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44 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Three stars for me, but five for you?, March 19, 2006
This review is from: The Chocolate Connoisseur (Hardcover)
As a life-long chocophile, I have immersed myself (not literally, as someone in this book has!) in the enjoyment of chocolate. Naturally, I am interested in almost everything that has to do with the subject. Chloe Doutre-Roussel's book is a great place to start if you don't know about the different plantations, chocolate history, and her.
I found the book self-serving and a bit disingenuous. She does love talking about Chloe, and, she gives the impression she can eat a pound of chocolate daily and stay quite thin. Only at the end of the book does she tell you that she's exercising a minimum of two hours a day (swims an hour, does power yoga, and walks briskly).
I am not putting her down for her regimen, as that would be hypocritical. I enjoy chocolate and everything else I want to eat guiltlessly because I also love yoga and walking.
Chloe neglects to mention, let alone discuss, the history of slavery in the annals of chocolate lore; nor, does she even alight upon the current situations on the Ivory Coast, where child labor and terrible working conditions still exisit. I found this a huge omission.
Yes, fair trade chocolate may not rival Domori's line, but what about the good karma that comes from knowing no one was hurt producing it for your enjoyment? As she is someone with a great deal of power in the chocolate industry I was sad to see that she gave short shrift to this enormous aspect of the business.
She also omitted chocosphere.com as one of the great resources we have for buying our little delights in the US.
On the other hand, there were a number of things I really enjoyed about this book: *the health benefits of chocolate (not new, but concise)
*how to host a chocolate tasting (though I would include a bit in the beginning where everyone gets to speak about their own chocolate history)
*the art of tasting chocolate (this is also a bit of micro-management, but, then, I can enjoy a glass of wine without parsing out its merits)
*educating you about trends in the industry, the difference between beans, the finest producers
*and, most of all, raising the general awareness of excellent chocolate.
This is a good book for the novice who's developing a passion for more esoteric chocolates, and wants a basic course that's quick and easy to absorb.
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25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Want to learn about chocolate? Then avoid this book!, November 10, 2008
The Chocolate Connoisseur takes the cake as the worst book I have ever read.
I am a cocoa trader and chocolate manufacturer, with a background in agricultural science. As such, I know a lot about cocoa trees, cocoa beans, and all things chocolate.
I am appalled by the amount, and magnitude, of misinformation in The Chocolate Connoisseur.
For starters, the author lies about her qualifications: contrary to what she writes in her book, Chloe Doutre-Roussel has never worked as an agronomist for the UN. In fact, she has never worked as a professional agronomist at all.
So what if the author lies about being an experienced agronomist? The problem is that she provides very dubious agronomic advice throughout her book. (Doutre-Roussel has an irrational infatuation with fragile, inbred cocoa trees. If her advice - to replace robust cocoa trees with inbred ones - was acted upon, she could one day become famous as the person who destroyed the chocolate industry).
Moving on from agronomy: The Chocolate Connoisseur contains dozens of factual errors about cocoa harvesting, processing, and manufacturing.
Also, The Chocolate Connoisseur's bibliography and referencing is a joke. (The bibliography contains just seven items - or eight, if you count the book by Jancis Robinson that is listed twice. And not a single one of the "scientific studies" Doutre-Roussel alludes to throughout the book is referenced).
To add insult to injury, the book is riddled with spelling mistakes (I counted eleven).
Doutre-Roussel is renowned for her "unbelievable" tasting abilities. Her abilities are, literally, unbelievable. For instance, she thinks that she can smell sucrose (which is actually an odorless substance). She also believes in the so-called "tongue map" (which taste experts have long dismissed as a myth).
In her acknowledgements, the author declares that chocolate is her best friend. Why am I not surprised that Chloe Doutre-Roussel's best friend is an inanimate object?
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Start for the Chocolate Education, November 9, 2009
I read this book when it first came out. I had anxiously pre-ordered with Amazon. The book was not to disappoint!
Although a lot of information is covered in The Chocolate Connoisseur, she can only skim the surface as all things chocolate would take up many volumes. As a fellow chocolatier and writer, I can say that this is an excellent book to start yourself on the journey of chocolate. It's quite simple to read and basically leads you by the hand.
I really enjoyed that she shared this book from her experience and her knowledge from being a chocolate buyer. You feel as though she is in the room with you while you're reading. Many pages in my book have been dogeared and referred to time and time again.
Buy this book if you are just starting out on your own chocolate journey!
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