Candyfreak

Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America (2004) is a humorous, nonfiction book about the American candy industry. Written by Steve Almond, an enthusiastic, obsessed, and self-professed “candyfreak,” the book takes readers on a nostalgic tour of the country, looking for the small candy companies that produced the favorite treats of Almond’s childhood.

The prologue and the first chapter are steeped in autobiographical anecdotes and justifications of his obsession. He remembers what he calls his Initial Candy Supplier (ICS), a neighborhood liquor store that sold candy, and which seemed magical enough until he visited a Sears that had a candy stand where it could be bought by the pound. Candy became his hobby—finding it, buying it, eating it, and learning how it is made. The industry is dictated by the whims and loyalties of children, who are the biggest consumers and who are excited by new flavors and “extreme candies.” Even so, Almond argues that he is not an indiscriminate candyfreak: as much as he loves most candy, certain candies like Twizzlers, Peeps, Boston Baked Beans, Sixlets, and anything with coconut draw his ire. He calls white chocolate “a scourge visited upon us by the inimical forces of Freak Evil.” The impetus of the entire book is revealed in chapter 2, “Caravelle: An Elegy.” The candy, a decadent, superior version of 100 Grand, was discontinued while he was still in high school, but its disappearance caused him to question how candies are made, marketed, and eventually retired. Almond contacts candy companies and whenever possible, arranges for tours. The first is the Necco factories; he gets to see the production process from beginning to end for the Necco wafers, the Clark Bar, the Haviland Thin Mints, and Easter candies.

However, Almond is not invited into all the candy factories he contacts. Chapter 3 discusses industrial espionage in the candy industry. He notes three main reasons why industrial espionage is a concern for candy companies, large and small:



1. Chocolate bars are ineligible for patents. Recipes and ingredients are not protected, so there is nothing to stop a competitor from creating a knock-off product.
2. The ingredients for all candies are essentially the same, so any “secrets” in the recipe are contained in the manufacturing.
3. Success in the candy industry is not about quality; it is about speed to market.

Small companies are especially vulnerable, as the bigger corporations have more resources to acquire or ruin small business competitors. They may also have a monopoly on or greater access to raw ingredient sources. Furthermore, corporations have more money to spend on marketing. Marketing plans are kept as secret as the processes; for example, Hershey destroys its plans to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Marketing extends even to product placement next to registers, where customers not only see the candy, but also are stuck in a small space while waiting for their items to be rung out. This creates more opportunity for candy sales, as people are exposed to temptation longer.

In his adventures factory-visiting and sampling, Almond meets other candyfreaks, including Ray Broekel, a legend among candy aficionados who has an encyclopedic knowledge of candy. Almond visits Broekel at home, marveling at the man’s collection of candy boxes, advertisements, candy-themed knickknacks, filing cabinets crammed with a carefully archived collection of approximately 20,000 candy wrappers, and the pièce de résistance: a candy salesman’s carrying case from the 1950s, stocked with original candies from as far back as the 1930s. He also meets Dave Bolton, a chocolate engineer for Lake Champlain whose job is to research the current candy markets and ingredients to come up with new flavor combinations. Carl Goldenberg is the owner of Goldenberg Candy, maker of Peanut Chews. Joanne Barthel, the marketing director for Standard Candy Company, gives him a tour of the facilities that make the Goo Goo Bar.



Near the end of the book, Almond explicitly arrives at the same conclusion about his obsession with candy as the reader has probably already gleaned: the grief of loneliness. He admits early on to growing up as a clingy, needy kid who feels left behind by his brothers, peers, and romantic interests. In the last chapter, when he tries to explain the purpose of writing a book on candy bars to his grandfather, he writes, “Candy had been my only dependable succor as a child, that it had, in a sense saved my life, that I hoped to draw a link between my personal nostalgia and the cultural yearning for a simpler age.” He seeks people who are as obsessed with candy as he is because his friends and family are uninterested in candy, finding candy boring and unimportant. For example, his attempt to throw a candy tasting party is met with indifference among his friends. Moreover, his brother is a doctor whose wife is careful about the amount of processed sugar their family consumes.

Candyfreak won the ALA Alex Award in 2005. One of the main points of the book is explaining where candy comes from and how it is made. Almond takes an almost childish pleasure in researching the candy industry, especially the smaller, family-owned companies. The book also contains a “Freak Appendix” with a dozen websites for budding candyfreaks.