Chocolate: The Nature of Indulgence [Hardcover]

Ruth Lopez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

This book contains everything about chocolate except recipes - its rainforest origins, its cultural and religious significance in pre-Columbian America, and its journey from post-Conquest Mexico to Europe and back to America, where chocolate remains as popular as it became after the Spanish-born queen of France introduced it to the French court in 1615. We learn how cacao is grown and processed, how chocolate is used to flavor everything from Tootsie Rolls to hand-made works of art that melt in your mouth. The author provides a light-hearted history of chocolate's contribution to the world of medicine, as well as its role in the history of slavery and war and a fascinating analysis of the chocolate industry.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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 Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810904039
• ISBN-13: 978-0810904033
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,333,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History and economics of chocoloate without any recipes!, August 28, 2003

By 

Govindan Nair (Vienna, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate: The Nature of Indulgence (Hardcover)

Whether you are a chocolate lover like myself or not, you will enjoy this veritable opus on the history and business of this wonderful gift from the New World.

The narrative is bracketed by these two first and last sentences of the book: "The lush, tropical rainforest is home to the cacao tree....It is possible that chocolate may be a critical ingredient in the fight to save the world's rainforests." Written as an accompaniment to a Chicago musuem exhibition on chocolate, this book is full of pictures and photos which complete a well-written text on the historical origins of this major global product, the chocolate business, and even the future of chocolate.

This is a wonderful book for young and adult readers. It will grace any living room bookshelf. Don't be disappointed by its lack of recipes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Yum, yum, yum, June 20, 2006

By 

Elizabeth, the Traveler (Atlanta, Georgia) (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate: The Nature of Indulgence (Hardcover)

I purchased this book from the little special exhibit store at the Atlanta Fernbank Museum special exhibit on choloate. I believe that many of the photographs come directly from the exhibit. This is a sensual book with beautiful illustrations. It gives the history of chocolate and has details of manufacturers and particular brands.

What particularly interested me was the discussion of the way that chocolate has gradually been discovered and planted around the world. The largest export was first Central America, now it is Africa.