman is beautiful, and work and life are sweet if they are good and satisfactory, and one likes to do such and such, that is, he enjoys work and action as if it is sweet like sugar.

In addition to providing sweetness, sugar performs a host of other duties that make our foods delicious: it caramelizes to produce a brown color in baked goods, helps intensify the sweetness in products like jam, creates an acidic environment to reduce food spoilage, and produces a sweet, satisfying mouthfeel.

In the June 2014 issue, National Geographic magazine mentions that people in Morocco celebrate the sugar bar, which takes the form of a conical pyramid and is packed in a white wrap from the inside and from the outside with blue paper.

As for the secret of the Moroccans' appetite for this type of sugar, it is something that goes beyond its unique taste to amount to a cultural heritage steeped in tradition.

Historical sources indicate that Morocco knew the cultivation of sugar cane at the end of the ninth century AD.

However, the flourishing of sugar production in Morocco occurred between the 16th and 17th centuries during the reign of Sultan Al-Mansur Al-Dhahabi Al-Saadi (1578-1603 AD), so that Morocco at that time became an important center for sugar production and export at the global level.

On all social occasions (Aqeeqah, sermon, marriage, congratulation, reconciliation, circumcision, Hajj, condolence) you will find the cake of sugar present, with a pure whiteness that pleases the onlookers, and a beautiful look that adds serenity to the atmosphere, sweetens the tastes, satisfies the thoughts, erases grudges and tightens the ties of bond between family and neighbors. It has been customary that when a young man goes to a girl’s house to ask for her engagement, he must acquire a symbolic gift of two or a few bars of sugar, and its acceptance by the girl’s family is considered an initial acceptance of their daughter’s future husband.

The presence of sugar, in its symbolic dimension, refers to good omen, blessings, and wishes for the grooms to have a happy and sweet life, as sweet as sugar.

On the other hand, it happens that disputes arise between the family or neighbors, and the sugar blocks interfere, so you see one of the parties initiates to visit the other party in his house, bringing with him sugar blocks that are the best expression of apology, with their whiteness that symbolizes peace, tolerance and purity of beds.

I ask God Almighty to make 2023 a sweet year for all of us.

• In our Arab societies, there is a link between the idea of ​​sweetness, as it appears in daily expressions, and sugar as a common commodity associated with a long history.

 Visiting scholar at Harvard University

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