Today, the world is so awash in sugar – it is such a staple of the modern diet, associated with all that is cheap and unhealthy – that it’s hard to believe things were once exactly the opposite. The West Indies were colonized in a world where sugar was seen as a scarce, luxurious, and profoundly health-giving substance

Today, the world is so awash in sugar – it is such a staple of the modern diet, associated with all that is cheap and unhealthy – that it’s hard to believe things were once exactly the opposite. The West Indies were colonized in a world where sugar was seen as a scarce, luxurious, and profoundly health-giving substance (Tom Reiss)