AMERICAN CHOCOLATE WEEK
You can never turn down an offer of a piece of cake from a friend, right? That’s why although it is celebrated during the third full week of March annually, most people wish it was celebrated weekly. Chocolate can not be compared to gold-plated, caviar-coated, or truffle-sprinkled food because it fits every meal and every occasion. Eating an entire Hershey’s bar for breakfast sounds patriotic, and being given a whole week for eating, it serves well.
HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHOCOLATE WEEK
Chocolate is made out of cacao tree beans mostly found in the rural areas of West Africa, South East Asia, and Central and South America. Since cacao beans are bitter, they must first be fermented to develop flavor, dried, cleaned, and then roasted. Then the shell is removed to nibs grounded to produce cocoa mass, which can be used to make various kinds of chocolate.
The roots of chocolate can be traced to over 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesoamerica, currently known as Mexico, where Olmec. As one of Latin America's earliest civilizations, it first cultivated cacao plants and turned them into chocolate. Several years later, Mayans made brew from roasted and ground cacao seeds mixed with chilies, water, and cornmeal, resulting in a foamy beverage called ‘xocolati,’ which means bitter water. The Mayans considered chocolate a drink of gods simply because it was so heavenly.
Chocolate was first seen in Europe in the 1500s; its popularity has grown ever since. Because of its high price, which only the wealthy could afford then, it was considered an aristocratic indulgence. It was not until the 19th century that lower import duties in the UK made chocolate more affordable to many.
Chocolate is today available in all parts of the world, and each culture has its variation of the confection. Moreover, about 40 to 50 million livelihoods depend on cocoa as chocolate farmers produce cocoa beans of 3.5 million tons.
