Froth in Venice (Voltaire III)
The ironies abound when Candide and his new traveling companion, Martin, a downtrodden scholar, arrive in Venice. Their destination is...
Chocolate and Syphilis, A Satire (Voltaire I)
While treatises constitute an important and authoritative source for ideas about chocolate in the period before caffeine, chocolate also...
Buc'hoz and Cacao Economics
Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, a doctor of medicine and natural science by training, had every reason to write a book about chocolate in 1787....
Paulli and the Ironies of History
“I therefore hope, that for the future, the Europeans will be wise and reject Coffee, Chocolate, and Tea, since they are all either...
Chocolate as a Dietary Supplement
D. de Quélus, the author of the 1720 Natural History of Chocolate is a hard man to pin down. He goes by Quélus, Chélus, Caïlus, or...
Slam Duncan
Duncan provides a unique viewpoint against the sin of overindulgence in his 1705 treatise, Wholesome Advice Against the Abuse of Hot...
In Search of Succulence Lost
Chocolate is a favorite of in-vogue nutrition experts trying to expose the cure-all for human health. They have attributed many...
How to Fit In with the French Aristocracy, 1685 Edition
In 1671, Philippe Dufour republished René Moreau's French translation of Antonio Colmenero’s treatise on chocolate. The 1671 amended...
Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate: Connecting the World Through Trade
In the seventeenth century, cultures seemed worlds apart, as depicted in the image of the “Four Continents” below. Europe, Asia, Africa,...
The Price of Chocolate
Today, popular chocolate can be purchased for pocket change; however, that has not always been the case. And while the dollar amount...