Chocolate Day

Today is chocolate day. Best day of the year as far as I’m concerned. Can you imagine a world without chocolate? No, you cannot, it’s unthinkable. A world without chocolate candy bars, chocolate ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate fudge – the list just keeps going – is a world not worth living in.

In a more serious note, chocolate, or more precisely cocoa has had an incredible impact in the world. A foodstuff consumed in most every corner of the planet and loved by all it has become an essential comfort food.

Given that the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao) is native in Mesoamerica the early civilizations there were the first to take advantage of it. The Maya made cocoa beans into a beverage seasoned with chile and cornmeal. The Aztecs associated cacao with Quetzacoatl whom they believed was punished by the others gods for sharing cocoa with humans and also used cocoa beans as currency. Both drank cocoa exclusively as a beverage although the Aztecs prepared it cold unlike the Maya who preferred to imbibe it hot. Betraying its Mesoamerican origins the word we use today, chocolate, has its roots in the Nahuatl chocolātl which the Spanish borrowed and brought back with them in Europe.

Speaking of Europe; this new beverage the Spanish had imported became a huge hit in the 16^th century. Particularly in the Spanish court where it was sweetened with sugar or honey to counteract cocoa’s natural bitterness. Soon, this new concoction had spread throughout the continent. Up until now though, chocolate was only consumed as a beverage, it wasn’t until 1847 when Joseph Fry managed to make solid and moldable chocolate. By 1875 Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate with the help of Henri Nestlé, name you most likely recognize. Nestlé was followed by Cadbury in England and Milton S. Hershey in the U.S and the rest, as they say, is history.

Over the years chocolate has become ingrained not only in popular culture but culture in general. Chocolate has become associated with any number of holidays or events. We give chocolates as gifts in Valentine’s Day, the Easter Bunny brings chocolate eggs and who hasn’t heard of Willy Wonka? Perhaps fittingly, Mexico’s national dish - as much as it can be said there is one - is mole poblano which is made with a rich sauce of cocoa powder, chile and dozens of other ingredients.

So go ahead and indulge yourselves today. Don’t go overboard though, as good as chocolate is there we all know too much of a good thing isn’t always a good idea. I’ll leave you with a picture a personal favorite. Not really anything too exotic but a definite top five for me. I’m not ashamed to say that it’s the first thing i look for when I’m traveling and killing time in an airport. What’s your number one chocolate? And if you don’t have one, today is as good a day as any to find out.