Licorice

Licorice typically comes in red or black, and is distributed in twists predominantly by the candy companies Twizzlers and Red Vines. The more widely distributed of the two is "red licorice" as its flavor is familiar and that it is the most available of the two in stores. This is reflective of an oddly human trait where we idealize something that is familiar consistently over something that is in the othered minority.

Red licorice though is a bit of a misnomer anyways because it may not really be licorice at all. In a Huffington Post interview with Kelila Jaffe, Food Studies professor from NYU, she says "Red licorice, or other colors, are usually fruit flavored by artificial or natural means, and do not contain licorice flavoring." This is reflective of another oddly human trait where we call something another thing that it isn't to erase the thing we're calling it and make some money in the process.

While red licorice is an idealized candy that children love and can be bought at movie theaters and gas stations, black licorice has a different connotation of a weird nasal sweetness that can be appreciated only by old women or people with adventurous palates. Black licorice is one of those things on this planet that has little neutrality surrounding it. Unlike red licorice, it is not universal.

Black licorice, or licorice flavor is extracted from a legume, Glycyrrhiza glabra, that has an almost intoxicatingly sweet taste. It has grounded the flavor in this love-hate binary. More to the point, licorice flavoring is used as an agent in intoxicating substances like American tobacco and some liquor's (i.e. jaegermeister, sambucca).

There is something socially unacceptable about a flavor that draws in old women during a bridge tournament but also rebellious pre teens that want to smoke in the jr. high bathroom and also college students enjoying German spirits in their american beer. Maybe these subtexts are what has led to the discomfort surrounding licorice flavoring.

The history of black licorice would complicate this subconscious distaste though, as it was used in the Mediterranean for medicinal purposes as a cough suppressant, and weight loss supplement. This knowledge adds a bit of irony to it’s intoxicating use in american cigarettes which would inversely cause a smoker’s cough or even make a smoker gain weight. Perhaps this medical background adds another layer of discomfort though in medicinal and recreational intoxication.

Or perhaps the discomfort lies within it’s strength. The overwhelming taste of black licorice is not subtle by any means. Even when used merely as a symbol it evokes this strength. For example rapper Azealia Banks', “Liquorice” explores race through the use of black licorice, and Jack White in his song “That Black Bat Licorice” uses the image to question aspects of love that are hard to swallow.  I think this may be reflective of another part of the human condition where we like to distance ourselves from anything that makes too much of a statement.