Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures

As part of the book’s title indicates, this book is about the history of Tobacco and Chocolate on both sides of the Atlantic.  Marcy Norton commences with the journey of the commodity in Mexico; the birthplace of these two unique products and their significant uses in the Mexican culture. She also highlights the important role both equally had in indigenous religious ceremonies.  However, by the time tobacco reached Europe it fell short in sustaining its ritual importance; while Chocolate maintained its image not only with the Church but also with the upper class of the European societies. There is a great deal of discussion about consumption by the population that resides on both sides of the Atlantic but very little dialog about production.

The author did a good job in describing the journey of Tobacco and Chocolate, and their influences and changes with time, even though the author’s focus was slightly more on Chocolate. Reading commodity history books; it seems each writer focuses on one or two aspects of the commodity chain and there is hardly a book that gives equal attention to all commodity chains. Marcy Norton focused on the parts that highlighted her approach to the commodity she is discussing; her focus was the cultural influences of the products.

I think I will use this book, as one of my final books because it has similar ideology to History of Chocolate. Both books discussed how the commodity influenced cultures particularly Europe, and how the commodity (Chocolate) lost its prestige