Week 2 Reflection

WEEK 2 REFLECTION

PART I: The History of Chocolate and Chocolate Tasting

This week, we learned about the origin of chocolate, its emergence into European food culture, and how chocolate has adapted over time. Several historians and scholars would argue that the “true” origin of chocolate is a mystery, in that there are many theories as to where chocolate originated. This topic was further discussed in the D. Coe reading, identifying several chocolate theories.  The reading examined the connection of chocolate and Europeans with Columbus and King Ferdinand, the Kekchi population of Guatemala and Prince Philip of Spain, many monasteries and convents in the New World and parent communication in Spain, along with the first official record of chocolate beans arriving in Spain in 1585. Although there are several theories of where chocolate originated and not a lot of evidence, there are records of the arrival of chocolate’s impact on several European countries and the changes it underwent from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Before chocolate’s emergence in Europe, it was used by Mayan, Aztec, and native populations as a spiritual drink in religious rituals and even used as a form of money. Contrary to the tomato and other new world products, chocolate was more easily accepted into European food culture. The main reasons for this change was the European addition of sugar and other ingredients to make chocolate a more tasteful and demanded object along with the medicinal value of chocolate and emerging health theories. By the sixteenth century, chocolate had arrived in Europe and was mainly consumed by the Spanish monopoly, associated as a fashionable secular beverage in the Catholic regions and Southern Europe. In the seventeenth century and Baroque period, chocolate became a drink for the wealthy and powerful. The marriage between Princess Anna and Louis XIII moved chocolate to France, and became the drink of the counter-reformation. Chocolate also became more proper for women to drink during this time period. At the same time, coffee emerged in Europe and divided the North and South. The intellectually stimulating and sobering effects of coffee in the North versus the rich chocolate drink used for fasting periods and drank by nobles and upper classes in Southern Europe defined a distinct religious division in Europe. By the nineteenth century, the modern chocolate we see in stores today was discovered by Van Houten in 1820, diminishing the Spanish way of eating and producing chocolate. Chocolate is now less nourishing, seen as a drink for kids, and no longer a symbol of power in Europe. The transformation chocolate underwent from cocoa beans to melted bars to chocolate powder and ultimately today’s ability to produce almost any form of chocolate imaginable was made possible through the adaptation of several cultures, radical time periods, and hundreds of years of technology. The culmination of chocolate’s use in Spain, Italy, France, England, and the rest of Europe has produced a modern chocolate, that lines the streets, shelves of bakeries, freezers of gelato shops, and aisles of markets worldwide. It was interesting to learn about such a fascinating transformation that chocolate underwent not only to arrive and be transported through Europe, but to learn about the different flavors and ingredients associated with these places and times. In class, we got to taste chocolate made with several different ingredients including chili, cinnamon, sugar, and salt. It was interesting to taste the grainy, sand-like texture of the old-styled chocolate, and gave me an even more prominent admiration for modern chocolate. As a chocolate lover, I can definitely say this was one of my favorite activities and I even went to buy some chocolate flavored gelato after class because those samples simply were not enough. 

PART II: Visit to the Uffizi Gallery and Close reading of Gerrit Van Honthorst’s Supper Party with Lute Player (1620)

This painting entitled “Supper Party with Lute Player,” illustrates a still life representation of a supper during the Baroque era. Created by Dutch artist, Gerrit Van Honthorst it shows a group of people enjoying a dinner party with food, music, and good company. This painting depicts a group of people eating cooked food, which was rarely found in paintings during this time period, where mostly bread and a few products were shown in most still life paintings. A closer look at Honthorst’s representation of a dinner party with a music shows an old woman and a young woman, the younger feeding a man, a man playing a lute, people conversing and smiling, and everyone enjoying themselves at this meal. The way the candles are glowing create a soft essence and show a group of people enjoying a meal, with a cheerful and happy mood emanating from the oils and canvas. This painting reveals the focus on human life rather than the meal itself, and eating as a leisurely activity rather than just a time of nourishment. This painting reflects the transformations of subjects in painting, the evolving style and techniques in painting, and the incorporation of other cultures (Dutch in this case), since the Middle Ages and Renaissance art.