Exploring the history of chocolate with Garcia Nevett

As part of our Intro to Chocolate we give a lecture on the history of chocolate. We like to keep updated on new findings and interesting historical facts, so when this article came up we just had to share it. 

In the article, published in Atlas Obscura and written by Reina Gattuso, the author explores the relationship between chocolate, women and colonial society in Latin America. Gattuso writes "Chocolate was an everyday drink, as common then as a morning cup of coffee is today. But, (historian Martha) Few noticed, it often emerged in the records as a vehicle for women’s magic spells, and, in turn, for European anxieties about ruling a majority non-white population, filled with women who wouldn’t do what they were told."

We have usually focused on the historical journey of cacao and chocolate, from its origin in South America and use by Native Americans as ritual drink and currency then to its arrival in Europe where it eventually gets transformed into chocolate bars. But there is a gap of between the moment in Latin America where cacao is king and the moment it becomes European chocolate. This article explains what was happening in Latin America during that time in an interesting way. Read the whole article here.