Chocolateism

Friday, April 4, 2008

Chocolate Quotes

"Fruit of all the kinds that the country produced were laid before him; he ate very little, but from time to time a liquor prepared from cocoa, and of an aphrodisiac nature, as we were told, was presented to him in golden cups.....I observed a number of jars, above fifty, brought in, filled with foaming chocolate. of which he took some....."
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, member of Cortez's force, describing a meal of emperor Montezuma (1519)

“When you have breakfasted well and fully, if you will drink a big cup of chocolate at the end you will have digested the whole perfectly three hours later, and you will still be able to dine..Because of my scientific enthusiasm and the sheer force of my eloquence I have persuaded a number of ladies to try this, although they were convinced it would kill them; they have always found themselves in fine shape indeed, and have not forgotten to give the Professor his rightful due.”
Jean-Antheleme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)
The Physiology of Taste (1825)

"which they use as money, and is produced on a moderately sized tree that flourishes only in very warm and shady localities.....The fruit is like almonds, lying in a shell resembling a gourd in size. It ripens in a year, and being plucked when the season has arrived, they pick out the kernels and lay them on the mats to dry; then when thy wish for the beverage, they roast them in an earthen pan over the fire, and grind them with the stones which they use for preparing bread [metate]. Finally, they put the paste into cups . . . and mixing it gradually with water, some times adding a little of their spice, they drink it, though it seems more suited for pigs than men. I was upwards of a year in that country without ever being induced to taste this beverage, and when I passed through a tribe, if an Indian wished occasionally to give me some, he was very much surprised to see me refuse it and went away laughing. But subsequently, wine failing, and unwilling to drink nothing but water, I did as others did. The flavor is somewhat bitter, but it satisfies and refreshes the body without intoxicating: the Indians esteem it above everything, wherever they are accustomed to it."
Girolamo Benzoni, describing cocoa beans.
History of the New World (1565)

"the damnable agent of necromancers and sorcerers. It is well to abstain from chocolate in order to avoid the familiarity and company of a nation so suspected of sorcery (Spain)."
French cleric (1620)

"If any man has drunk a little too deeply from the cup of physical pleasure; if he has spent too much time at his desk that should have been spent asleep; if his fine spirits have become temporarily dulled; if he finds the air too damp, the minutes too slow, and the atmosphere too heavy to withstand; if he is obsessed by a fixed idea which bars him from any freedom of thought: if he is any of these poor creatures, we say, let him be given a good pint of amber-flavored chocolate....and marvels will be performed."
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)

posted by Great Wild Fun @ 2:40 PM

0 Comments: