Smooth, seductive, sweet, sticky, sexy… chocolate is many things to many people. Apparently it’s origins began in the Northern Amazon/Venezuela region over 4000 years ago. The cacao bean made it’s way north into Meso America in a fermented, roasted and ground state, becoming revered and sacred. The Central American and Yucatan cultures embraced it as a spice and base using it in foods such as mole sauce, a delicacy heavily laced with cacao.
The Spanish Conquistadors quickly noticed the benefits of Chocolate as they raped and pillaged the continent, using it to keep their armies marching long distances with little food. They took it to Europe where it became part of the then European-wide Imperial quest for different kinds of stimulants for “the polite high society, competing with the British tea and opium, the catholic countries’ coffee and the young USA’s tobacco.” As they Europeans experimented with the bean, they found they could sweeten and harden the liquid by mixing it with a Dutch power, coincidentally the Industrial Age was gaining speed and the first chocolate companies like Nestle and Lindt came into existence.
Fast forward to 2013, chocolate has maintained it’s cult, aphrodisiac and sensuous status, and is a pre-requisite for Valentines Day festivities. Whether as candy, a liquid, over apricots, on top of enchiladas, in a book or in a video, as an artistic endeavor or simply used in the best kind of foreplay, chocolate has gone from the depths of the jungle to spanning multiple realities in multiple mediums. Here’s to using the best and most creative parts of your imaginations on Valentines Day.
Profana: The Ecstasy of Chocolate on Nowness
Shop The Look:
Chocolate Collection $95 at Amazon
Harrod’s Heritage Fine Milk Chocolate Slims $11 at Harrod’s
Maison de la Truffe Chocolate Bonbons with White Truffle $20 at Harrod’s
Harrod’s Mini Gold Bar $32 at Harrod’s
Bixby & Co Chocolate Bar Mix $30 at Ahalife
La Cinque Amandes Paris Chocolate Box $28 at Ahalife
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