The Good, The Bad and the Delicious: The Role of Confectionery in British Society

It is suggested that the particular place which confectionery occupies in the system of food classification is between ‘real’ and ‘junk’ food, and, as a ‘liminal‘ foodstuff, confectionary has the symbolic power both to mediate social relationships and to confer particular sets of social meanings.

Abstract

Food, contemporarily, has a high political and public profile in British society particularly in relation to health and health education. In this paper I explore why, despite the advice of the body technocrats, confectionery continues to occupy a prominent and pre-eminent place in the British diet. I suggest that the particular place which confectionery occupies in the system of food classification is between ‘real’ and ‘junk’ food, and, as a ‘liminal‘ foodstuff, confectionery has the symbolic power both to mediate social relationships and to confer particular sets of social meanings. These meanings are resonant of the wider moral space within which attitudes towards food in Britain are conceptually located. By exploring the “mythology’ of confectionery some explanation may be found as to why the much publicised warnings and advice of health educationalists and nutritionists go unheeded.