: & # 8220 ; Food Of The Gods & # 8221 ; Essay, Research Paper

In 1753, Carl von Linne, more normally known as Linnaeus, gave the

scientific name to the chocolate tree tree. As a cocoa lover, Linnaeus named the

chocolate tree tree Theobroma chocolate tree ; the first portion he took from the Grecian significance

& # 8220 ; nutrient of the gods. & # 8221 ; As a cocoa lover myself, I chose Theobroma chocolate tree as

my subject to research the sociocultural history of the flavourful merchandise made from

the chocolate tree bean, cocoa. The word & # 8220 ; cocoa & # 8221 ; is said to deduce from the

Mayan & # 8220 ; xocoatl & # 8221 ; and cacao from the Aztec & # 8220 ; cacahuatl. & # 8221 ; Chocolate begins with a

cacao bean. It has been mashed and eaten for centuries. The cacao bean & # 8217 ; s

popularity has non dwindled since before the clip of Jesus when it was prized in

Mesoamerica. This paper will follow the sociocultural history of the chocolate tree bean

and it & # 8217 ; s merchandise, cocoa, from it & # 8217 ; s beginnings in Mesoamerica to it & # 8217 ; s spread

throughout Europe.

The Olmecs was the America & # 8217 ; s first civilisation to utilize chocolate tree ( Topik,

1996 ) . Some linguists have reconstructed the word & # 8220 ; chocolate tree & # 8221 ; originally

marked kakawa as a vocabulary point in the prot-Mixe-Zoquean by about

1000 BC, merely when the Olmec civilisation was at its tallness ( Empty, 1997 ) . The

Olmecs passed kakawa on to the Maya.

The ascendants of the Maya entered the Lowlandss of northern Guatemala

around 1000 BC. Until so, they lived in the Highlandss of Guatemala and the

Mexican province of Chiapas where chocolate tree must hold been really rare, if known at all.

If they found a usage for the wild chocolate tree they found turning in the Lowlandss when

they arrived, they must hold had another word for it. It was non until some clip

between 400 BC and AD 100, they used the word kakawa ( Empty, 1997 ) .

Approximately AD 600, the Cardinal American Maya folk migrated deep

into South American & # 8217 ; s northern part and established the first chocolate tree plantations

in Yucatan. The fruit of the chocolate tree tree played an of import portion in ceremony

rites and chocolate trees beans were offered to Gods during pubescence rites, matrimonies

and funerals. Before the sowing of the harvest, the tillers of the dirt slept apart from

their adult females for 13 darks so that the dark before seting they could to the full

indulge their passions. As the first chocolate tree seed was placed in the dirt a chosen

few were appointed to sexually execute at the same clip. Possibly this rite has

some bearing on the fact that cocoa was considered an aphrodisiac for many

old ages.

It was believed that Tonacatecutli, the goddess of nutrient, and

Calchiuhtlucue, the goddess of H2O, were guardian goddesses of chocolate tree. Each

twelvemonth the Maya performed human forfeits for the goddesses ( Godiva, 1997 ) .

This unfortunate victim was served a cup of cocoa which purportedly turned

his bosom into a cacao bean ; the bosom was so ripped out and offered to the

Gods ( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) . Because cacao beans were valuable, they were

given as gifts at ceremonials such as a kid & # 8217 ; s coming of age and at spiritual

ceremonials. The Maya had really many complicated spiritual beliefs with many

Gods. Ek Chuah, the merchandiser God, was besides closely linked with chocolate tree and

chocolate tree fruits were used at festivals in award of this God ( Cadbury, 1997 ) .

Chocolate was a luxury among the Maya, non merely in life, but besides in decease. Even

in decease the Maya Lords should non lose cocoa. Vessels incorporating

cocoa drink were found in a grave at Rio Azul, Guatemala ( Empty, 1997 ) .

The drink called & # 8220 ; xocoatl & # 8221 ; was made from roasted chocolate tree beans, H2O and a small

spice. It was their most of import usage, but cacao beans were besides valued as a

currency ( Cadbury, 1997 ) .

Ransoms were paid and purchases made in cacao beans. A Cucurbita pepo

cost 4 chocolate tree beans, a coney 8, a good slave 100, but a cocotte was deserving merely

10 cacao beans ( Annonymous1, 1997 ) . Maya husbandmans transported their chocolate tree

beans to market by canoe or in big baskets strapped to their dorsums. When

Christopher Columbus encountered a big Maya trading canoe in 1502, he

knew he had stumbled upon something of value. Some of the Maya bargainers

& # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; dropped almond-like objects and began to furiously scramble to pick them up

as if their eyes had fallen out of their caputs ( Cadbury, 1997 ) . & # 8221 ; These funny

beans were known in Mayan as kakawa. Affluent merchandisers traveled further

using porters to transport their wares as there were no Equus caballuss, battalion animate beings or

wheeled carts in Central America at that clip. Some ventured every bit far as Mexico

and the land of the Aztecs, so presenting them to the much prized chocolate tree beans

( Cadbury, 1997 ) .

The Aztecs were an ancient mobile people who took over control of

Mexico and the environing countries around AD 1200. They founded the great

metropolis, Tenochititlan, in 1325. In most books about cocoa, it is the Aztecs who

are given the recognition for cultivating the chocolate tree tree and contriving the cocoa

drink. As we have already seen, this is non true. The Aztecs have nevertheless,

played a great function in the development of the usage of chocolate tree in & # 8220 ; The New World & # 8221 ;

( Empty, 1997 ) . Because of their dry clime, the Aztecs were unable to turn

chocolate tree trees themselves so they had to obtain supplies of cacao beans from

testimonial or trade. Tribute was a signifier of revenue enhancement paid by states conquered by

the Aztecs in wars ( Cadbury, 1997 ) . Chocolatl was consumed in big measures

by the Aztecs as a luxury drink. The Aztec version of this much prized drink was

described as & # 8220 ; finely land, soft, foaming, ruddy, acrimonious with chili H2O, aromatic

flowers, vanilla and wild bee honey ( Cadbury, 1997 ) . & # 8221 ;

To the Aztecs, chocolate tree was considered to be a stimulation, alcohol,

psychedelic drug, and aphrodisiac. The drink besides served as a remedy for anxiousness,

febrility, and coughs. Warriors would number on chocolate tree & # 8217 ; s caffeine to steel them in

conflict. Others would imbibe fermented cocoa and feel intoxicated by the

beans, particularly if they were still green and consumed in concurrence with the

psilocin mushroom as in some spiritual celebrations. And work forces such as the

Emperor Montezuma would absorb the potion before traveling to do love with

their many married womans ( Topik, 1996 ) . Montezuma would devour up to 50 cups of

xocoatl a twenty-four hours before mending to his hareem. Cacao beans were so cherished they

were besides used as money.

Since the Aztec & # 8217 ; s economic system largely was on the footing of face-to-face swap,

chocolate tree represented an of import gap to monetarization. That cacao truly

was thought of as a signifier of money was demonstrated by the fact that chocolate tree

beans were sometimes counterfeited. Empty chocolate tree shells were filled with clay.

It might look absurd to hold money turning on trees, but in fact, the Spanish

continued this tradition in cardinal Mexico for decennaries and in parts of Central

American for centuries ( Topik, 1996 ) .

The Aztecs were really superstitious ; they had many Gods and believed

that their universe was invariably threatened by calamity. One narrative says that

one of these Gods, Quetzalcoatl, Godhead God and supplier of agribusiness, was

peculiarly associated with cacao beans. Quetzalcoatl is farther linked with the

narrative of chocolate tree and cocoa ( Cadbury, 1997 ) . An old Mexican Indian myth

explains that Quetzalcoatl was forced to go forth the state by a main God, but he

was fondly remembered by his devoted believers who hoped that we would

return. Until that clip they still had his bequest, the chocolate tree tree ( Cadbury, 1997 ) .

Great temples were built to honour him in Tenochititlan. Montezuma peculiarly

revered him. Another fable has it that cacahuatl was foremost cultivated on Earth

by the Aztec man-god, Quetzalcoatl, from seeds he carried out of the doomed

Eden of the kids of the Sun ( Van Epen, 1996 ) . Another ancient history

studies that the Aztecs, believing that the God Quetzalcoatl traveled to earth on a

beam of the Morning Star with a chocolate tree tree from Eden, took his offering to

the people. They learned from Quetzalcoatl how to roast and crunch the chocolate tree

seeds, doing a alimentary paste that could be dissolved in H2O. They added

spices and called this drink chocolatl, or a bitter-water, and believed it brought

cosmopolitan wisdom and cognition ( Godiva, 1997 ) . Yet another narrative is of an

Aztec myth that the feathery snake God of visible radiation, Quetzalcoatl, came to earth

as a fair-skinned adult male with a white fluxing face fungus. He bestowed upon his

believers the chocolate tree bean and taught them how to do the Godhead cocoa

drink. The human trait of turning old horrified this glorious God, so he returned

to heaven and took the chocolate tree tree with him, assuring to return to earth once more.

By unfortunate happenstance, 1519 was predicted as the twelvemonth the God

Quetzalcoatl would return to liberate the Aztecs from the awful load of holding to

perform human forfeits in order that the Sun would go on to lift

( Anonymous 2, 1997 ) . Cortes & # 8217 ; white tegument and face fungus fulfilled the fable of the

return of Quetzalcoatl, every bit good as the twelvemonth of his return, and the local people genuinely

believed he was the reincarnated God ( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) . Which of all time narrative

is right, Montezuma and the Aztec people welcomed Cortes.

Hernando Cortes, while suppressing portion of Mexico, was most impressed

by the cacao bean. Lured by visions of wealth, he established plantations in

Mexico, Trinidad, Haiti, and by and large all over the Caribbean to turn money in

the signifier of the cacao bean. When Cortes foremost landed he was received with

great fear by the Aztec Emperor Montezuma because he was thought to

be Quetzalcoatl returning.

It was Montezuma who introduced Don Cortes to

his favourite drink,

xocoatl, served in a aureate goblet. The Spaniards were dazzled by the luster

and mystique of Montezuma and they basked in the glorification of being the group of a

God returned to earth. All the chocolate tree beans consumed by the Aztecs were grown

on the Yucatan peninsula by the Mayas, who were topics of the Aztecs by AD

1200. Within a twelvemonth, Cortes had repaid the Aztec & # 8217 ; s cordial reception by incarcerating his

gracious host and declaring the state a settlement of Spain. The conquistadors

returned place in 1528 and introduced the cacao bean and its readying as a

drink to the royal Spanish tribunal.

Chocolate & # 8217 ; s Introduction to Spain

The conquistadors were non the first to convey the chocolate tree bean to Spain. In

1502, Christopher Columbus is said to hold brought back chocolate tree beans to King

Ferdinand from his 4th visit to & # 8220 ; The New World. & # 8221 ; Columbus, himself, did non

enjoy cocoa in this signifier. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella did non care

much for it either, and dismissed it as a eccentric native drink ( Anonymous 2,

Joffray 7

1997 ) .

Cortezs brought cocoa back from Mexico to the royal tribunal of King

Charles V. Monks, hidden off in Spanish monasteries, processed the chocolate tree

beans. Monks, known for their pharmaceutical accomplishments were chosen to treat the

beans and hone the drink to Spanish gustatory sensations. Cinnamon, Myristica fragrans and sugar

were added and the chili Piper nigrum was omitted and it was discovered that

cocoa tasted even better served hot. Soon cocoa became a stylish

imbibe enjoyed by the rich in Spain. It made a profitable industry for Spain, which

planted chocolate tree trees in its abroad settlements. It took about a century for the

intelligence of chocolate tree and cocoa to distribute across Europe as the Spanish kept it a

closely guarded secret ( Cadbury, 1997 ) .

An Italian traveller, Francesco Carletti, was the first to interrupt the Spanish

monopoly holding visited Central America where he saw how the Indians

prepared the chocolate tree beans and how they made the drink. The drink still

contained hot Piper nigrums and spices ( Anonymous 2, 1997 ) . By 1606, cocoa

was good established in Italy ( Cadbury, 1997 ) . From at that place, the drink rapidly

spread to the blue societies of Germany and Austria. Chocolate, in any

signifier, was still to much of an expensive South American luxury to be consumed

by the on the job category.

Anne of Austria, a Hapsburg-Spanish princess who married Louis XIII of

France in 1615, introduced many Spanish imposts to the sophisticated Gallic

tribunal, including imbibing cocoa ( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) . History repeated itself

in 1660, when the Spanish Princess Maria Theresa was betrothed to Louis Fourteen

of France, she gave her groom-to-be an engagement gift of cocoa, packaged in an

elegantly flowery thorax. Their matrimony was symbolic of the matrimony of

cocoa in the Spanish-Franco civilization ( Godiva, 1997 ) . The Gallic tribunal

adopted this new alien drink with great ardor and it was considered to hold

medicative benefits every bit good as being a nourishing nutrient. The spread of cocoa

from the Gallic tribunal to the remainder of Gallic high society took no more than a few

old ages. The supply of chocolate tree beans to the Gallic market greatly improved after

1684, when France conquered Cuba and Haiti and put up their ain chocolate tree

plantations ( Cadbury, 1997 ) . By 1687, there were at least three cocoa

shapers in Paris, selling their hand-made wares in their ain stores, and by 1692,

Gallic vino merchandisers were kicking that cocoa was cutting into their

concern ( Anonymous 2, 1997 ) .

While the royal tribunals of France ensured its success, across the Channel,

an enterprising Frenchman opened the first cocoa store in Bishopsgate

Street, London in 1657. At the same clip celebrated London java houses functioning

Spanish-style bars and axial rotations incorporating cocoa to their learned and affluent

patronage. Merely the rich and baronial could afford to imbibe cocoa. Chocolate

increased in popularity non merely as a drink, but besides as a flavorer for other nutrients

( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) .

By the 18th century, cocoa was indelibly associate with

degeneracy, nobility, and the Catholic Church. Chocolate was considered a

Catholic drink merely as java was foremost a Muslim drink and so a Protestant

drink ( Topik, 1996 ) . Pope Pius V was served a cup of cocoa and found

it so gross outing that he could non conceive of anyone desiring to imbibe it. He

hence declared it allowable to imbibe though the Lenten banquet. Fashionable

adult females of the twenty-four hours could non last through Mass without a cup of cocoa, and it

was a common sight to see hosts of amahs functioning cocoa to their

kept womans, thereby disrupting the Mass ( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) . Cocoa

could besides efficaciously disguise toxicants. The Bishop of Chiapa Mexico tried to

prohibition the pattern of imbibing cocoa during Mass, but shortly after met an

prematurely decease. Some dame poisoned his ain forenoon cup of cocoa

( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) .

Chocolate besides appears to hold been used as a medicative redress by

taking doctors of the twenty-four hours. The male monarch & # 8217 ; s physician, Henry Stubbe wrote a book

praising the good qualities of cocoa, called The Indian Nectar. He

advocated that one ounce of cocoa contained more fat and nutriment than

a lb of meat and he wrote medical prescriptions made from cocoa. He

besides wrote that cocoa & # 8220 ; becomes provocative to crave upon no other history

than that it begets good blood. & # 8221 ; Coincidentally, a Gallic medical pupil wrote

a thesis & # 8220 ; On the Healthful Uses of Chocolate ( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) . & # 8221 ;

Christopher Ludwig Hoffmann & # 8217 ; s treatise Potus Chocolate recommends cocoa

for many diseases, mentioning it as a remedy for Cardinal Richelieu & # 8217 ; s ailments ( Godiva, 1997 ) .

Like other cryptically tempting substances, cocoa has from clip to

clip been regarded as an aphrodisiac. Montezuma consumed up to 50 cups a

twenty-four hours before sing his hareem. Casanova was said to happen cocoa more

effectual for his intents than bubbly ( Anonymous 3, 1997 ) . For Geronimo

Piperni: & # 8220 ; Chocolate is a Godhead, heavenly drink, the perspiration of the stars, the vital

sea, Godhead nectar, the drink of the Gods, Panacea and cosmopolitan medical specialty

( Maxwell, 1996 ) . The Gallic literally worshipped this new drink, claping its

virtuousnesss and imputing it with astonishing belongingss. By the clip Louis Fifteen

ascended the throne in 1723, it was an establishment of the royal tribunal, and his

kept womans, Madame Du Barry and Madame de Pompadour, carried on the royal

cocoa connect. It was said of Madame Du Barry that she plied her lovers

with cocoa to flog up their ardour in satisfying her lecherousness. The antonym was

said of Madame de Pompadour who was cold, & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; to warm a disposition that

was by nature cool, to stir a sensualness that was at best sluggish, she had

resort to funny aphrodisiacs and diets ( Anonymous 2, 1997 ) . & # 8221 ; At breakfast

she drank earthnut and Apium graveolens dulce soup washed down by hot cocoa.

The last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, had a personal chocolatier

from Vienna who made such daintinesss as cocoa mixed with powered orchid

bulbs to charmingly plummet out her figure ( Anonymous 1, 1997 ) . The Marquis de

Sade, a chocoholic who became monstrously corpulent during his long imprisonment,

when denied other mercantile establishments, he spent his clip gorging in all mode of

cocoa daintinesss, of which he was ever demanding more from his loyal

and enduring married woman. & # 8221 ; asked & # 8230 ; for a bar with frost, but I want it to be

cocoa, & # 8221 ; he demanded in 1779, & # 8220 ; and black interior from cocoa as the

Satan & # 8217 ; s buttocks is black from fume. And the frost is to be the same ( Maxwell,

1996 ) . & # 8221 ;

We have seen how chocolate progressed from a crude drink and nutrient

of ancient Latin American folks, a portion of their spiritual, commercialism and societal

life, to a drink favored by the elite of European society and the many different

utilizations European & # 8217 ; s found for cocoa, including medicative, sexy and

spiritual. To this twenty-four hours, cocoa is still really popular. By the 1990 & # 8217 ; s, one-year

universe ingestion of cacao beans norms about 600,000 dozenss and

cocoa ingestion is on the rise ( Neft and ResSeguie, 1996 ) . The United

States consumed an norm of 11.5 lbs of cocoa per individual per twelvemonth

( Neft and ResSeguie, 1996 ) . Theobroma chocolate tree is still the & # 8220 ; nutrient of the gods. & # 8221 ;

Mentions

Anonymous 1. ( 1997 ) . Xocoatl: Food of the Gods. World Wide Web.

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.vivelavie.com/sotries970316/stories/chocolate.html

Anonymous 2. ( 1997 ) . A brief history of cocoa. World Wide Web.

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hhh.org/cloister/chocolate/history.html

Anonymous 3. ( 1997 ) . Healthy Calories. Economist. 344 ( 8028 ) , 68-69.

Cadbury. ( 1997 ) . Cadbury & # 8217 ; s cocoa history and the growth of chocolate.

World Wid Web. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cadbury.co.uk/html/facts/cocoa.htm

Empty, T. ( 1997 ) . Emptys page of the history of cocoa. World Wide

Web. hypertext transfer protocol: //hp5.econ.cbs.dk/people/toha96ad/chocolate/history.html

Godiva. ( 1997 ) . An antique compulsion: A brief history of cocoa.

World Wide Web. hypertext transfer protocol: //www/2.godiva.com/resources/history.html

Maxwell, K. ( 1996 ) . The route to busss. New York Review of Books. 43

( 14 ) , 23-25.

Neft, R. and ResSeguie, D. ( 1996 ) . Clear histories and thick cocoa.

World Wide Web. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.efn.org/~sundance/chocolate.html

Topik, S. C. ( 1996 ) . From coin to trade good. World Trade. 9 ( 2 ) , 80.

Van Epen, K. ( 1996 ) . Sustainability & # 8212 ; chocolate nut: The cacahuatl

feeder by Jonathan Ott. Whole Earth Review. ( 89 ) , 43.