The Coes, both anthropologists with a culinary bent, delve deeply into the history of their mouth-watering subject. The material on ancient cultures is particularly fascinating--did you know that the Maya used unsweetened liquid chocolate as currency? And in a chapter called "Chocolate for the Masses," they detail the modernization of chocolate manufacture, which has allowed more than 25 million Hershey's Kisses to roll off the conveyor belt each day.


Rick Bayless, owner of Chicago's Frontera Grill and Topolobampo
A masterpiece of scholarship, passion, and wit. No stone (or page) is left unturned, no folk history is left unchallenged in search of chocolate's veritable True History.


Washington Post
Exceptionally interesting throughout.


From Booklist
The Coes' examination of the history of the "food of the Gods" is a delight that can be enjoyed on several levels. Historians should find the interaction between economic factors and the power relations in meso-America fascinating. Anthropologists can immerse themselves in the ample information illustrating how entire cultures were shaped and modified by the expanding value of the cacao plant. Finally, those interested in food science should find the extensive descriptions of chocolate production, from growth to refinement to delivery, to be both informative and thought provoking. The Coes are well prepared to write such a definitive history; the late Sophie had both a culinary and an anthropological background, while Michael has written extensively on pre-Colombian civilizations. The result is a superbly written, charming, and surprisingly engrossing chronicle of a food and how its development has touched the lives of cultures around the world. Jay Freeman


From Kirkus Reviews
The late anthropologist Sophie Coe, who was assisted by her husband, an authority on pre-Columbian civilizations, in the writing of the book, took her culinary history seriously, thank you: This is no chat-fest presented for the benefit of Godiva- gobblers. Instead, the Coes track a prudent and punctilious path through chocolate's beginnings in ancient Meso-America; its transformation during the age of empire and Spanish colonization; its dispersal across Europe; and chocolate's more recent incarnation at ``Hershey, the Chocolate Town,'' a Disney-esque, sweet-toothed theme park in Hershey, Penn., and headquarters of one of the world's leading chocolate manufacturers. Along the way, readers learn about the chemistry of chocolate and survey sundry recipes; appreciate its many ethnic varieties (the Aztecs preferred theirs mixed with ground chilies, ``anywhere from mildly pungent to extremely hot''); and probe its social symbolism, first for elites, and now for the rest of us. Drawbacks of the Coes' approach include a plethora of detail, some of it unnecessarily dry, and excessive stretches of information unrelieved by humanizing anecdote. But the lore they offer also includes pleasantly bemusing facts and speculations, such as those surrounding chocolate's etymology. Called ``cacahuatl'' for a time by Spaniards who encountered it in the New World, the word--and the substance--may have actually raised their hackles: ``It is hard to believe that the Spaniards were not thoroughly uncomfortable with a noun beginning with caca to describe a thick, dark brown drink which they had begun to appreciate. They desperately needed some other word.'' A carefully researched biography of chocolate as a pleasure and a product. (100 illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Gourmet
A pleasure, not just for chocoholics but for anyone who enjoys lively, thorough historical sleuthing via the printed page.


Los Angeles Times
Anyone who loves chocolate . . . will be riveted by its revelations.


Rick Bayless, owner of Chicago's Frontera Grill and Topolobampo
A masterpiece of scholarship, passion, and wit.


New York Review of Books
A splendid treat.


Book Description
Theobromo caco . . . chocolate . . . "the food of the gods." Delicious indulgence or cause of migraines? Aphrodisiac or medicinal tonic? Religious symbol or Mesoamerican currency? This delightful tale of one of the world's favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, socio-economics, and culinary history to present a complete and accurate history of chocolate. The story begins some three thousand years ago in the jungles of lowland Mexico and Central America with the tree Theobroma cacao and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the sophisticated Maya, and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it became first the stimulating drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate a food for the masses--until its revival in our own time as a luxury item. The True History of Chocolate is the first book to present the real facts of the pre-Spanish history of chocolate--and it does so with great authority, since the authors share an unrivaled knowledge of the history of pre-Columbian civilizations and their cuisine. We discover how chocolate got its name and how it was used as a medicine, and we find that the Spanish learned of chocolate through the Maya, not the Aztecs. From Maya hieroglyphs to the kingdom of the Hershey Bar, this is a fascinating history, beautifully told, and enhanced with quotations, illustrations, and old recipes--a book for chocolate-lovers everywhere. 97 illustrations, 13 in color.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Theobroma cacao...chocolate...'the food of the gods'. Delicious indulgence or cause of migraines? Aphrodisiac or medicinal tonic? Religious symbol or Mesoamerican currency? This delightful tale of one of the world's favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, socioeconomics and culinary history to present for the first time a complete and accurate history of chocolate. The story begins some three thousand years ago in the jungles of lowland Mexico and Central America with the tree Theobroma cacao and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the sophisticated Maya, and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it became first the stimulating drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffee-houses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate a food for the masses - until its revival in our own time as a luxury item. The True History of Chocolate is the first book to present the real facts of the pre-Spanish history of chocolate - and it does so with great authority, since the authors share an unrivalled knowledge of the history of Pre-Columbian civilizations and their cuisine. We discover how chocolate got its name, how it was used as a medicine, and find that the Spanish learned of chocolate through the Maya, not the Aztecs. From Maya hieroglyphs to kingdom of the Hershey Bar, this is a fascinating history, beautifully told, and enhanced with quotations, illustrations and old recipes - a book for chocolate-lovers everywhere.

FROM THE CRITICS

KLIATT

A poster from the 19th century advertising Cadbury's cocoa proclaims it "makes strong men stronger" and a poster from a few decades later states that "Hershey's Milk Chocolate [makes] a meal in itself." These sentiments are dear to any chocoholic and enough to bring indigestion to any dietician. The True Story of Chocolate is, however, much more than superficial posters or cute anecdotes about this most popular of sweets. It is an in-depth history of a New World food, its influence on its conquerors and their civilization and its evolution as a part of our diet. Chocolate has at various times been regarded as medicinal, dangerous and heavenly. As science and industry changed, so did the way that chocolate was produced and delivered. (Its main form centuries ago was as a drink). Details on the cacao plant (which is very difficult to grow) and on the earliest history of the plant grown by the ancient Maya are also included. It is difficult to imagine a more comprehensive book on this subject. True chocoholics, food historians and literary gourmets will find this a fascinating read. The authors—she an anthropologist and food historian and he an anthropologist with a specialty in the Maya—have done a most thorough job of researching a food we are both fixated with and take for granted. Reader will find out things about chocolate they never would have dreamed of. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1996, Thames & Hudson, 280p, illus, notes, bibliog, index, 24cm, 95-61824, $18.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Katherine E. Gillen; Libn., Luke AFB Lib., AZ January 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 1)

Kirkus Reviews

The late anthropologist Sophie Coe, who was assisted by her husband, an authority on pre-Columbian civilizations, in the writing of the book, took her culinary history seriously, thank you: This is no chat-fest presented for the benefit of Godiva- gobblers.

Instead, the Coes track a prudent and punctilious path through chocolate's beginnings in ancient Meso-America; its transformation during the age of empire and Spanish colonization; its dispersal across Europe; and chocolate's more recent incarnation at "Hershey, the Chocolate Town," a Disney-esque, sweet-toothed theme park in Hershey, Penn., and headquarters of one of the world's leading chocolate manufacturers. Along the way, readers learn about the chemistry of chocolate and survey sundry recipes; appreciate its many ethnic varieties (the Aztecs preferred theirs mixed with ground chilies, "anywhere from mildly pungent to extremely hot"); and probe its social symbolism, first for elites, and now for the rest of us. Drawbacks of the Coes' approach include a plethora of detail, some of it unnecessarily dry, and excessive stretches of information unrelieved by humanizing anecdote. But the lore they offer also includes pleasantly bemusing facts and speculations, such as those surrounding chocolate's etymology. Called "cacahuatl" for a time by Spaniards who encountered it in the New World, the word—and the substance—may have actually raised their hackles: "It is hard to believe that the Spaniards were not thoroughly uncomfortable with a noun beginning with caca to describe a thick, dark brown drink which they had begun to appreciate. They desperately needed some other word."

A carefully researched biography of chocolate as a pleasure and a product.