Making Food Empires: German Technology and Global Mass Production, 1870-1914

The rise of German science and technology in the nineteenth century had a significant impact on food production on a global scale. The spread of scientific methods facilitated the emergence of those mass markets that determine consumption patterns up until today. This book analyses the industrialization and globalization of foodways through the prism of three commodities: sugar, rum, and beer. Themes include the global competition between continental beet sugar and colonial cane sugar, the complex adaptations and chemical modifications of rum, and the rise of German- and Bohemian-style lager beer which increasingly ousted the darker, British-style beers. From technical development to production and distribution, German engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs were involved in locations around the world. The flow of know-how, patents, machinery, and people transcended national and imperial boundaries, leading to transnational knowledge exchange in all world regions.

Case study chapters focus on Claus Spreckels, the ’Sugar King’ of Hawaii and California; the chemical engineer George Stade who built the first industrial rum factory in Barbados; and the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, which was the largest brewery in the world in 1900. Transnationally operating individuals and companies set in motion a dynamic of global innovation that encapsulated centralized mass production, seamless transport networks, new ways of food preservation, and the idea of branded goods for global markets. They transformed the way we produce, consume, and think about food in the modern world.

Stefan Manz, Professor of Global History, Department of Communication and Culture, Aston University, Uwe Spiekermann, Independent Scholar,

Stefan Manz is Professor of Global History at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Privatdozent Dr. Uwe Spiekermann was Deputy Director at the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC, and now works as an independent scholar in Hanover, Germany.

Both authors have published widely on global migrations, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer. They have held funding from a number of bodies such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), German Research Foundation (DFG), Leverhulme Trust, Max Weber Foundation, and the British Academy.