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The True History of Chocolate |
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The True History of Chocolate |
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Dewey Decimal Number: 641.3374 EAN: 9780500282298 ISBN: 0500282293 Label: Thames & Hudson Languages: Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 280 Publication Date: 2000-10 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Studio: Thames & Hudson Editorial Review: Product Description: Theobromo caco . . . chocolate . . . "the food of the gods." Delicious indulgence or cause of migraines? Aphrodisiac or medicinal tonic? Religious symbol or Mesoamerican currency? This delightful tale of one of the world's favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, socio-economics, and culinary history to present a complete and accurate history of chocolate. The story begins some three thousand years ago in the jungles of lowland Mexico and Central America with the 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 sophisticated Maya, and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it became first the stimulating 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--until its revival in our own time as a luxury item. The True History of Chocolate is the first book to present the real facts of the pre-Spanish history of chocolate--and it does so with great authority, since the authors share an unrivaled knowledge of the history of pre-Columbian civilizations and their cuisine. We discover how chocolate got its name and how it was used as a medicine, and we find that the Spanish learned of chocolate through the Maya, not the Aztecs. From Maya hieroglyphs to the kingdom of the Hershey Bar, this is a fascinating history, beautifully told, and enhanced with quotations, illustrations, and old recipes--a book for chocolate-lovers everywhere. 97 illustrations, 13 in color. Amazon.com Review: 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. Related Items:
Average Rating:
 Rating: - Great Pre-Industrial Revolution Book on Chocolate, Light on Modern HistoryI really enjoyed this book and learning about the Mayan / Aztec custom of Cocoa, how it was prepared, grown and used in their society. How the Europeans learned of this exotic "bean" and slowly adopted it. But as being a member of the Food Industry, the book was very light on the modern history of chocolate, how it is prepared and the changes that chocolate went through the last two hundred years. Felt a little robbed at the end. Rating:  - YumI love chocolate. Honestly, I don't know anyone in my circle of friends who doesn't. so when I saw that there was an entire book dedicated to discussing it, well... it was a short walk to the counter. This is a fascinating history. I didn't read the second edition, but I can't imagine it's too different from the first, which was a quick and easy read, and full of entertaining anecdotes. Rating: - Impressively researchedThis is not the easiest of reads because the style is a little dry and academic. However, this is a serious book and an enormous amount of research has gone into it. Be warned that the first third of the book is set in pre-conquest Latin America and, unless you are a student of the period, it can be quite hard going handling the geography, history and difficult names all at one time! That aside, this is a book for readers that have a serious interest in the roots of cacao and chocolate. Such readers will be well rewarded by this book. In addition, if you are interested in more information about cacao itself, then also read Allen Young's The Chocolate Tree - a Natural History of Chocolate. It's more difficult to read than this one, but no less important. Rating:  - Protestant Chocolate And Anglophile Myopia?I was very disappointed at how the author managed to taint a fascinating story with his own personal biases. His relentless attacks on the Spanish, the Catholic Church and the whole of the Catholic world was offensive. When I was being educated in the 50's and 60's, this sort of anglocentrism was standard. Today, it is inexcusable. No matter what excesses the Spanish or other Catholics committed in the Americas, the English (along with their American apologists) and Protestants in general have no higher ground to stand on. In Latin America, there still exist large and vibrant native populations. In North America (where I live), Native Americans are few in number an relegated to tiny patches of land. How did the englightened Protestants allow this to happen? Back to Mr Coe's writing, he was relentless (not to mention tiresome) in assigning negative adjective to all things and persons Spanish or Catholic. Instead of celebrating the Spanish adoption of chocolate, it was treated as theft. Rather than giving credit to Catholics for introducing it to Europe, they are demonized as a corrupt elite. When Protestant Europe happens upon chocolate, the author is effusive in his praise. When chocolate becomes part of the English Industrial Revolution, Mr Coe ignores all of England's crimes against humanity and heaps compliments upon its chocolate-making and merchandising. Had the book provided the history of chocolate outside the context of religion, it might have been wonderful. Regrettably, it is bogged down by unnecessary prejudices and facile evaluations of persons, peoples and societies. I would not recommend this book to anyone, Protestant or Catholic.
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