One of the main ways in which people came into contact with the impact of the British Empire was through foodstuffs directly imported to Britian from territories colonised by the Empire. Along with tea and coffee, sugar was a valuable commodity in overseas colonisation and was a major economic driver in the enslavement of African people in the Americas. Consumerism rose through the consumption of sweet foods and sweetened drinks such as tea and coffee. During the 1800s three out of ten enslaved people transported to the Caribbean were brought to work on enslaved labour sugar plantations. After 1834 (the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in the UK in 1833) British plantation owners used a mix of indentured and free Black labourers.

During wartime periods when rationing was put in place and sugar was in short supply due to the difficulty of importing sugar from the colonised Caribbean islands, people started turning to ersatz sugars to satisfy their sweet cravings. Products such as saccharin discovered in 1879 became widespread. During WWII, with sugar rationing in place from July 1942, the British government, in collaboration with the British Saccharin Company, produced saccharin to address the sugar shortage and these were commonly sold by chemists. The Ministry of Food controlled the maximum wholesale and retail prices of saccharin tablets and this continued from 1942 to 1949. Sugar rationing lasted until September 1953.