For the Love of Chocolate

I was watching the movie "Chocolat" recently, about a woman who reinvigorates a little French village by opening a Chocolate shop. In the "making of" featurette, I learned that the first chocolate bar was produced in the mid 1800s. Before that, chocolate was mainly used as a drink.

I normally associate chocolate with Switzerland. So it came as a surprise to learn that England produced the world's first chocolate bar. We always visit candy shops when we visit England, and you can find lots of varieties of candies and chocolates that are not available in the United States. But to hold the title of world's first chocolate bar producer, well, I think you'll agree that's something special.

Chocolate may not own the title of many Hollywood films, but it often plays an important role in literature. American author Joanne Fluke's first novel appeared in 1980, but twenty years later, her novel The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder proved so popular she's written a staggering twenty-five sequels. Children's author Roald Dahl may have written James and the Giant Peach first, but his followup Charlie and the Chocolate Factory became his best known novel, and produced his only sequel. 

Then there's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, whom Agatha Christie introduced to the world in her first published novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Poirot indulged in fine chocolates on occasion (particularly at Christmas), and also enjoyed drinking cocoa. Chocolate figures prominently in a few Poirot stories, including "The Chocolate Box." So it seems fitting that, when Clive Exton adapted Agatha Christie's first Poirot novel, he had Captain Hastings bump into the distinguished gentleman when he is purchasing cocoa for his evening drink.

On last year's trip to England, we visited Norwich Cathedral. Over 900 years of history have brought many changes to the city's center of worship. One recent addition is a brass baptismal font. The large brass bowl was once a mixing bowl used in the making of chocolate, until the local factory closed down. It now fortifies worshipper's spiritual lives, and reminds locals of Rowntree Macintosh, a center for employment there until 1994. The chocolate producer, in its storied career, created confections such as Rolo and Kitkat that people all over the world still enjoy. 

So the next time someone tells you chocolate isn't good for you, remind them that chocolate has brought happiness, success, and spiritual fulfillment to the world. Just be careful about eating any chocolates that come through the post, or are delivered by people you don't trust. You never know: they could be poisoned!

Dragon Dave