The True History of Chocolate (Second Edition)
The True History of Chocolate (Second Edition)
“A beautifully written…and illustrated history of the Food of the Gods, from Olmecs to present-day developments.”—Chocolatier.
This delightful and best-selling tale of one of the world’s favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, and culinary history to present a complete and accurate history of chocolate.
The story begins some 3,000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the chocolate tree, Theobroma Cacao, and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the Maya, and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it first became the drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate a food for the masses, and now, in our own time, it has become once again a luxury item.
The second edition draws on recent research and genetic analysis to update the information on the origins of the chocolate tree and early use by the Maya and others, and there is a new section on the medical and nutritional benefits of chocolate. 100 illustrations, 15 in color. The Coes, both anthropologists with a culinary bent, delve deeply into the history of their mouth-watering subject. The material on ancient cultures is particularly fascinating–did you know that the Maya used unsweetened liquid chocolate as currency? And in a chapter called “Chocolate for the Masses,” they detail the modernization of chocolate manufacture, which has allowed more than 25 million Hershey’s Kisses to roll off the conveyor belt each day.
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Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage
International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) 2010 Award Finalists in the Culinary History category.
Chocolate. We all love it, but how much do we really know about it? In addition to pleasing palates since ancient times, chocolate has played an integral role in culture, society, religion, medicine, and economic development across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
In 1998, the Chocolate History Group was formed by the University of California, Davis, and Mars, Incorporated to document the fascinating story and history of chocolate. This book features fifty-seven essays representing research activities and contributions from more than 100 members of the group. These contributors draw from their backgrounds in such diverse fields as anthropology, archaeology, biochemistry, culinary arts, gender studies, engineering, history, linguistics, nutrition, and paleography. The result is an unparalleled, scholarly examination of chocolate, beginning with ancient pre-Columbian civilizations and ending with twenty-first-century reports.
Here is a sampling of some of the fascinating topics explored inside the book:
- Ancient gods and Christian celebrations: chocolate and religion
- Chocolate and the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1764
- Chocolate pots: reflections of cultures, values, and times
- Pirates, prizes, and profits: cocoa and early American east coast trade
- Blood, conflict, and faith: chocolate in the southeast and southwest borderlands of North America
- Chocolate in France: evolution of a luxury product
- Development of concept maps and the chocolate research portal
Not only does this book offer careful documentation, it also features new and previously unpublished information and interpretations of chocolate history. Moreover, it offers a wealth of unusual and interesting facts and folklore about one of the world’s favorite foods.
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