Chocolate

          In The True History of Chocolate by Sophie and Michael Coe the reader is treated to the colorful history of cacao and the world's first stimulating drink. The work provides a welcome description of the origins of the cacao plant and the process needed to turn cacao in to chocolate. These early sections were quite helpful in giving readers an understanding in what chocolate was and from where it came. From here Coe delves into the archaeological record to show that the cultivation of cacao and the consumption chocolate are millennia old practices of Meso-American civilization. Starting with the Olmecs, the consumption of chocolate reached its Classical apex through the Maya who buried their rulers with jars of the stuff. It was during this period that trade in cacao both as a commodity and a unit of exchange extended all the way to the pueblo peoples of the Southwestern US. (55) The Aztec use of chocolate seems to have been more elite oriented than before, but this begs the question of how the Aztecs would have controlled access to something like drinking chocolate; regardless the prestige surrounding chocolate drinking does not appeared to have waned although the story tolled on pages 77 and 78 suggest at least there was an alternative take on the societal effects of chocolate. When the Spanish first tasted the drink they were repulsed by it; even though it was filling it tasted too bitter to them. This changed when the Spanish began settling the country and ate and drank food prepared by their new Mexica wives. From here chocolate grew from a niche medicine to a commodity that took Europe by storm. This work provides a great example of how a commodity can carry a cultural life of its own in the way it compels people to act in order to acquire it, prepare it, and ritualize it.