From Mesoamerica to Europe, from the European courts to daily life consumption, from being drunk to being eaten, chocolate has travelled a long way to be accepted and adopted by Europeans. When walking in a café in Florence, it seems unavoidable to find chocolate in several pastries, from the tiramisu to the omnipresent pot of Nutella chocolate paste. Just as coffee, tea, or even tomatoes, the introduction of chocolate in Europe has followed a progressive process, resisting the taste-related, ethical and religious barriers. In this reflexion paper, I will show how chocolate has been slowly infiltrated into the European palates and adopted as a daily life recreational product.
Though the introduction of chocolate in European countries is subject to various theories, it seems that chocolate was incontestably introduced in parallel to the discovery of New World. Similarly to the history of the introduction of coffee and sugar, chocolate was considered an ‘elite drink,’ of the wealthy and powerful (D. Coe, 125). It was mostly consumed by the ‘royalty and nobility in Europe’ (D. Coe,125). From Spain, to Italy, France, England and other West-European countries, chocolate travelled through courts, noble houses and monasteries. However, chocolate appeared as a novelty to the Europeans’ palates because of the attractiveness of its taste. Though first consumed for its medicinal properties, it soon became appreciated ‘for its taste, its filling nature, and its stimulation’ (D. Coe,126).
Chocolate underwent the traditional process of ‘assimilation’ in every country it entered. From Spain, to Italy, France and England, each country created its own ‘right’ way of consuming it. In Spain, chocolate was mainly eaten with ‘so much pepper and so many spices that it is impossible they don’t burn themselves up’ (D. Coe,136). On the other hand, Italy competed with Spanish way of eating chocolate with its introduction of ‘fresh peel of citrons, lemons and the very genteel oder of jasmine.’ (D. Coe,145). The recipe of ‘The renowned jasmine chocolate of the grand duke of Tuscany’ translates very clearly the appropriation of eating chocolate as an Italian, or mores specifically a Tuscan speciality (D. Coe,146). Interestingly enough, even the discovery of chocolate became appropriated through literature. The story of ‘Bacchus in America,’ for instance, narrating how the god of wine discovered cocoa trees and ‘had the bright idea of making a drink from its fruit’ clearly denies the Spanish discovery and use of chocolate as a beverage (D. Coe,146).
In France and England, similar processes of appropriation occurred. The very knowledgeable St Disdier’s transmitted in his recipes the ‘right measurements’ to make chocolate adapted to his consumers’ taste. Similarly, the French debatably appropriated the invention of the chocolatière, which arguably already existed in the consumption of chocolate in Mexico, and in Spain (D. Coe,159). In England, ‘Dufour’s method’ was adapted to the changes England was going through, ‘fast becoming the greatest commercial power of the work’ (D. Coe,169). His quick and effective way of preparinggchocolate was therefore adapted and targeted to England’s ‘in a hurry’ population, and ‘men of business’ (D. Coe,169). Each country therefore appropriated this Mesoamerican product as their own, adapting it to the socio-economical changes that the nation was going through.
Interestingly enough, appropriation is still of actuality nowadays, as we witnessed and experienced very concretely during last week’s chocolate tasting. Indeed, students, when asked about feelings coming up while tasting the various chocolate, regularly brought up childhood nostalgia and commemoration. We all appropriated this chocolate, though new to our palate, to our own memories. During this class, last week, chocolate became our own Madeleine de Proust, food playing the role of a trigger to the remembrance of the past.
I will conclude with Voltaire's wise words, cited in the introduction of this book 'All our ancient history, as one of our wits remarked, is no more than accepted fiction.’ Indeed, it is always important to remember that history is a human construction, often wrongly accepted as objective. The history of chocolate shows how each country and individual hold their own version of how this new product was introduced into their lives, culture and traditions.
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