The Stimulant Sea: Sugar, Coffee, & the Acquisition of Taste

This exhibition explores the intertwined and commodified histories of sugar and coffee within a specific place and time: the Medieval and Early Modern Red Sea, envisaged as a cultural connector between the Mediterranean world and Africa, Arabia, and the Indian Ocean. The exhibition explores four interrelated themes: first, tracing the trade networks and knowledge transfers that shaped the origins of sugar and coffee as we know them today; second, examining their early medicinal uses; third, considering the social rituals through which sugar and coffee became part of everyday consumption; and fourth, revealing the labor systems that enabled their production and global distribution.
This poster exhibition was part of a display in the Dumbarton Oaks Museum accompanying the 2025 Symposium, Africa and Byzantium, and sought to connect history-based scholarship with the contemporary world. As a public history initiative, it was intended for a wide audience, including visitors with a limited knowledge of the eastern Mediterranean and Byzantine worlds.