From The Trees Of Africa To The Chocolate Museum In Prague, Robert La Bua Finds No Shortage Of Destinations For The Chocorati.

By yourself this Valentine’s Day? That’s why Shiva invented chocolate – so he’d have something to eat during commercials of his hit TV show, Alone For Eternity. That’s also why the Latin name for cocoa is theobroma cacao, which is Latin for ‘food of the gods’. Brazilian beachboys notwithstanding, one of the most intensely sensual, utterly decadent brown pleasures in Life is the taste of high-quality chocolate – easier to acquire than a rentboy and a whole lot less expensive.

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Believe it or not, people actually plan their holidays around chocolate. I should know; I am one of them. First, let’s go to the source, Mexico, where the Aztecs revered cacao for its perceived power to enhance spiritual and sexual intensity. A trip to any Mexican supermarket will see rows of chocolate products presented in various forms, among them the stiff discs of uniquely Mexican drinking chocolate sugared and cinnamoned and ready for becoming one with hot milk flowing. Today, in a world of forlorn singles searching for something more emotionally meaningful than a text message, the antidepressant factor is not inconsiderable; properly known as serotonin and phenylethylamine, these are the exhilarating substances in chocolate that make the world seem less threatening for as long as you have them in your mouth.

A visit to a cacao plantation will forever alter your perceptions of fine chocolate. Think exotic and head for such places as Brazil or Ghana, one of the world’s major suppliers of cocoa ‘beans’ which are, in fact, the seeds of the cacao (cocoa) tree. Ghana is the home of the first cacao plantation on mainland Africa; it still exists today. Show up at the front gate of the Tetteh Quarshie cocoa farm and be welcomed as the long-lost connoisseur that you are, eager to see chocolate growing on trees.

The same can be said in Ilhéus, the centre of Brazil’s cacao industry. This little town with a bust of Sappho on its main square is one of the few along Brazil’s coast not overrun with tourists, yet it offers a rich history, friendly people, and the exotic Afro-Brazilian culture for which the state of Bahia is famous. There is a cocoa museum as well as CEPLAC, the Brazilian government’s cocoa research institute.

Don’t just make the source your travel destination, though; like a good threeway, there’s fun to be had at both ends. Once picked, dried, winnowed, conched, tempered, shaped, and wrapped, cacao morphs into the finished products found in wonderful little shops on the streets of Paris, chocolate-shop capital of the world, and Brussels, where the chic House Of The Belgian Chocolate Masters opened last year as a modern-day guild of Belgium’s top chocolatemakers. Staffed by the campest workers this side of muscle porn, the House Of The Belgian Chocolate Masters is well worth a visit on Brussels’ glorious Grand Place, the biggest square in Europe and one of its most beautiful.

Thank you, Spain, for bringing chocolatl from Mexico to Europe and the rest of the world, but thank you even more for being home to Cacao Sampaka. Its chili and basil chocolate may not excite the more jaded chocolate connoisseurs; for us, there are such flavours as Parmesan cheese and anchovy. A Cacao Sampaka boutique sits conveniently just down the street from Barcelona’s very hip, very gay Axel Hotel; both Cacao Sampaka and Axel Hotel now have locations in Berlin just in case chocolate tickles your fancy while the German you fancy tickles you.

Switzerland, of course, is the land of milk chocolate, though there is a growing moooovement even there to reduce the bovine content of its most famous edible export – contents of Zimmerli underwear notwithstanding. To enjoy the apotheosis of Swiss chocolate experiences, visit the Lindt factory on the outskirts of Zurich and see the exhibit on how chocolate is made from bean to bar. On the premises is an outlet shop selling all sorts of Lindt products at lower prices than would ever be found on the shelves in Perth.

Surprisingly, the US city of Seattle is home to one of the best chocolatemakers in the world. Visit Theo Chocolate in the suburb of Fremont and enjoy endless tastings, a tour of the factory, and even chocolatemaking classes to release your inner Aztec. Theo (from cocoa’s Latin name, remember?) is also the world’s most ecologically conscious chocolate company, extolling fair trade as much as exceptional flavour. It’s hard to leave the chocolate of Europe behind, though, especially when enjoyed in Paris. In recognition of the growth in popularity of fine, dark chocolate, there seems to be a purveyor of cacao on every street in the city, with the ever gay Marais the capital of chocolate indulgence in the City Of Dark.

Oh, and about that Chocolate museum in Prague. Seems an eccentric Czech artist – and there are so many – has chosen to express himself not in gouache but ganache. Vladomír ?ech paints with chocolate; the unique works of art lining the walls of his museum are nothing to sniff at – leave that for the Brazilian beachboys.

MORE INFORMATION:

www.mmcb.be
www.theochocolate.com
www.cacaosampaka.com
www.axelhotels.com
www.vcech.com/en

Robert La Bua

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