1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From extravagant sugar sculptures during the Renaissance and baroque eras 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: to the sweet tooth that would ignite the Transatlantic slave trade. 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: Today we traced the not so sweet history of sugar. 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,760 Speaker 1: My name is Eva Longoria and I am and welcome 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores our past 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: and present through food. On every episode, we'll talk about 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: the history of some of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages. 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: So make yourself at home. Even so, tell me about 9 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: the sugar sculptures. What do you mean sugar sculptures. Sugar 10 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: sculptures are these like insane literally sugar sculptures made from 11 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: this resin and sugar that were incredibly expensive, and these 12 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: were very popular beginning in the Middle East around the 13 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: eleventh century. I mean, there's a party, a banquet it 14 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: in the court of Cairo in the year ten forty, 15 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: where they used nearly a hundred sixty thousand pounds of 16 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: sugar scisses in the Middle Ages right to create these 17 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: table ornaments. Let me tell you what they included. They 18 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: included an orange tree, one fifty seven statues, and seven 19 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: model palaces. So this is this tradition that made its 20 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: way to Europe and during the fift hundred sixteen hundreds, 21 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: it was very common for wealthy Europeans to have these 22 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: sugar sculptures made to decorate the tables. Um they were inedible, 23 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: they were just purely decorative. And this is still when 24 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:44,279 Speaker 1: sugar was incredibly, incredibly expensive, and this was a sign 25 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: of power. Sugar equals power. If you had access to 26 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: sugar and you could throw away sugar like this. Why 27 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: was the access to sugar hard because it was coming 28 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: from the Caribbean or were well not yet when the 29 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: trans Atlantic slave trade started the driving force, so this 30 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: was was sugar right for people to sweeten their coffee 31 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: or their chocolate or their tea. And then with this, 32 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: and I want to talk about Latin America and Mexico 33 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: specifically when this happened, that they were taking enslaved Africans 34 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: to the different colonies and sugar became more readily available, 35 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: then nobody wanted those sugar sculptures that were so valuable 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: because then anybody could have it. Nten forty, Where did 37 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: that sugar come from? In Egypt? The sugar was coming 38 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: from the Middle East, and where was it in the 39 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: Middle East? So sugar is native to India, and so 40 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: sugar is native to India. From India, it made its 41 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: way to the Middle East, and then from the Middle 42 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: East made his way to Sicily, to Spain, and then 43 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: it made its way to the America, to the America's 44 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: right with her Portugal, you know, the Portuguese Brazil, and 45 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: the earliest references to sugar by you know, Europeans at 46 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: Alexander the Great and his commanders. They got there, they 47 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: arrived in India and they were describing this, this salt 48 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,839 Speaker 1: that tastes like honey. So they didn't really know what 49 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: to call it. Where did the word come? And honey 50 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: produced without the association of bees. It comes from sugar 51 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: comes from saccada, that's a Sanskrit word. So so we 52 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: see the Arabic foundings that yeah, exactly, exactly in the 53 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: exactly love that the honey, the honeyed salt. Yeah or yeah, 54 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 1: this you know, produced without the association of bees. The 55 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: ancient Romans they used it as a medicine. It it 56 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: has the consistency of salt, but it's sweet, so and 57 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: for many years it was known as the sweet sweet salt. 58 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: Is this why when it became popular. Is this what 59 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: Europeans had bad teeth? It was fashionable for wealthy Europeans 60 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: to have tooth decay because they can have access to sugar, 61 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: and they could have When did floride come into the picture? 62 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: That's beyond me. I don't know, but really not in 63 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: the fifteenth century. So I have a question for you. 64 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: Are you a sugar or salt person? I love sugar. 65 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: I love salt. I know That's why my salt the 66 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: salt episode is special to me. I love salt too. 67 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: Is this sugar episode specialty you? Honestly, people always ask 68 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: me what's your favorite thing to talk about, or what's 69 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: your favorite class that you've taught? Whatever I'm studying at 70 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: the moment, I'm obsessed with. I love sugar. I mean, 71 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: if if you were giving me like a piece of 72 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: meat or a piece of cake, I will a hundred 73 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: percent of times I take the meat. Yeah, if you're 74 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: giving a bowl of olives or chocolate, that's tough because 75 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: I love olives. Olives is my favorite food. Okay, I 76 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: mean a bowl of pretzels and a chocolate chocolate okay, cupcake, No, 77 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: I would take pretzels, olives, potato chips, popcorn. You can 78 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: put cupcakes and cakes everything in front of me. I 79 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't and I'd be starving and I'd be like, oh, 80 00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,720 Speaker 1: you don't have anything else. I'm not a sugar person. 81 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: The only thing I loved when I was little was 82 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: that blon Ceo someone Zeo and Mike. They just pulls 83 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: out the biggest belonzelo. I used to have the little ones. 84 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: I've never seen a little what is belonzo because it's 85 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: just it's just sugar. They take the sugar, so this 86 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: is not super refined sugar because it's still brown. And 87 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: then they pour it into molds. Um, so it's busy. 88 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: What did the colne mold makes a little cornell stand 89 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: up in your kitchen? Yeah? Maybe. And they used to 90 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: sell them because they used to sell larger ones and 91 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: they were brown and then also white, and they used 92 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: to sell them with little snips, like little clips, so 93 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,720 Speaker 1: you used to cut a little bigar. This is what 94 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: This was my candy when I was little. Yeah, you said, 95 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: that's I've never tasted it, like like I've just bit 96 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: it all over. So but I used to buy it 97 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: in a tiny cone so you could have it almost 98 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: like a candy. Corn I've never tasted like that. It 99 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: was like, you're just putting it's just spoonfuls of you say, 100 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: you're not a sugar This is like, well I do 101 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: love wine, and my friends like, of course you love sugar, 102 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: you love wine. I was like, oh yeah, yeah, this 103 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: is like sugar. So that European craving for sugar explode 104 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: in the seventeenth century, especially to domesticate chocolate and coffee 105 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: and tea. Domesticated, domesticated what is that? Why is that 106 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: word used to sweeten and sugar because coffee and tea, 107 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: coffee and tea, because in the seventeenth century, coffee, tea, 108 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: sugar from you know, from Africa, from China, from Mexico 109 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: made its way to Europe and these were really bitter drinks. 110 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: So they weren't used to this bitter drinks. Okay, let's 111 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: sweeten it to domesticate it, right, So then it became 112 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: about the beautiful decorative arts and all of this. But 113 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: this idea of domesticating the exotic, this demand for sugar 114 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: kickstarted the slave trade. Yeah that lasted for you know centuries, 115 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 1: and you know, we think of you know, sugar, it's sweet. 116 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: The spoonful of sugar and this and that, but it 117 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: has such very dark side, brutal, brutal, brutal history. Yeah, 118 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: it's a very dark side. I just saw a documentary 119 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: called The Dark Side of Chocolate and it was about 120 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: the slave trade with the cocawbeans in the Ivory Coast. 121 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: You see it with so many different commodities that we 122 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: just we don't even think about it. And then in 123 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: the UK during this time in the seventeenth century, they 124 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: called for a boycott on sugar because of the slave 125 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: uh slave relation. Right that we start seeing that in 126 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: the in the early eighteenth century, there was this this movement. 127 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: It was one of the very first examples of consumers 128 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: using their purchasing power to say you know what, no, 129 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: I'm not going to support that. And it was actually women, 130 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: women before they could vote. They thought, you know what, 131 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: I'm not going to buy that sugar that's produced unethically 132 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: and it's fantastic. So they rejected the trade. They rejected 133 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: it and did it change. It made a big difference. 134 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: They had, I mean nearly a million followers at that time, 135 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: you know that, people that supported it. So instead of 136 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: buying sugar produced by enslaved Africans. Oh, they would buy 137 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: ethical sugar produced in different parts of the country, or 138 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: beat sugar, which is another type. You know, so it 139 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: tastes a little bit different. But this whole idea of 140 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: you know what, if I'm boycott this, maybe it'll make 141 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: a difference. After the break, we'll hear more about the 142 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: history of sugar. Don't go anywhere hungry for history. Will 143 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: be right back. Why do I associate sugar with the 144 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,319 Speaker 1: Caribbean because that's where it was planted in the Americas 145 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: by Spaniards. By Spaniards, Yes, exactly, so in Dominican Republic, 146 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: and and that's why they Cubans did the room right, 147 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: m exactly. The rama is the product of the sugar cane, exactly. 148 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: So very early on, actually one Isabella and Ferdinand, the 149 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:16,839 Speaker 1: Catholic monarchs, they gave Christopher Columbus permission to import Africans 150 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: into the Dominican Republic to support the sugar plantations, exactly, 151 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: to create sugar plantations. It wasn't even there. They wasn't granted. 152 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: Oh my god, so you know what, here, I'll give 153 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: you permission. So then it was called Espanola, right, it's 154 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,840 Speaker 1: Dominican and Haiti was one. First ship of ensaved Africans 155 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: arrived really early in fifteen o three and the city 156 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: of Santo Lo Aminico is founded by Christopher Columbus brother. 157 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: So there was like the whole family Maleo. I didn't 158 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,479 Speaker 1: know that guy had a brother. So there's two Columbus 159 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: to deal with. There's three, there's a son. There's a 160 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:00,080 Speaker 1: son as well. So the very first sugarcane plantation in 161 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: the New World was built and what is now the 162 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: Domerinican republican fifteen sixteen, and this was by Christopher gleamus Son. 163 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: So the Diana were indigenous people to the Caribbean. They 164 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: were in Cuba and Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. And 165 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: after the sugar plantations started, it wasn't even like until 166 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: fifteen years later that the Taino population decreased so much. Yeah, 167 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: with diseases, with massacres, overworking them and suicides, all of that, 168 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: all of that is devastating, totally devastating. Let's talk about 169 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: the process of making sugar, because why did it need 170 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: so much slave labor? Is it? Is it labor intensive? 171 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: It's very labor intensive, and it's very dangerous. Like sugar 172 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 1: is this is this read right, and so it's this 173 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: really thick. It's like a thick bamboo stock exactly. That's 174 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,079 Speaker 1: a perfect way to describe it. A thick bamboo, super thick. 175 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: And it grows up to twenty feet. And so this 176 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:58,319 Speaker 1: stock needs to be cut by and you could grow 177 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: it cut, you know, low to the ground because you 178 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: don't have to replant it because it just gross. So 179 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: you cut it, it regenerates. You cut it, it it regenerates exactly. 180 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: And so those reads, they have to be pounded to 181 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: cut to remove the liquid. Then then that liquid needs 182 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 1: to be boiled. So if you you know, if you've 183 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,719 Speaker 1: made caramel, it's so easy to burn it. It's so 184 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: easy to burn yourself. I mean, hot sugar is like brutal, 185 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: and that you need to get it to a certain 186 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: temperature in order for it to exactly, in order to 187 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: form too Christy cook it to cook it. And then 188 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: there are different steps you know, for the sugar until 189 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: it's the white refined sugar. So there are different stages 190 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: of the sugar process. But it's brutal of course, what 191 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: you wanted to do it cutting it by hand is 192 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: backbreaking and just backbreaking exactly. And the mills at this time. 193 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:54,079 Speaker 1: They're so inefficient during harvest, and so the slaves will 194 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: work in the mill basically twenty four hours. Yeah, and 195 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: when there was this movement, right, the boycott movement and 196 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: all of that buzz in Europe, they would have artists 197 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: paint beautiful paintings of the sugar mills just to show, well, 198 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: really it's not that bad. So you have Africans who 199 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: worked enslaved, really well dressed, somebody playing the propaganda. It's 200 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: totally fine. Their happy, but didn't didn't the slaves rebel. 201 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:28,439 Speaker 1: There were a lot of rebellions, and one rebellion in Mexico, 202 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: and Corfez arrived in Mexico early on with a whole 203 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: bunch of enslaved Africans who he had actually purchased in Cuba. 204 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,079 Speaker 1: And in fifteen seventy there's a man and there was 205 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: a man named Gasparillanga, and he was brought to Mexico 206 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: work in the sugar plantations, and he rebelled against the 207 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: Spanish crown and he led a group of fugitives escaped 208 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: to the mountains in Veracrus and built a colony, a 209 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: small colony, and so he was worked in with the 210 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: local government, and eventually he won his freedom, paved his 211 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 1: way to freedom, and there's a town as of sixteen thirty, 212 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: this town, San LaRence Los Negroros. It's actually the first 213 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: self liberated and independent town in the American all the 214 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: America and all American. He's a national hero. And there's 215 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,439 Speaker 1: a sculpture of him holding him a chetty and a 216 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:27,080 Speaker 1: sugar came. Oh yes, I've seen this image. It's a 217 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: huge it's a huge, huge, huge image. So yeah, there's 218 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: so much history of sugar and it's a part of 219 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: the Mexican history that nobody really talks about. I really 220 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: want to talk about La because we've both been there 221 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: in Betta Cruz. It's incredible, it is stunning. Explain what 222 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:48,439 Speaker 1: it is because I for me, I just go color 223 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: vibrancy life, and it's basically a street, but it's color 224 00:13:54,559 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: vibrancy life. It's beyond right. It's phenomenal. I'm in the 225 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: city of Racrus, in the town proper, walking in a 226 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: neighborhood called La Waca, which is really really interesting. It 227 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: was this this neighborhood, it's just actually a few blocks 228 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: and it was established in eighteen seventy it was outside 229 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 1: of the city. Um so there was it was basically 230 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: there was there was a wall surrounding the city of 231 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: Veracrus and just outside of the city is where all 232 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: of the enslaved Africans that worked in the sugar plantation 233 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:42,479 Speaker 1: with So it's a neighborhood in US that these homes 234 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: are built from wood that were taken from from the ships, 235 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: from dog ships, and it's purple and pink and yellow 236 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: and just super colorful. And the roofs are tiled like 237 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: French child roofs, and the banisters from the windows are 238 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:03,000 Speaker 1: are from Oh it's it's really really interesting and everything 239 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: is brightly painted. Um it's kind of dilapidated. Um So 240 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: when I say brightly painting it, it was probably looked 241 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: really really bright and maybe fifty years ago. Um. But 242 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: it's it's I've never I've never seen anything like this. 243 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: It's a national treasure. Like they protect that street. And 244 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: it's small, it's only a couple of blocks. It's like 245 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: two blocks. Yeah. Yeah. The crazy thing is like the 246 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: boats that brought them over and enslaved them, they repurposed 247 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: into their homes. Like the pain of the that visual 248 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: is visceral. When you're on that street. I didn't even 249 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: think of this. The ships that brought them over, it's 250 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: like inescapable. Yeah. Yeah, they had to use the same wood, 251 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: the same ships that enslave them. Yeah, the same wood. 252 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: That's horrible. And between the conquest of through the seven 253 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: century up to five hundred, thousands and slave Africans were 254 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: brought to Mexico to work and sugar um, which is 255 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: so interesting because it's part of the countries history that 256 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: nobody really talks about. And here I am in Mara Cruz, 257 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: the place that they were brought into, and literally I'm 258 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: walking around where they lived. Um. I see purples and 259 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: greens and pinks and and some of them are empty, 260 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: some of them homes, and some of them are a 261 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: little um of little restaurants. There's a lot of food 262 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 1: stands there now, all these beautiful foods, this Caribbean influenced foods. Yea, 263 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: the famous musician. That's where she was born and raised. 264 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: The famous Mexican singer Sana negad Ad started her career 265 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: performing year. And there's a there's a whole street. Um, 266 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 1: not a street, there's a there's an alley that's named 267 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:20,160 Speaker 1: after her. This is a very very cool spot living mystery. 268 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll hear from Melanie Leno of 269 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: Made by Leno, a bakery in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Melanie is 270 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 1: an incredible baker, an activist, and just an incredible person, 271 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: and I can't wait for you to hear from her. 272 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: Here is baker, activist, entrepreneur Melanie Leno of the bakery 273 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:02,360 Speaker 1: Made by Leno and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, talking about how important 274 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,680 Speaker 1: it is to connect to where our food comes from. 275 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: She'll also share stories from our favorite childhood sweet treat. 276 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: My name is Melanie Leno. She her pronouns founder of 277 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: Made by Leno, which is a big shop kitchen and 278 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: collective and late coffee roaster and big shop. We as 279 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: a society or so disconnected from our food that we 280 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: don't recognize um, or we don't even think about all 281 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: of the humans connected to providing us with our grocery 282 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: store commodity flower, all of the humans connected to the spices. 283 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: We buy a giant for a dollar, you know, we're 284 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: not thinking that, oh, this cayenne pepper powder was picked 285 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: by somebody from another country, probably not getting paid decently, 286 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: probably having a hard time existing in our in their 287 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 1: human experience right now, while we are are like, oh, 288 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: this is a dollar, this is affordable, this is great, 289 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: but we're just so disconnected from like where our things 290 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: come from. My mom and father are from the Dominican Republic, 291 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: born and raised, migrated here and then had us. If 292 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: you are a child to people who migrated to this country, 293 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: then you know and understand how deep of a connection 294 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: our parents still have to their their homeland and what 295 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,199 Speaker 1: they know and what they're familiar with. I ate a 296 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: lot of with my grandmother in Dominican Republic. As a child, 297 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: there would be the days where we'd just be chilling 298 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: and and there would be women who come from al 299 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: Campo with a big tray of that they would usually 300 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: balance such as skill just balance it on their head. 301 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: And as I got older, I learned more about the 302 00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: process of making and something about the tape east and 303 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: the texture. It's just very nurturing for me. So it's 304 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: you know, it's made with but data um Caribbean sue potato. 305 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:13,400 Speaker 1: Specifically how it is cooked I've learned over a fire 306 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: and also like baked in this way where it creates 307 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: like a caramelized crust on the outer part, and then 308 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: the inside is this very dense, moist, almost custered forward 309 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,239 Speaker 1: treat with a lot of spices. So I'm thinking, like, 310 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 1: you know, some cinnamon, there's some star and niece in there. 311 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,679 Speaker 1: So in me missing the motherland, my culture, and and 312 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: my connection to it. When I was a kid, I 313 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,399 Speaker 1: attempted to make my own and all of the memories 314 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,160 Speaker 1: I can the smells just kind of takes me back 315 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: to spending time with my grandmother and my cousins and 316 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:55,400 Speaker 1: my sister and being in a space where people look 317 00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: like me. It's really a special treat. So climate change 318 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: is really affecting sugar production. One because it takes a 319 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: lot of water. It's a crop that requires a lot 320 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 1: of water. But most importantly, during the winter, low temperature 321 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: is very important for the ripening of the sugar cane, 322 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 1: and if there's not a low temperature in the winter, 323 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: it will not ripen. And so now because the winters 324 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: are now hotter, right, it's not getting low enough to 325 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: ripen the temperatures so interesting, Yeah, And so elevated temperatures 326 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: basically reduces the ripening, which reduces the quality of your 327 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: sugar cane, which reduces the quality of sugar. That crazy. 328 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 1: Everything is connected, everything is affected by climate change. Might 329 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 1: be another one of those plants that goes extinct and 330 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: we only have chemical sugar, like how we have the 331 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: chemical vanilla. Like, all these plants are dying. Now, all 332 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: these plants are dying. We really need to to take 333 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: care of our planet. Take care of our planet, man, yeah, 334 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: take over our planet. Make sure to tune in next 335 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,719 Speaker 1: week to hear all about the history of chocolate, the 336 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: food of the gods and one of the most incredible 337 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: ingredients that Mexico has given the world. Thanks so much 338 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: for listening, and don't forget to subscribe by everyone. Thank you. 339 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: Hungry for History is an unbelievable entertainment production in partnership 340 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: with I Hearts, my podcast network. For more of your 341 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: favorite shows, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, 342 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:36,919 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.