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.
如果你不能想象没有巧克力的生活, 那你该为没在16世纪前出生感到庆幸。 在那之前,巧克力仅存于中美洲, 并且形态和我们所知道的大有区别。 早在公元前1900年, 该地区的人民已经学会了 如何处理天然的可可豆。 根据最早的记载, 这些豆子被研磨后 跟玉米面和红辣椒混合在一起, 用来制作饮料—— 不是令人放松的热可可, 而是一种味苦却振奋精神的 带泡沫的混合饮料。 如果你认为如今我们 对巧克力的热爱已到极致, 中美洲人绝对是第一个不服气的。 他们认为可可是神圣的食物, 受赐于一位被玛雅人 称为Kukulkan的羽蛇神, 阿兹特克人也将其 称之为Quetzalcoatl。 阿兹特克人将可可豆作为货币使用, 并在皇家盛宴中饮用巧克力, 以及将其作为士兵战功的奖励, 和用于宗教仪式。 第一次跨大西洋的巧克力邂逅 发生在1519年, 当荷南·科尔蒂斯拜访 位于特诺奇蒂特兰城蒙特祖马的皇宫时。 根据科尔特斯的陆军中尉记载, 国王将50罐巧克力饮料拿出来倒入金杯。 当殖民者满载 这种新奇古怪的豆子回归时, 传教士对土著风俗的诲淫解释, 使其被打上了壮阳药的烙印。 起初,巧克力因其苦味被用作 可治愈像肚子痛一类小病的药, 但将其和蜂蜜、糖、香草混合增甜后, 美味的巧克力迅速 风靡于西班牙的皇宫中。 很快,巧克力成为了 贵族家中的必需品。 大量生产这种时尚饮料 是耗时耗力的, 并且制作过程需要用到种植园, 及从加勒比海区和非洲海岸 附近岛屿俘虏来的奴隶。 1828年,来自阿姆斯特丹的 康纳德·凡·休顿 用他发明的可可豆压榨机 改变了巧克力的未来。 这种压榨机能将可可豆里的油脂分离开, 制造出一种可以冲泡成饮料的粉末 或者和可可豆油脂重新混合, 就得到了我们今天所熟知的固体巧克力。 不久后,一位名为丹尼尔·彼得 的瑞士巧克力大亨 将奶粉和巧克力粉混合, 发明了牛奶巧克力。 到了20世纪,巧克力 已不再是精英阶层的奢侈品, 普及到了千家万户。 巧克力的大量生产 增大了对可可豆的需求, 但问题在于其只能生长于赤道附近。 现在与其将非洲奴隶 运往南美洲可可园, 不如直接在西非生产可可豆。 截止2015年, 科特迪亚出产了世界五分之二的可可豆。 但是,这个产业的壮大 伴随着太多对人权的残忍掠夺。 西非很多向西方国家 供应可可豆的种植园 使用了奴隶和童工。 据估算,有超过200万的孩童被迫劳作, 这个问题复杂庞大,依然存在, 尽管很多巧克力公司 和非洲国家沟通干涉 让他们减少对童工和契约工的使用。 今天,巧克力成为了我们 现代文化重要的一部分。 因为其和土著文化在殖民方面的联系, 和广告中的大力宣传, 巧克力隐约暗示了性欲, 堕落, 和禁忌。 了解更多关于巧克力迷人却残酷的历史, 以及如今的生产现状, 能够使人们更多的知道这种暗示的起源 和背后的故事。 那么,当你下一次撕开一包巧克力棒时, 停留片刻思考一下, 并不是关于巧克力的一切都是香甜可口的。