Chocolate: The Nature of Indulgence
No other sweet so intensely excites the human appetite as chocolate. One of the many food gifts from the New World that modern eaters take for granted, chocolate has a long, tumultuous history. A new museum exhibition organized by Chicago's Field Museum and traveling around the country traces chocolate's history and manufacture from its Aztec roots to its conquering of the world's palates. Written to accompany this exhibition, Lopez's consummately readable text vies with the book's superior color photography for the reader's attention. Lopez's history of chocolate and its Central American origins provides fodder for many a class report. Europeans contributed the idea of adding sugar and milk to the bitter product of cacao bean fermentation and roasting, and the modern idea of chocolate began to emerge. Lopez also gives insight into the economics of chocolate manufacture and traces the rise of chocolate barons such as Cadbury in Britain and Hershey in the U.S. Highly recommended for all library food-history collections.Mark KnoblauchCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved