This aptly named book is a beguiling exploration of chocolate in
its every form, from ancient history to its migration to Europe and
its eventual domination of the Western confectionery world.
Beginning with the almost mystical childhood pleasures of Lindt
chocolate animals, Richardson traces its roots back to early South
America, where the cacao bean itself was a highly valued currency
and chocolate as we know it had yet to be invented. He follows its
progress to the Mayans and the Spanish conquistadors, visiting
various plantations and haciendas and interviewing the world's
foremost cacao experts. Back in Europe we see the bean gradually
evolve into the substance we are familiar with today, first as a
fashionable hot drink for the aristocracy, and later, with the
industrial revolution, as a solid food more readily available to
the masses. Richardson gains access to the upper echelons of
gourmet European chocolate makers and aficionados and describes a
dizzying cornucopia of delicious flavours, then proceeds to visit
the giant chocolate conglomerates that monopolize the industry,
from the philanthropic Hershey and his particularly American type
of candy bars to the ultra-modern Nestle corporation. When he has
exhausted the commercial, gourmand and sociological aspects of
chocolate, Richardson reveals with candour the massive exploitation
and poverty at the start of the cacao bean's life, the
uncomfortable truth that our favourite treat has a dark beginning
that depends on the suffering of some of the world's poorest
peoples. Having driven home these unpalatable facts, he finishes
with a final, strange encounter that seems to indicate that the
cacao bean itself is undergoing a revival as an object of
spirituality and worship. Leaving a bittersweet taste like the many
fine chocolates he samples throughout, this book is part
travelogue, part history book and altogether absorbing. Be warned
that it is impossible to read it without a supply of chocolate to
hand. (Kirkus UK)
Everybody loves chocolate. From Willy Wonka to Ferrero Rocher, the
Cadbury's Flake girl to the man from Milk Tray, it is embedded in
our culture like no other foodstuff. The 'Prozac of Candy' produces
the same chemicals in your brain as when you fall in love. Paul
Richardson has had a sweet tooth ever since his grandmother fed him
Lindt milk chocolate animals as a boy. Now, in this fascinating new
book, he satisfies a lifelong craving by travelling the world to
find out the history of this most popular of foodstuffs. It is a
journey that begins in the cacao groves of Guatemala and Mexico,
and takes him from the old world to the new, to mainland Europe and
the chocolatiers of Paris and Zurich, to Britain and America, and
the homes of Cadbury and Hershey. Part travelogue, part cultural
history, part literary gastronomy, INDULGENCE is choc full of the
hilarious, the delicious and the downright bizarre. For chocolate
lovers everywhere - and let's face it, that's most of us -
INDULGENCE is a treat. Witty, insightful and wonderfully readable,
this is the tastiest book you'll devour all year, bar none.
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