The Introduction of Chocolate in Europe
September 3rd, 2006 (Natural Health Food)
Chocolates have been enjoyed by people worldwide for centuries. Despite their nutritional drawbacks, there is no harm in occasionally adding them to an otherwise healthy and balanced diet.
The returning crew of Columbus’s fourth voyage in 1502 brought the first cocoa beans from the New World to Europe. The Spanish eventually combined them with vanilla and other flavorings, sugar, and milk to arrive at a concoction that, as one writer noted at the time, people “would die for.”
For the first couple of centuries after its introduction in Europe, chocolate was served only as a beverage. A solid form similar to the chocolate we know was touted as an instant breakfast in 18th century France. The stimulant effects of chocolate were thought to make it a particularly useful food for soldiers standing watch during the night.
The chocolate bar, first marketed in about 1910, captured the public’s attention and curiosity when it was issued to the U.S. armed forces as a “fighting food” during World War II.