Almond, Steve.

Candy Freak:  A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America.

© 2004 (Non-Fiction).

Steve Almond is a self-professed candy freak, an adult who hoards his favorite chocolate bars and can attach specific types of candy to memories throughout his life. In the prologue to his book Candy Freak, Almond confesses to three things:  1) he has eaten a piece of candy every single day of his entire life; 2) he think about candy at least once an hour; and 3) he has between three and seven pounds of candy in his house at all times.

In chapter one, “The Author Will Now Rationalize,” Almond provide a funny, detailed look at his personal candy history and its connection to various important life events. His love for sugar began as a child, and only grew more obsessive as he grew older. “The discovery of marijuana more or less sealed my freak,” Almond admits. “I was never a burnout in the classic sense, meaning I never grew my hair long and listened to Blue Oyster Cult and cut classes to hang out by the big oak tree next to the amphitheater. [But] if I had been the kind of kid who kept a diary, the entries from the years twelve to say, sixteen, would have read: Got high, ate candy.”

The majority of Almond’s book consists of his travels around the country to visit small, independent candy manufacturers and probe for insider information on the history and production of some of offbeat, non-major-label sweets, such as the Big Hunk, the Valomilk, the Idaho Spud (not, thankfully, made of potatoes) and a number of other, often regional candy bars. What he learns as he tours these companies is that small, independent candy makers, like other small businesses, struggle to compete with the monsters in the market—Nestle and Hershey’s, mainly—who can afford to pay high “slotting fees” required by stores to place products in the most desirable, money-making locations. 

There’s more to Candy Freak than chocolate bars and marshmallows, however. Almond uses his tour-de-fats to make some insightful observations about culture. On one of his factory visits, Almond laments the “radical object disconnect” he sees occurring in our society—the growing lack of appreciation for, and understanding of, the process and effort required to bring products to consumers. In seeing candy made, he reconnects with the people who make it and the processes that make it possible for him to enjoy their labors. “Watching the process by which our products are made reconnects us to the wonders of production. Indeed, it provides a soothing sense of technology as our benefactor, in a naïve every-day-in-every-way-we-are-getting-better-and-better kind of way.”

Almond is at his best when he is making these observations about society and when he is offering insight into his candy-sticky past. Although some of the factory tours and details about production seem to blend together after awhile, for the most part they enhance his narrative and, if nothing else, offer evidence that he is, in fact, a man obsessed. They also made me want to go out and buy a bunch of candy bars.

Among my favorite recollections in his book is one that echoes Jerry Seinfeld’s bit about Halloween (obviously the candy freak’s favorite day of the year).  “This is what I love about Halloween,” writes Almond. It has, from a freak perspective, purity of intent. There’s no dallying about with God, or that contrived brand of devotion used to justify our other seasonal pageants of gluttony. There’s something incredibly liberating about a holiday that encourages children to take candy from strangers…you had this remarkable concept known as Freak Amnesty, which meant, on this one evening, that you were allowed to gather and consume as much candy as you could without parental objection.”

Almond’s funny, often wise look at candy, its production, and the culture in which it is taken for granted—sugar is a staple in Americans’ diets, after, not a luxury as it is elsewhere—is an entertaining, educational, and often thought-provoking read. Anyone with a sweet tooth will enjoy the book and appreciate Almond’s writing.