Shelf Life

Candy Mastery

The Candy Cook Book (1917), by Alice Bradley, instructed women on how to make candy in their home. In the early 20^th century, the processes of both making and eating candies, chocolates, and cakes – from bonbons and fudges to sugar flowers and candied fruits – were seen as activities fit for women and children. This relationship between candy and gender portrayed candy making and consumption as feminine and ultimately led to the creation of more varied, masculine candy shapes for soldiers who did not want to be seen as feminine. Bradley, who taught classes in nutrition at the women’s school Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, introduced the concepts of precise measurements and nutrition to promote responsible food consumption both in her cookbook and in her later position as a consultant to the United States Food Administration during WWI. Early chapters in The Candy Cook Book highlight the role of nutrition in candy production and consumption as well as potential side effects of the overconsumption of candy. The Candy Cook Book reinforces emerging American ideals reflective of the Progressive Era (1910 – 1930) connecting self-discipline through a mastery of candy-making skills and techniques with a mastery of appetite by making candy for others rather than the self.

Candy and Gender

Candy making in the home during the early 20^th century deviated from older practices of industrial candy production. While candy production for purchase was largely seen as a masculine job, candy making in the home during the early 20^th century was widely accepted as inherently feminine. The Candy Cook Book reinforces this belief as Bradley advocates for mothers to spend time making candy with their children, stating “even the little folks may take part.” The advertised simplicity of making candy in the home – from uncooked fondants and fudges to decorated candies and favors – demonstrate that the skills required to make delicacies, whether for family members or for others, could be mastered by anyone.

The rise of consumerism in the United States during the early 20^th century popularized the consumption of candy among children and women as a leisure activity. Bradley’s cookbook further demonstrates the candy consumption as a leisure meant for women and girls by omitting the terms “man” and “men” from her cookbook. Even the shape of candy was gendered. Among the fourteen illustrations within The Candy Cook Book, twelve of them contain only round candies. The two illustrations that depicted angular candies – caramels and chocolates – still predominantly displayed round candies with a few square or rectangular caramels and chocolates mixed into the illustration. Modern scholars’ interpretations of the associations between candy shape and gender viewed the roundness of candies as feminine, thereby making consuming round candies feminine. The impact of this associating candy consumption as feminine due to candy’s round shape led to the production of rectangular candy bars due to the rising need for quick energy during WWI and the U.S. soldiers’ reluctance to be viewed as feminine for eating round bonbons and chocolates.

Advances in Nutrition Science

Nutrition gained importance during the Interwar Period. By advocating for proper measurements and providing ‘food values’ consisting of the total calories and grams of protein found in common ingredients such as butter, sugars, eggs, chocolates, and various nuts and fruits throughout her cookbook, Bradley reinforced the importance of nutrition. The new knowledge of vitamins and calories suggested that people could maintain health by improving nutritional quality rather than quantity of food.  The Candy Cook Book reinforces this logic with the notion that candy containing sufficient calories and protein should be considered food.

The U.S. war economy ensued a rapid shift in how science and politics were applied to food. Despite never officially rationing sugar during WWI, food became viewed as a matter of national security. Subsequent propaganda from the United States Food Administration (USFA) promoted a “spirit of sacrifice” to steer American women towards a shift in diet that supported nourishment for American soldiers (Vester, 298). As part of this sacrifice and shift in diet, American women were tasked with mastering their appetites – particularly towards foods containing ingredients higher in calories and protein, such as wheat, meat, fats, and sugar. Despite candy falling within the category of foods American women should sacrifice, Bradley’s cookbook does not mention WWI as a reason for limiting candy consumption but instead discusses eating candy in moderation for one’s own health rather than excluding candy from one’s diet completely. Sugar especially is a major component in many candies in The Candy Cook Book, including: uncooked candies, fudges, fondant candies, caramels and nougatines, pulled candies, hard candies, glacés and pulled flowers, meringues and macaroons, popcorn candies, and decorated candies and cakes. Although Bradley warns that “large amounts of candy taken in addition to regular meals may lead to increase in body weight,” she notes that reasonable candy consumption can take the place of desserts and can even provide energy in emergencies.

The Morality of Candy

Thinness was associated with patriotism through self-discipline and a mastery of appetite in American women during WWI. As the Progressive Era’s ideals connecting self-discipline with patriotism and moral purity spread, so too did the idea that health and thinness were an individual’s choice – anyone could be thin so long as they had the willpower to master their appetite. American women who claimed victory over self by excluding nutritionally dense foods dedicated to soldiers were praised as beautiful not only for their patriotism, but for their moral strength. Conversely, women who were not thin were believed to lack self-control and were seen as intellectually and morally inferior. Self-control and a mastery of appetite were crucial towards American women earning victory over the self.

Associations between a mastery of appetite during WWI are reflected in Bradley’s cookbook through a mastery of skill. In The Candy Cook Book, the candy recipes are categorized by the level of skill needed to execute each recipe. Chapters are organized first by an explanation of ingredients and necessary equipment, then by the temperature sugar is cooked to for candies, then by additional skill needed for decorative sugar work. Furthermore, Bradley’s last chapter containing recipes to be given away as “Favors” indicates a level of sugar cooking mastery through the showmanship seen in the recipes. The Candy Cook Book dictates that candy appeals to the senses: sight, taste, or the body’s need for nourishment. This appeal to the senses is necessary to showing mastery of candy showmanship. When talking about candy’s nutrition, Bradley discusses effects of overconsumption including “increase in body weight” and “serious digestive disturbance” (Bradley, 14). This corroborates the associations between good health and thinness seen in American culture during the Progressive Era (1910–1930). Thinness from eating candy as a substitute for desserts and in moderation became associated with morality as women mastered their appetites through self-discipline.

For Further Research:

Bradley, Alice. The Candy Cook Book. Little, Brown, and Company, 1917.

Dusselier, Jane. Bon Bons, Lemon Drops and Oh Henry! Bars : Candy, Consumer Culture and the Construction of Gender, 1890-1920. 1998.

Freedman, Paul. “Women, Men, and Food.” Why Food Matters, Yale University Press, 2021, pp. 101–22. JSTOR, doi: 10.2307/j.ctv1vbd19q.9. 

Shapiro, Laura. “‘I Guarantee’: Betty Crocker and the Woman in the Kitchen.” From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies: Critical Perspectives on Women and Food, edited by Arlene Voski Avakian and Barbara Haber, University of Massachusetts Press, 2005, pp. 29–40. JSTOR, https://www-jstor-org.ciachef.idm.oclc.org/stable/j.ctt5vk2tn

Veit, Helen Zoe. “The Triumph of the Will: The Progressive Body and the Thin Ideal.” Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century, University of North Carolina Press, 2013, pp. 157–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469607719_veit.11.

Vester, Katharina. “‘How Dare You Hoard Fat When Our Nation Needs It?’: Weight Loss Advice and Female Citizenship During World War 1 and the 1920s.” Spring Nature, vol. 30, 4 September 2023, pp. 297-316. Subjectivity, doi:10.1057/s41286-023-00163-w.