If you can't imagine life without chocolate, you're lucky you weren't born before the 16th century. Until then, chocolate only existed in Mesoamerica in a form quite different from what we know. As far back as 1900 BCE, the people of that region had learned to prepare the beans of the native cacao tree. The earliest records tell us the beans were ground and mixed with cornmeal and chili peppers to create a drink - not a relaxing cup of hot cocoa, but a bitter, invigorating concoction frothing with foam. And if you thought we make a big deal about chocolate today, the Mesoamericans had us beat. They believed that cacao was a heavenly food gifted to humans by a feathered serpent god, known to the Maya as Kukulkan and to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl. Aztecs used cacao beans as currency and drank chocolate at royal feasts, gave it to soldiers as a reward for success in battle, and used it in rituals. The first transatlantic chocolate encounter occurred in 1519 when Hernán Cortés visited the court of Moctezuma at Tenochtitlan. As recorded by Cortés's lieutenant, the king had 50 jugs of the drink brought out and poured into golden cups. When the colonists returned with shipments of the strange new bean, missionaries' salacious accounts of native customs gave it a reputation as an aphrodisiac. At first, its bitter taste made it suitable as a medicine for ailments, like upset stomachs, but sweetening it with honey, sugar, or vanilla quickly made chocolate a popular delicacy in the Spanish court. And soon, no aristocratic home was complete without dedicated chocolate ware. The fashionable drink was difficult and time consuming to produce on a large scale. That involved using plantations and imported slave labor in the Caribbean and on islands off the coast of Africa. The world of chocolate would change forever in 1828 with the introduction of the cocoa press by Coenraad van Houten of Amsterdam. Van Houten's invention could separate the cocoa's natural fat, or cocoa butter. This left a powder that could be mixed into a drinkable solution or recombined with the cocoa butter to create the solid chocolate we know today. Not long after, a Swiss chocolatier named Daniel Peter added powdered milk to the mix, thus inventing milk chocolate. By the 20th century, chocolate was no longer an elite luxury but had become a treat for the public. Meeting the massive demand required more cultivation of cocoa, which can only grow near the equator. Now, instead of African slaves being shipped to South American cocoa plantations, cocoa production itself would shift to West Africa with Cote d'Ivoire providing two-fifths of the world's cocoa as of 2015. Yet along with the growth of the industry, there have been horrific abuses of human rights. Many of the plantations throughout West Africa, which supply Western companies, use slave and child labor, with an estimation of more than 2 million children affected. This is a complex problem that persists despite efforts from major chocolate companies to partner with African nations to reduce child and indentured labor practices. Today, chocolate has established itself in the rituals of our modern culture. Due to its colonial association with native cultures, combined with the power of advertising, chocolate retains an aura of something sensual, decadent, and forbidden. Yet knowing more about its fascinating and often cruel history, as well as its production today, tells us where these associations originate and what they hide. So as you unwrap your next bar of chocolate, take a moment to consider that not everything about chocolate is sweet.
Ako ne možete da zamislite život bez čokolade, imate sreće što niste rođeni pre XVI veka. Do tada, čokolada je jedino postojala u Srednjoj Americi u prilično razlčitom obliku od onog koji nam je danas poznat. Još daleke 1900 p. n. e. ljudi iz te regije su naučili kako da pripremaju zrnevlje autohtonog drveta kakao. Najraniji zapisi nam saopštavaju da su mleli zrnevlje i mešali ga sa kukuruznom kašom i ljutim paprikama kako bi napravili piće - nije se radilo o opuštajućem toplom kakau, već gorkom, okrepljujućem bućkurišu koji se izdašno penio. A ako smatrate da danas dižemo veliku prašinu oko čokolade, Srednjeamerikanci su nas debelo potukli. Verovali su da je kakao nebeska hrana koju je ljudima podario perjani zmijski kralj, Majama poznat kao Kukulkan, a Astecima kao Kecalkoatl. Asteci su koristili zrna kakaa kao monetu i pili su čokoladu na kraljevskim gozbama, davali su je vojnicima kao nagradu za uspeh u bici i koristili su je u ritualima. Prvi transatlanski susret sa čokoladom se desio 1519. kada je Ernan Kortes posetio Montezumin dvorac u Tenočtitlanu. Prema zabeleškama Kortesovog poručnika, kralj je naredio da se donese 50 vrčeva napitka i da se prespu u zlatne pehare. Kada su se kolonijalisti vratili sa isporukom čudnog novog zrnevlja, pohotljivi izveštaji misionara o običajima kod urođenika su mu podarili reputaciju afrodizijaka. U početku je zbog gorkog ukusa bio podesan kao lek za oboljenja, poput uznemirenog stomaka, ali zasladivši je medom, šećerom ili vanilom ubrzo je čokolada postala poslastica na španskom dvoru. A uskoro aristokratski dom nije bio potpun bez naročite posude za čokoladu. Moderno piće je bilo komplikovano i iziskivalo je vreme za proizvodnju u velikim razmerama. Proizvodnja je uključivala plantaže i uvezene robove kao radnike u Karibima i na ostrvima blizu afričke obale. Svet čokolade će zauvek da se promeni 1828. kada je Konrad van Hoten iz Amsterdama predstavio presu za kakao. Van Hotenov izum je mogao da razdvoji kakaovu prirodnu mast, iliti kakao maslac. Ostatak ovoga je bio prah koji je mogao da se meša u pitak rastvor ili je mogao ponovo da se meša sa kakao maslacem kako bi se napravila čvrsta čokolada kakva nam je danas poznata. Nedugo potom, švajcarski čokolater po imenu Danijel Peter je dodao mleko u prahu u smesu, izumevši time mlečnu čokoladu. Do XX veka, čokolada više nije bila elitni luksuz, već je postala poslastica za javnost. Izlaženje u susret ogromnoj potražnji značilo je veći uzgoj kakaa, koji jedino može da raste u blizini Ekvatora. Sad, umesto da izvoze afričke robove do južnoameričkih plantaža, sama proizvodnja kakaa je preseljena u Zapadnu Afriku gde Obala Slonovače obezbeđuje dve petine svetskog kakaa od 2015. Ipak, uz rast industrije, došlo je do užasnih kršenja ljudskih prava. Mnoge plantaže širom Zapadne Afrike, koje snabdevaju zapadne firme, koriste robove i dečju radnu snagu, procenjuje se da je više od dva miliona dece pogođeno. Ovaj složeni problem koji opstaje uprkos naporima velikih firmi čokolade da u partnerstvu s afričkim nacijama umanje dečje i najamničke radne prakse. Danas čokolada ima status u ritualima savremene kulture. Zbog njenih kolonijalnih veza sa urođeničkim kulturama, uz snagu marketinga, čokolada je zadržala auru nečeg senzualnog, dekadentnog i zabranjenog. Ipak, upućenost u njenu opčinjavajuću i često okrutnu istoriju, kao i u njenu trenutnu proizvodnju, govori nam odakle ove asocijacije potiču i šta skrivaju. Pa, kad razmotate sledeću tablu čokolade, izdvojite trenutak da razmotrite da nije sve u vezi sa čokoladom slatko.