Candyfreak : a journey through the chocolate underbelly of America / Steve Almond.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Almond, Steve.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Candy industry--United States.

Candy industry.

Candy.

Chocolate.

Almond, Steve.

United States.

Physical Description:

266 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2004.

Summary:

Perhaps you remember the whipped splendor of the Choco-Lite, or the luscious Caravelle bar, or maybe the sublime and perfectly balanced Hershey's Cookies 'n Mint. The Marathon, an inimitable rope of caramel covered in chocolate. Oompahs. Bit-O-Choc. The Kit Kat Dark. Steve Almond certainly does. In fact, he was so obsessed by the inexplicable disappearance of these bars -- where'd they go? -- that he embarked on a nationwide journey to uncover the truth about the candy business. There, he found an industry ruled by huge conglomerates, where the little guys, the last remaining link to the glorious boom years of the candy bar in America, struggle to survive. Visiting the candy factories that produce the Twin Bing, the Idaho Spud, the Goo Goo Cluster, the Valomilk, and a dozen other quirky bars, Almond finds that the world of candy is no longer a sweet haven. Today's precious few regional candy makers mount daily battles against corporate greed, paranoia, and that good old American compulsion: crushing the little guy. Part candy porn, part candy polemic, part social history, part confession, Candyfreak explores the role candy plays in our lives as both source of pleasure and escape from pain. By turns ecstatic, comic, and bittersweet, Candyfreak is the story of how Steve Almond grew up on candy -- and how, for better and worse, candy has grown up, too.

Contents:

The Author Will Now Rationalize 9

Chocolate = Enabler 17

In Which an Unhealthy Pattern of Dependence Is Established 18

An Ill-Advised Discussion of Freak Economics 24

Night of the Living Freak 30

Mistakes Were Made 33

Caravelle: An Elegy 38

I Love Manny 48

Feeding the Beast 54

A Top-Secret Chocolate Situation 61

The Politics of the Rack 66

The Last Man in America with Black Jack Gum 72

The Capo Di Tutti Freak 81

The Love Song of Ray Luthar Broekel 86

Welcome to the Boom 92

There Are Men upon This Earth Who Tread Like Gods 100

Feuilletine, Revealed 107

Freak Fetish 115

The Official Dark Horse Freak of Philadelphia 118

Wee Willie and the Pop-a-Licks Rage 125

Southern-Fried Freak 133

Chocolate Haiku 140

Freak Retentive 149

In the Belly of the Freak 152

The Unstoppable Freak Energy of Mr. Marty Palmer 155

Southbound with the Hammers Down 173

The Candy Bar on Your Chin 178

The Marshmallow Parallax 188

A Depressing but Necessary Digression 199

Boise: Gateway to ... Boise 201

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Idaho Spud 205

Huckleberry, Hounded 216

American Lunch 224

How Will the Spud Survive? 228

The Past Is Just Ahead 234

Remember This Name: Banana-Zaba 241

A Second Depressing but Necessary Digression 248

A Little Hidden Bomb in My Idaho Spud 250.

ISBN:

1565124219

OCLC:

53972107