Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the rejection of sugar by coffee consumers in São Paulo, asking what this refusal means in light of Brazil’s nutrition transition, and how it might trouble the categories of absence/abundance as used in nutrition research and public health discourse.

Paper long abstract:

Coffee and sugar have been intimately linked in the political-economic history of Brazil and remain important today, with caloric coffee drinks one of the largest sources of beverage-based sugars in the Brazilian diet. This paper explores the rejection of sugar by coffee consumers in São Paulo as central to the process of becoming a high-end specialty coffee connoisseur. By exploring individual ‘conversion’ narratives together with public health and media discourse around sugar, I ask: who is in a position to refuse sugar at this time and why might they do so? What does this refusal to take sugar with coffee mean in light of Brazil’s recent social changes and nutrition transition? I unpack the absence/abundance binary prevalent in discussions about the double burden of malnutrition by treating these categories not as opposites, but as mutually constituting conditions. Finally, I offer reflections on the utility of the anthropology of food and nutrition for the design and implementation of practical and culturally-sensitive public health programmes.