> > Because gums were originally used in their unsweetened form to clean teeth and improve breath, apparently. Not only that, they are chewed not for the nutritional value, but simply for the pleasure of mastication.
>
> Isn't that a good definition of candy, though?

Not really. Lots of people place things in their mouths to chew as a reflex action (usually when bored or nervous) - pen lids, plectrums, their fingernails, etc. Does that mean these are candies?

If you consider the history of gum, then it's more suitable to think of it as an oral hygiene product - the addition of sugar and flavourings was an attempt to market gum as candy, which (considering the resurgence of sugarfree gum as an oral hygiene product) has fallen by the wayside.



>A Big Mac is food. Ice cream is food. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Breakfast Cereal is food.
>I mean, take something which *does* clearly have some nutritional value, such as a big plate of nicely grilled lean steak with baked potato, a green salad, and a juicy red apple for dessert.


That's not my point, and our definitions of "nutrition" are somewhat disparate here. Big Macs, Ice cream and really weird breakfast cereals all contain carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that contribute to their nutritional value. I don't mean nutrition in the sense of good for you. I'm talking about the ultimate aim of putting something in your body that can be converted to energy, whether as carbohydrate or stored as fat. That is what food is. It is material that can be reasonably ingested and digested and provide energy.

Styrene-based butadiene polymers, like those that chewing gum are made up from (Chicle - a naturally occurring mixture of cis and trans polyisoprene (25:75), with resins) are not food. If we were still chewing paraffin wax (which is chemically similar) would you call *that* food?

Things like gum arabic, guar gum, and pectin are more complex polymer systems incorporating sugars that are metabolised in the body, and do count as food.

>If you like all this stuff and eat it for pleasure, does it count less as food than if you hated it but choked it down anyway on account of its nutritional value?

Whether you enjoy eating it or not is not the point of definition. I've seen bodybuilders "choking down" (as you so delicately put it) gritty-textured protein shakes for the nutritional value.

Bourne