Chocolate: Healing powers of the original superfood

The term superfood, a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being, was first used in 1915 (Merriam-Webster.com). However, the seemingly unending search for the best, most potent cure-all or health-promoting remedy (be it food, drink, or supplement) is not solely a modern obsession; even though it may seem to be a product of our times with increasing sedentary lifestyles and higher caloric intake. As we look back through the history of chocolate, we can see that there has been a long-term love affair and belief in the healing powers of this proposed superfood.

Chocolate: Theobroma cacao or “food of the gods”, as is was named by the 18^th century Swedish scientist, Carl von Linné, nearly 250 years after it was introduced to the Old World (Coe and Coe 17-18), had been a cultural mainstay for thousands of years. In fact, evidence of its production and consumption predates the Classic Maya and has been tracked as far back as 1900-1500BC through traces of chocolate found in barra ceramics (Coe and Coe 36-37).

This is a drawing of the barra ceramics which provided evidence of ancient civilization use of chocolate (Coe and Coe 89).

The Maya

The Maya used cacao for medicinal purposes, believing it provided power and strength in addition to digestive and anti-inflammatory remedies. Historical evidence shows that the ancient Maya consumed chocolate as a beverage, often mixed with ingredients such as flowers and spices, that it was shared socially, and had ritualistic significance (C. Martin “Sugar”).

Pictured here is a Mayan warrior wearing cacao pods as amulets (C. Martin “Mesoamerica”).

The Aztecs

The Aztecs also believed in the strong healing powers of chocolate. They not only consumed it as a beverage, but mixed it with other ingredients and applied it to the skin. According to pre-Columbian era medicinal recipes documented in Chocolate: History, Culture and Heritage by Louis Evan Grivetti and Howard-Yana Shapiro, the Aztecs would drink “Chocolate (unmixed with other products; very bitter) … to treat stomach and intestinal complaints; when combined with liquid extruded from the bark of the silk cotton tree … this beverage was use by traditional healers to cure infections. In another recipe prescribed to reduce fever and prevent fainting, 8-10 cacao beans were ground along with dried maize kernels; this powder then was mixed with tlacoxoshitl…and the resulting beverage was drunk” (100).

This image depicts Aztec broken bodies, perhaps as a result of illnesses introduced from Europe (C. Martin “Mesoamerica”).

New Medicine Introduced to the Old World

Though perhaps a dubious account, rumored to be written in a 1556 letter by an “Anonymous Conquistadore”, the medicinal properties of chocolate were proclaimed to provide a drink that was “the most wholesome and substantial of any food or beverage in the world, because whoever drinks a cup of this liquor can go thru a whole day without taking anything else even if on a cross-country journey…” (C-spot).

There was great interest in power of this potential medicine, but there was also concern about its potency, and the fact that it was an unfamiliar and exotic substance. Spanish Royal Physician to Philip II, Francisco Hernandez, crossed the Atlantic in 1570 to determine how to “incorporate cacáo into a ‘civilized’ framework: an apothecary based on Humoral Medicine subscribes that cacáo contains healing-properties encompassing 3 & perhaps all 4 elements – air (fat), fire (bitter), earth (thick) & maybe water (sweet) – to yield a neutral temperament leaning ‘wet-cool’, thus making it acceptable. (Unbeknownst to Europeans, native medicine also treated cacáo as similarly ‘cool’, applying it as an emollient in hot illnesses such as fevers & dysentery.)” (C-spot).

Depiction of the four temperaments based on the humoral schemed devised by Hippocrates and Galen (C. Martin “Sugar”).

Once brought to Spain, it was introduced across borders as a medicine and quickly gained popularity across Europe. For example, the following account was published in 1713 in Bonaventure d’Argonne’s Melanges d’Histoire et de Litterature: “We know that Cardinal Brancaccio wrote a treatise on Chocolate, but perhaps we do not know that Cardinal of Lyon, Alphonse de Richelieu, was the first in France to use this drug. I heard from one of his servants that he used it to moderate the vapors of his spleen, and that he had the secret from some Spanish monks who brought it to France” (Coe and Coe 152).

Chocolate Today

Coe and Coe write that, in addition to media highlights, there has been an abundance of medical and nutritional literature published in the last decade advocating the beneficial health effects of chocolate; primarily due to alkaloids caffeine and theobromine (30). Through these recent medical studies, it is known that caffeine levels are low and that bromine “is said to be mood-enhancing, and is a known stimulant, vasodilator, and diuretic” (Coe and Coe 31).

 As can be seen after thousands of years of collective (if sometimes controversial) scientific, medicinal, religious, and cultural evidence, chocolate does indeed seem to have healing powers and just may be the original superfood.

Works Cited

A Concise History Of Chocolate. C-spot. http://www.c-spot.com/atlas/historical-timeline/. N.p. N.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

Coe, Sophie D. and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. Third Edition. Thames & Hudson Ltd: London, 2013. Print.

Grivetti, Louis Evan. and Howard-Yana Shapiro. Chocolate: History, Culture and Heritage. Wiley:New York, 2009. Print.

Martin, Carla D. “Mesoamerica and the ‘Food of the Gods.’” Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Harvard Extension School: Cambridge, MA. 3 Feb. 2016. Class Lecture.

Martin, Carla D. “Sugar and Cacao.” Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Harvard Extension School: Cambridge, MA. 17 Feb. 2016. Class Lecture.

Presilla, Maricel E. The New Taste of Chocolate Revised. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA, 2009. Print.

Olver, Lynne. “Food Timeline FAQs: Aztec, Maya, & Inca foods and recipes”. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html. Lynne Olver 2000. 1 March 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2016

“Superfood.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2015. Web. 19 February 2016.

On Church and Chocolate…

Some things never change –especially in church. For centuries people have read the accounts of the early church in the book of Acts and have determined to keep its traditions, two of which are fellowshipping and arguing over what is constituted as right or wrong for believers. Over the centuries these two things have evolved. What we observe is that over the past four hundred plus years, chocolate has made its way into the life of the church. Not the life only , chocolate has made its way into the controversy that keeps the ears of the parishioners tingling.

 

In the beginning days of the church, the saints are recorded to fellowship with food and prayer daily. Alongside this daily fellowship of prayer and eating was weekly fasting. The book of Acts records arguments among believers on who could be Christians as well as what rules they had to follow once they were Christians. What was eaten, we do not know. However, what we do know is that the tradition was held strong and it was little room for private interpretation. When questions arose, men immediately turned towards leadership to give clear and district direction. Click the following link to see detailed information about one of the first major debates in the early Christian Church.  https://bible.org/article/acts-15-gentiles-gentiles-davidic-promise-and-clarification-paul%E2%80%99s-offer-gospel-acts-13

 

Nearly fifteen hundred years after the birth of the church it seems like nothing had changed. At least in the story of a Dominican Friar from Chiapas. The saints were continuing in fellowship. It was not everyday as it was in the beginning. But, they did fellowship in worship and sharing food. Here in this 14^th century Mesoamerica context, saints come together to worship and enjoy one another’s company by sharing in a common drink of chocolate.

 

Amazing enough, fifteen hundred years after the start of the church believers were still arguing over what was appropriate for believers and what was not. This time the subject was fasting. This Dominican Friar was concerned that saints who were fasting and consuming chocolate beverages were not “truly” fasting. The issue was so important to him that he wrote to the pope. Unfortunately for him, it was not an important subject to the pope. This was proven by the lack of the response he received. Evidently, the pope thought it was quite hilarious to have received such a question.

 

Four hundred years later the saints are still the same. They are still fellowshipping –much less. But, they are questioning even more. The question of what constitutes a fast is still on the table. I suppose the questions have been answered –although not by the pope of Rome. In many colder climates of north America many church groups still gather and enjoy the company of one another by consuming chocolate before or after worship. But the church has split on the question of chocolate being able to be consumed while fasting. Many modern day Christians have taken the side of the pope by believing it is not a matter of importance. However, there are those who have taken up the concern of the Dominican Friar. The end result is that they believe it is a sin to consume chocolate while fasting.

 

I suppose there is nothing new under the sun. Fifteen hundred years from now the church will probably be doing the same thing. They will be getting together to hear the preached word. They will fellowship,  with or without chocolate. And of course, they will continue to argue over what constitutes a fast and what does not.

 

 

Works Cited

“Acts 15: Gentiles as Gentiles in Davidic Promise and the Clarification of Paul’s Offer of the Gospel in Acts 13”. Bible.org. Gregory Herrick Web. 19 February 2016

Dr. Carla Martin (2016) Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Lecture Video. https://matterhorn.dce.harvard.edu/engage/player/watch.html?id=bbf932d0-696b-417b-811d-a9b3fc051aea Web. 19 February 2016

Lilac Chocolates https://www.pinterest.com/pin/280208408038817747/ Web 19 February 2016

“Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the World’s Poorest Citizens, Makes His Case – Knowledge@Wharton.” KnowledgeWharton Muhammad Yunus Banker to the Worlds Poorest Citizens Makes His Case Comments. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

The Chocolate House http://www.chocolateuk.com/about.html Web 19 February 2016

“The Kingsman Review”, Peter Orrestad Web. 19 Feb 2016

 

A visit to Yucatan

“  The astonishing Maya
  called the starry firmament
  the corn’s sacred gold
  scattered by the wind–
  into the green night
  of Uxmal and Chichen Itza–
  to sate the ravenous hunger
  of a false, lifeless god
  arms outstretched in cruciform

  The newborn Void,

  salt and blood strewn over memory.” (Cluny, Claude Michel)

Translations from the French
By Daniel Simon

 

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Merida, Mexico for a studio trip about social housing. Despite having a strict schedule every day that focused on housing architecture, I had the space to immerse myself into the Mayan culture for nine days. I want to clarify that talking about the Mayan culture is very much talking about a culture that is alive, and that has adapted to different epochs through time.

 

It is very common to think of the Mayan culture as something from the past that can only be reminded by ruins. However when you visit Yucatan it is delightful to see the colors and flavours that are present in the everyday life of the people that inhabit this area.

Uxmal. Photo credits: Alica Meza

On of the places that I visited was Uxmal. Uxmal is an UNESCO world heritage site, and among other Mayan cities it is considered one of them better preserved cities of the Puuc Region.  Puuc Region refers to souther region that encompances a range of hills. The Puuc region is special because most of the Yucatan terrain is flat. Something that caught my eye from Uxmal is that in comparison to other Mayan cities like Chichen Itza, this city has a more intimate human scale, where perhaps it facilitated a social atmosphere where mayans could have enjoyed their xocholat beverages.

 

Uxmal. Photo credits: Alica Meza

Although the most common thing to enjoy today chocolate today even in Yucatan is in the form of a chocolate bar, there is a museum called “Choco-story” in Uxmal where you can have interactive tours where you can learn about the Chocolate history and have tastings of the traditional chocolate beverages that we talked about in class.

In a way it is interesting to see how the european assimilation and transformation of Chocolate has made its way back to its origins. And as we tasted the different chocolates in class, today a lot of the chocolate flavor that we associate our paladar with is very closely related to the sugar flavor. Chocolate is one of the earliest form of globalization if we think it from an economic perspective.

 

In another hand, a lot of the ingredients that we talked about in class that were combined with cacao are present in the everyday diet of the people from Yucatan. Some of the most evident ones are corn, vanilla, and achiote.

 

Cochinita Pibil. Photo credits: Alica Meza

Achiote is a natural red condiment that comes from the Bixa orellana tree. A paste is extracted from the pulp around the seeds. Achiote is a key ingredient for of of Yucatan’s most traditional dish, cochinita pibil, which is a pulled pork that is traditionally cooked in an earth oven for several hours.

Uxmal. Photo credits: Alica Meza

Yucatan is a testimony the constant evolution that cacao has given to the culinary world. During my trip, it was interesting to see how much of what we have learned so far in class still present today in the region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consulted and cited works:

 

Cluny, Claude Michel. “Uxmal.” World Literature Today 79.2 (2005): 60. Biography in Context. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

 

“Choco-story” Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://www.choco-storymexico.com/uxmal/index_en.php&gt;
“Uxmal.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://academic.eb.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/EBchecked/topic/620988/Uxmal>.

 

 

This Little “chocolate pot…”

Much literary attention has been given to Pre-Columbian cacao artifacts, specifically the cylindrical types used by both the Maya and Aztec for cacao preparation and consumption. Until more recently, however, there has been little attention given to the much older Preclassic spouted vessels excavated throughout Maya highlands and lowlands (see figures below). The pichinga, as these vessels are now called by modern Maya groups living in the Guatemalan highlands, are historically significant as they fit into the earlier segment of the cacao and chocolate narrative; furthermore, these pots have only more recently been able to provide the ethnographic data to substantiate why for the past century “Mayanists have dubbed [these] Preclassic spouted vessels as “chocolate pots”” (Powis et al., 2002).

Spouted Vessel Tomb 1, Mound 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico 100 BC-AD 100 Ceramic with Usulutan resist decoration 21 x 18.5 cm

This vessel is one of 14 excavated from Colha in northern Belize, dating to between 600 bc and ad 250.

 

Figure 1: Spouted Vessel, Tomb 1, Mound 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas Mexico 100 BCE-100 CE, 21 x 18.5 cm. (source: http://www.mesoweb.com/lords/feasting.html)

Figure 2: Excavated from the Colha site in northern Belize between 600 BCE-250 CE, is one of 14 vessels that contained substantial amounts theobromine.
(source: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6895/fig_tab/418289a_F1.html)

As early as 1918 the term “chocolate pots” was used in Thomas Gann’s report, “The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras” to describe the Late Preclassic spouted vessels found in burial sites at Santa Rita Corozal, Belize without any supporting evidence to confirm its accuracy. The term “chocolate pots” has since permeated literature, uncontested albeit the lack of “supporting contextual, residual, phytolith, or iconographic analyses to either confirm or deny” cacao usage (Powis et al., 2002). Why then has this phrase “chocolate pot” become so embedded within the literature? With the discovery of new methods to analyze phytoliths, these vessels now provide substantial data to conclusively determine that these vessels were indeed used during the preparations and consumption of cacao, given the high levels of theobromine found within them (Powis e al, 2002).

Preclassic spouted vessels were associated with the elite class. The contextual findings presented by Powis et al. suggest that approximately 90% of these vessels were excavated in “special deposits”, and were of elaborate forms, suggesting that cacao drinking was incorporated in ceremonial and ritual practices. Patricia McAnany and Eleanor Harrison, in their seminal 2004 work, K’axob: Ritual, Work, and Family in an Ancient Maya Village, confirm these special burial caches, suggesting that the K’axob site yielded “signature pieces” and that “they contain special characteristics such as modeling, gadrooning, incising, and appliqué,” which denoted dedicated function (McAnany and Eleanor, 2004). As is more commonly known, this practice of dedicated vessel usage was exhibited with the Classical cylindrical vessels and continued on up until the arrival of the Spaniards. However, the Primary Standard Sequence (PSS) does not appear on any spouted vessels, only on the Classic cylindrical types. Nonetheless, these elaborate spouted ceramics were part of the elite continuum of cacao’s status among the Mesoamerican people.

Spouted vessels provide the linguistic evidence needed to link the word kakawa or cacao to the Olmecs. Until the discovery of these vessels, there was no strong evidence, either archaeological, botanical, or iconographic to support the Olmec theory of origin for the word, according to David Lentz and Michael Coe (Powis et al., 2002). Within scholarship there were two opposing hypothesis to the origin of the word cacao.  On the one side, as articulated by Karen Dakin and Sren Wichmann (2001), kakawa was a Uto-Aztecan term, of Nahuatl origin. This would then suggest that the history of cacao consumption started sometime during the 5th century CE.  However, Lyle Campbell and Terrence Kaufman’s seminal article in 1976, “A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs”, contended that the term kakawa was of Mixe-Zoquean origin, which the Olmec spoke as early as 1500 BCE, suggesting that Preclassic Mesoamerican cultures produced, distributed, and consumed cacao at least two millennia before the Aztec. Thus the discovery of these pots was significant in that they provided the necessary data to support the much earlier Olmec origin (Powis et al., 2002).

Although it is not definitive as to why Protoclassic Mayans replaced their spouted pots with the Teotihuacan-style tripod cylindrical vases, Powis et al. suggest that the new method for cacao preparation was perhaps introduced by Mayan contact with Mexican highlanders as these new vessels were superior for cacao usages than the spouted variety. Given its form and larger size, the cylindrical vessels provided better storage; made it easier for transportation; provided more space for inscribing glyphs to identify ownership, purpose and location of craftsmanship;  and perhaps most importantly, these new vessels provided wider mouths, openings from which to pour the liquid cacao from one vessel to another in order to create the all coveted foam for their beverages (Powis et al., 2001). Joseph W. Ball, in his 1983 article, “Teotihuacan, the Maya, and Ceramic Interchange,” provides a discussion of the notable homologies between the Mayan and the Teotihuacan ceramics, suggesting that:

…either aesthetic considerations or a desire to emulate a particular vessel form associated with a foreign social system and so connoting high status might have motivated such copying. Consideration should also be given to the possibility that lidded tripod cylinders might have represented specialized commodity containers. Some possible association with the transport, presentation, storage, and/or consumption of cacao or a cacao preparation comes immediately to mind given the Teotihuacan and Guatemala highland distributional foci of such vessels (Ball, 1983).

Although the “chocolate pots” of Preclassic Maya are less known and studied than the more recent cylindrical vessels, these spouted ceramics, nonetheless, play a vital role to understanding the Mesoamerican ethnography surrounding cacao and chocolate. The discovery and analyses of these spouted pots and the important data they provide have enriched scholars and chocolate lovers alike, providing us with a richer picture of how this “food of the gods” has evolved throughout the ages, and how it became intrinsic to the Pre-Columbian peoples: their sustenance, their rituals, their beliefs, and ultimately their enjoyment, a pleasure now indulged throughout the world.

Works Cited

“Archaeology Cacao Usage by the Earliest Maya Civilization : Nature.” Accessed February 20, 2016. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6895/fig_tab/418289a_F1.html.

Ball, Joseph W. “Teotihuacan, the Maya, and Ceramic Interchange: A Contextual Perspective.” In Highland-Lowland Interaction in Mesoamerica: Interdisciplinary Approaches, edited by Arthur G. Miller, 125–45. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, 1983.

Brady, James E., Joseph W. Ball, Ronald L. Bishop, Duncan C. Pring, Norman Hammond, and Rupert A. Housley. “The Lowland Maya ‘Protoclassic.’” Ancient Mesoamerica 9, no. 01 (March 1998): 17–38. doi:10.1017/S0956536100001826.

Campbell, Lyle, and Terrence Kaufman. “A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs.” American Antiquity 41, no. 1 (January 1976): 80. doi:10.2307/279044.

Dakin, Karen, and Sren Wichmann. “Cacao and Chocolate: A Uto-Aztecan Perspective.” Cambridge University Press, Ancient Mesoamerica, 11, no. 1 (2000): 55–75.

“Gadrooning – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadrooning.

Gann, Thomas W. F. The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras. Bulletin/Bureau of American Ethnology 64. US Government Printing Office, 1918.

“K’axob – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27axob.

“Lords of Creation: Royal Feasting.” Accessed February 20, 2016. http://www.mesoweb.com/lords/feasting.html.

McAnany, Patricia Ann, and Eleanor Harrison, eds. K’axob: Ritual, Work, and Family in an Ancient Maya Village. Monumenta Archaeologica 22. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California Los Angeles, 2004.

“Mixe–Zoque Languages – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixe%E2%80%93Zoque_languages.

“Phytolith – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytolith.

Powis, Terry G., Fred Valdez, Thomas R. Hester, W. Jeffrey Hurst, and Stanley M. Tarka. “Spouted Vessels and Cacao Use among the Preclassic Maya.” Latin American Antiquity 13, no. 1 (March 2002): 85–106. doi:10.2307/971742.

“Santa Rita Corozal – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rita_Corozal.

“Sourcebook on Ceramics – Stuartceramictexts.pdf.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://decipherment.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/stuartceramictexts.pdf.

“Theobromine – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine.

“Uto-Aztecan Languages – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Accessed February 20, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uto-Aztecan_languages.

 

Mayan and Aztec cacao use: stratified by gender, yet socially significant for all.

Cacao originated in Mesoamerica and became an incredibly important crop for most indigenous groups of the region as early as 2000 BCE (Coe & Coe, 33-105). Cacao’s stimulating properties, due to the compound theobromine, likely led to its high value in these societies, in which it often became a religious symbol, playing a role in origin myths and depictions of religious figures (Coe & Coe, 38-42). The cultural importance of cacao in Mesoamerican civilizations, however, was not simply its nutritional value or use in religion.

Rather, the most important cultural impact of cacao was what followed this assignment of high value: it came to be used as social currency to solidify bonds across family groups and within families, and to reaffirm hierarchies in these societies with the various roles groups could play in its production and consumption. In examining the Aztec and Mayan civilizations, two of the most expansive and well-documented of these Mesoamerican civilizations, we are able to see that the consumption of cacao solidified a gender divide in which males were afforded higher status, and were more able to enjoy the social benefits of meal sharing, or in this case, cacao sharing. Still, however, it is also likely that the social quality of the preparation of such drinks afforded women in these societies some social benefits as well.

In this image from a mayan vase, we can see the god of maize depicted as a pod from the cacao tree. This god in particular is often depicted in this way, but many other gods are often also depicted as wearing or carrying cacao, which became an important part of religion in Mesoamerica.

Cacao based drinks, which varied somewhat from civilization to civilization, were ritualistically shared to bring together family groups at ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, and marriage arrangements, and we are able to see how social bonds can form around its consumption in a way that Mintz describes of shared consumption in general (Mintz 3-7). Yet in most depictions or descriptions of such ceremonies, only the men of the participating families are involved in the consumption of cacao, and women are more likely seen preparing or frothing the cacao drinks that are to be shared. In this way, we can see a clear stratification of the Mayan society along gender lines.

In this image from the Princeton Vase, like many others depictions of such ceremonies, we see a woman at the ceremony frothing the cacao beverage but not participating in its consumption.

This stratification extends to class as well—the elites or royals are most often depicted as having cacao, and royals even depicted themselves as descendants of cacao trees, putting themselves close to gods and establishing a justification of their high status. From these two types of representations we are able to follow the hierarchical logic pretty clearly: royals and elites are close to cacao and therefore close to god, and men are the second order of this stratification because they can participate in the consumption of cacao (elite men are highest, then likely elite women, then lay men, then lay women), placing women the lowest on this scale. Considering Mintz’s analysis of shared consumption as one of the ultimate methods of social bonding, are the women of these societies then left out of the social sphere by their not participating in the ritual cacao drinking?

Here we can see that Mintz left out a key predecessor to social consuming: social preparation. In reality, the women of these societies were likely often a vital part of these ceremonies in their preparation of the cacao beverages, and likely realized social benefits of this beverage preparation outside of the ceremonies as well. In Richard Wrangham’s book, Catching Fire: How cooking made us human, he discusses in depth the way in which cooking together contributes to a shared community in a similar way that Mintz describes of eating together (Wrangham, several). We can sometimes see depictions in art from these Mesoamerican societies of groups of women preparing this cacao beverage together, and it is likely that the women within a family group would work on this task together, solidifying family bonds. Although it is hard to know, it seems possible that, at gatherings of multiple families, the women might prepare the beverages together, further helping socialize across the families, and contributing to a community within their own social sphere. Finally, in most depictions of these ceremonial gatherings, the women are shown frothing the beverages in front of the guests. Such an activity does not need to be public, but its depiction as such suggests that, though they were given a lower status and an accompanying lower status role in these rituals, they were still likely a vital part of the socialization of their families and their communities.

In this image from the Florentine Codex, we see a cacao beverage being prepared by several members of different generations in a family group. This shows the way in which preparation of cacao could be a highly social event.

 

Works Cited

Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Print.

Mintz, Sidney W. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York, NY: Viking, 1985. Print.

Sotelo, Angela, et al. “Chemical and nutritional composition of tejate, a traditional maize and cacao beverage from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico.” Plant foods for human nutrition 67.2 (2012): 148-155.

Wrangham, Richard W. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. New York: Basic, 2009. Print.

“Maya Agriculture.” Maya Agriculture. Authentic Maya, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

“Los Medios De Intercambio.” Los Medios De Intercambio. Editorial Raices, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

“A Brief History of Chocolate: Part 1.” Dandelion Chocolate. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

Cacao and Corn in the Mayan World

Mayans were cacao pioneers. Maricel E. Presilla writes in The New Taste of Chocolate that “It was the Maya who brought chocolate making to a high art” (Presilla 11). Mayans made a variety beverages with cacao, from a frothy drink that was prized by the upper class to a humbler porridge based on ground corn (Presilla 9). A variation on this porridge, or chocolate atole, is still widely made today and is now known as champurrado. This atole stands out as interesting in the context of the the agricultural Mayan religion that prized cacao but worshiped corn.

The Mayans recorded their complex cacao recipes, inscribing drinking vessels with glyphs for the beverage they contained (Presilla 12). These vessels could be beautiful pieces of clay pottery or hollowed-out gourds from the calabash tree. The calabash tree was religiously significant to the Mayans; the Popol Vuh creation myth outlines a story of two brothers who lose a ballgame to the lords of the underworld and are consequently decapitated. One of the brothers has his head hung in tree that then sprouts flowers and turns into a calabash tree. This unfortunate brother is the main deity in the Mayan religion, the Maize God (de Orellana 69).

This ceramic bowl from the Classic Period shows the Mayan Maize God’s head hanging from a cacao tree

 

Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar and Spanish colonizer who took down a Spanish version of the Popol Vuh. This document has illuminated Mayan beliefs and traditions that were stifled and lost during the period of Spanish conquest. The version of the Popol Vuh that survives today mentions cacao, but not specifically; it’s brought up in conjunction with descriptions of the foods Mesoamericans would consume (Coe and Coe 41). Much of the text of the Popol Vuh is devoted to another crop, maize.

 

Maize was widely consumed by early Mesoamericans, constituting four fifths of their diet (Coe and Coe 38). The Maize God was a figure of high importance for a reason. Sophie D. and Michael D. Coe call maize “the Maya-and Mesoamerican-staff of life” (Coe and Coe 41). And just as corn was linked to life, Mayans saw cacao trees as a link to the land of the dead. In cacao growing regions the tree was seen as the World Tree or First Tree and as a connection to both heaven and the underworld (Martin).

Valentine Tibere writes beautifully on this dichotomy in the publication “Artes de México: Chocolate: Cultivation and Culture in pre-Hispanic Mexico”:

Corn, a solar plant, embodies light, resurrection on earth and the creation of humanity on Xmucane’s grinding stone. Corn—or Santo Gracia as the ancients called it—is thus related to public ceremonies and the general recognition of “the people of corn”: ancient and contemporary Mexicans. Cacao, growing in the gloom, secretly represents rebirth after death, gestation and germination in the primordial sea, the breath of life, the word entombed. Corn is earthly, it is the substance of human flesh and its sustenance, but its double, cacao, contains the secret embryo of birth or rebirth. Chocolate is the ferryman that helps us cross over from death to life, that regenerates our forces, that reawakens the slumbering spirit, that makes women pregnant, that revives the dead. (de Orellana 70)

So when corn and cacao are combined in invigorating and nourishing atoles a connection to life and death is established. Precious cacao elevates essential maize; as Mayans consumed these two highly valued crops they were partaking in an everyday demonstration of appreciation for the religious, agricultural culture their society was founded on.

 

 

Works Cited

Coe, Sophie D. and Coe, Michael D. The True History of Chocolate. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1996. Print.

de Orellana, Margarita et al.. “Chocolate: Cultivation and Culture in Pre-hispanic Mexico”. Artes de México 103 (2011): 65–80. Web. 19 February 2016.

Martin, Carla D. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food.  Harvard Extension School: Cambridge, MA. 3 February 2016. Class Lecture.

Presilla, Maricel E. The New Taste of Chocolate Revised: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2009. Print.

The Significance of The Cacao Genome Project

When we reach for that second chocolate chip cookie or place that Hershey’s bar in our shopping cart, we seldom think about the process or the origins of where these sweet foods come from. Chocolate owes its existence to the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) which is predominately grown in West Africa. In fact, 70% of the world’s production of cocoa

Cacao beans in cacao pods.

comes from here (O’Brien 2010). Cacao trees produce cacao pods, which are carefully cultivated and cut from the trees without damaging the integrity of neither the pod nor the trunk. From these pods, we derive the cacao beans, which are further processed to become a variety of cocoa products. But while we largely categorize chocolate products as heavily processed and essentially artificial foods, it is important to acknowledge that chocolate comes from agricultural origins.

Just like any other plant or living organism, the cacao tree is susceptible to disease. It has been estimated that fungal diseases can “wipe out up to 80 percent of the cacao crop, and cause an estimated $700 million in losses each year” (O’Brien). This is obviously a major problem since much of the world depends on these trees to satisfy consumer demand for chocolate goods. So, in efforts to attack this problem, Mars, USDA-ARS, IBM, NCGR, Clemson University, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Indiana University and Washington State University came together on the Cacao Genome Project.

The goal of the Cacao Genome Project was essentially to sequence the DNA of the

Future research will hopefully lead to learning about which pathogens affect the sequenced cacao strain, Matina 1-6.

cacao tree so as to “provide researchers with access to the latest genomic tools, enabling more efficient research and accelerating the breeding process, thereby expediting the release of superior cacao cultivars” (Cacao Genome Database). The preliminary release of the genomic sequencing in 2010 included 92% of the genome, with more work to be done. The Cacao Genome Database has made this information available to the public so as to provide people with the building blocks to conduct their own research as to how the

Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, head of plant research at Mars, says that sequencing the cacao genome will help assure a viable future for cocao.

genome can be utilized to advance the health and growth of the cacao trees. Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, head of plant research at Mars, says they wished to make the information available without “intellectual property restrictions” (Pollack 2010). In terms of the Cacao Genome Project, this seems to be a case of “a little more knowledge never hurt.” This new found information opens doors to help “identify traits of disease resistance, enhanced yield, efficiency in water and nutrient use, as well as climate change adaptability among the world’s cacao trees” (Mars). With greater and more efficient production, Mars will have a larger access to cacao at lower prices. And since this information has been made public, a monopoly of the benefits of the genome sequencing is avoided so that everyone benefits.

At the time of the genome’s release in 2010, the worldwide demand for cacao exceeded production (O’Brien). With further research and the application of the already discovered information, we theoretically already hold the pieces to erasing this problem on the global scale. But perhaps more importantly, the implications these scientific discoveries have on the micro scale of the families whose lives depend on the cultivation of cacao will be of great benefit to their overall standard of living. More advanced methods and strains of cacao will yield greater profit for cacao farmers and remove much of the volatility of agricultural production, hypothetically helping to greatly reduce the likelihood of devastating losses.

The communal approach to bettering the cacao situation as a whole is something to be applauded. The scientific advancement of what is known about cacao will ultimately advance the lives of all those connected the production and consequently the consumption of chocolate, a food that has become an essential staple in the diets of modern culture.

 

Works Cited

“Cacao Genome Database.” Welcome to the Cacao Genome Project. Cacao Genome Project, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

“Innovate With Mars | Case Studies | Cocoa Genome Project | Mars.” Science and Innovation. Mars, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

O’Brien, Dennis. “Related Topics.” Sequencing of Cacao Genome Will Help U.S. Chocolate Industry, Subsistence Farmers in Tropical Regions. USDA, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

Pollack, Andrew. “Rival Candy Projects Both Parse Cocoa’s DNA.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

Chuao: Brief History of Beans

[above image: Chuao coast. Source: Google Images.]

Venezuela bears the finest cacao in the world. Some industry experts state that the Venezuelan coastal soil in Chuao is particularly conducive to cacao, but others state that the distinct quality of the beans should actually be attributed to the methods of fermentation and drying. In either case, it is of no dispute that the cacao of this region is of particular excellence.

 

On the continent, one of the finest criollos hails from Chuao, an isolated plantation region in the northern coast of Venezuela, which bears a history to the 16^th century. The region is so geographically isolated that it may only be accessed by foot or on boat, when weather conditions permit such travel. Located near the Choroni, another region of fine cacao production that has, unfortunately, been ravaged by crop disease and excessive tourism, the effects of which have spilled over into Chuao and has, at times, threatened its reputation as one of the highest quality producers of cacao in the world.

[above image: Trinitarian pods. Source: cacaoweb.net]

The beans of Chuao tell the story of a region that is struggling to produce a premium quality product in the face of endemic crop disease. In order to maintain production, the original Criollo groves, which are in infamously demanding and delicate crop, were mostly replaced with a heartier, more disease-resistant species of trees, known as the Trinitario. As the name suggests, these trees originated in Trinidad, and are a hybrid pairing of the Criollo (Venezuelan origin) and Forastero (Amazon origin) trees that were cultivated in the region.

From as early as the 1670s, Spaniards were introducing hybrids as a means of boosting and controlling production. While the Trinitario trees are less delicate than the native Criollo, they are still known to produce a high quality cacao that may be used in fine dark chocolate products around the globe.

Unfortunately, even the heartier Trinitario groves have faced difficult growing conditions and have failed to thrive as they had in earlier times. Many plantation regions of Chuao have added Amelonado trees, which are deemed to produce an inferior product. In spite of this development, the current mixture of cacao beans is still considered to produce some of the highest quality cacao products in the world.

[above image: fine chocolates bearing the Chuao origin. Source: https://www.lassens.com/blog/chuao-just-say-chew-wow/%5D

A thriving black market maintains a demand for “pure” Criollo cacao, which is extremely rare are there is an extremely limited supply of healthy Criollo trees in Venezuela. In 2000, the Official Journal of Industrial Property of Venezuela granted an appellation of origin in recognition of Chuao. This action protects the cacao produced in the region from imitators as it places strong legal limitations on the use of its name. Such a deal has created additional financial boost for the region as it has been able to enter into exclusive marketing and licensing agreements with various international fine chocolate companies. Boosting the profile of the product has further legitimized the connection that the people of Chauo have to the plantations of the region as it is a symbol of their culture and history.

Sources

Coe, Sophie D., Coe, Michael D. The True History of Chocolate. Thames and Hudson: London, 2013.

Presilla, Maricel E. The New Taste of Chocolate Revised: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes. Ten Speed Press: New York, 2001.

Varying chocolate consumption and social values

 

As we discussed in class, in marketing chocolate, chocolate companies often invoke older societies, such as the Maya and Aztec in order to establish legitimacy for their product. The following  video is from the “Time Traveller” kit from the chocolate company The Chocolution. The kit holds several different additional ingredients- annetto (achiote), black pepper, dried chillies, cornmeal, vanilla, ground almond and cinnamon. The kit, capitalizing on our fascination with older civilizations, offers consumers the opportunity to make drinks the way that the Maya, Aztecs, English, Italian and Spanish did, using a different combination of above spices.

The video is correct in pointing out that in Italy, it was common to add a perfume quality to chocolate, for example using jasmine flowers and lemon peel and that in England, they often used egg in chocolate preparation (Coe & Coe). However, in watching the video one doesn’t really get a full understanding of the different ways that cacao was consumed in different societies.

In different societies, cacao held a different significance. For the Maya, who lived in a region where cacao grew naturally, cacao held a somewhat contradictory role as a food that was consumed by everyone and seen as almost everyday but that also held a significant religious importance. A Mayan myth details how Hun Hunahpu was decapitated by the lords of Xibalba (the underworld), but was able to be revived in a sense as his head becomes a cacao pod after they place his head on a cacao tree (Presilla). In this photo, one can see people consuming chocolate, with a reddish color, indicating the cacao was mixed with achiote.

The Maya saw the chocolate with achiote (red coloring) as symbolic of a sacrificial victim’s blood, which was significant in rituals (Presilla).

Although when chocolate reached Europe, it was not regarded with the same spiritual significance, Europeans did ascribe certain medicinal qualities to medicine. As Mintz discusses, several other societies structured diet around a starch base, consuming fruits, nuts and meat as additives, unlike the United States where people mainly consume meat (Mintz). As mentioned in class, Europeans were consuming large amounts of meat, feeling unhealthy and saw chocolate drinks as a panacea for medical ills. For example, in looking for the early documented mentions of chocolate in Italy, Coe & Coe cite the Roman physician Paolo Zacchia who presents chocolate, not as a delicacy, but as a drug (Coe & Coe).

Cacao consumption also reflected social class distinctions as well as functioned in their upset as it reached new societies. As we learned in class, for the Maya, cacao was available for people to consume, even those not of the noble class. In sharp contrast to this were the Aztecs, who reserved cacao for only certain social classes-the nobility, warriors and traders. This distinction was so rigidly enforced that for a commoner to consume it without proper permission, he could be punished with death (Presilla). A possible explanation for this difference in cacao consumption is the role of availability. For the Maya, cacao was grown easily in the region. However, the Aztecs did not grow cacao, they traded to get it from southern provinces and even required people (such as from Xoconochco) to pay cacao as tribute. The Aztecs prized cacao so greatly that the potential for acquiring even served as a sort of impetus for conquering regions (Presilla). This could also explain why traders were able to consume cacao- they had access to it. The Maya did not face this same barrier to access, which could explain why cacao consumption was common across social classes. However, there is some evidence of social stratification in terms of cacao consumption, as sometimes only certain recipes were consumed by nobles and kings and higher class people owned fired ceramics and painted vessels (Presilla). Additionally in the photo above, one can see a Maya lord consuming chocolate, with foaming (considered the most impressive form of the drink- Presilla), while the other individuals do not.

In Europe, chocolate began as a product for nobles, but eventually in England, it became democratized, and anyone who could afford it, was able to drink it (Coe & Coe). This is in contrast with countries like France where chocolate was reserved for nobles. Coe & Coe attribute this to differences in governmental structure and support for businesses. In England, cacao was introduced at a time of religious conflict and political upheaval. As such, places where people met to drink coffee, chocolate and tea became places to discuss political matters (Coe & Coe). As seen in the photo, cafes were open environments for political debate, leading to impassioned discussions.

The photo also seems to indicate that these were places where people of different occupations and social classes met and discussed matters (seen in difference of clothing). This phenomenon seems to have been troubling to Charles II who attempted an unpopular “Proclamation for the Suppression of Coffee Houses” (Coe & Coe).

In all, although one may only initially consider different spices when comparing chocolate consumption amongst different people, differences in cacao consumption actually reveals much about societal values and social classes.

 

References:

Presilla, Maricel E. The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2009. Print.

Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013. Print.

Mintz, Sidney W. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin, 1985. Print.

Video:

http://www.thechocolution.com/

Images:

“Discussing the War in a Paris Cafe”, The Illustrated London News, September 17, 1870 (Public Domain)

polychrome Maya vase (Public Domain)

 

 

Now a Sweet Treat, Once More Valuable Than Gold

The chocolate that most people know of today is more sugar than chocolate. It is the Europeanized version that we are familiar with, cacao flavored with sugar rather than chili peppers. Learning about the original lovers of chocolate can help us enjoy chocolate today, equipped with the knowledge of both rituals and recipes of chocolate.

One of the earliest people who used Theobroma cacao, also known as “the food of the gods,” were the Olmecs from the Mexican Gulf Coast. While not much is known about how their relationship with chocolate, the Olmecs influenced the Maya in the form of which they consumed it. The Maya, from the Yucatan peninsula, enjoyed frothy drinks, and archaeologists have found spouted ceramic jars, that were used not only for pouring chocolate drinks, but also for blowing air inside to create foam.

An elite prepares to drink his chocolate

Much of what is known about pre-Columbian chocolate use is from Mayan writings. They used pottery to prepare chocolate and wrote about cacao preparation on them. The Dresden Codex is full of numerous illustrations involving chocolate, in which gods hold cacao pods or seeds. Cacao had a religious value, as shown by burial rituals. The elite were buried with pottery filled with chocolate substance for them to enjoy after death. There is only evidence of the wealthy consuming chocolate, thus it is not thought that an ordinary Mayan was able to enjoy chocolate as well.

A group in present day Mexico practices a Mayan ritual

The Aztecs also used chocolate for rituals and in daily life. Cacao was also used as a form of currency. While the Maya drank chocolate warm, Aztecs drank it cold. Chocolate was also given to Aztec soldiers as part of their rations, as it was thought to give strength. Priests and and nobles were the ones who consumed chocolate, as well as the emperor Moctezuma, who also used it as an aphrodisiac. Quetzalcoatl was a god who bestowed chocolate to the humans, planting it in his garden. It was believed that drinking chocolate gave a person some of Quetzalcoatl’s wisdom.

Chocolate was also closely tied to blood in Aztec culture. Cacao represented the heart torn out of the body for sacrifice, the cacao seeds being the blood spilling out of the body. One ritual entailed a male slave drinking a mix of cacao and blood from the knives used in previous sacrifices, before he was sacrificed.

The way a person chooses to enjoy chocolate is their own choice, but learning about the origins of the food of luxury, of comfort, can help one enjoy it all the more.

 

Works Cited

Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Print.

Presilla, Marciel, E. The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2009. Print.

“Chocolate Use in Early Aztec Cultures.” International Cocoa Organization. 8 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.icco.org/faq/54-cocoa-origins/133-chocolate-use-in-early-aztec-cultures.html&gt;.

Feign, Amanda. “A Brief History of Chocolate.” Smithsonian. 1 Mar. 2008. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/?no-ist&gt;.

“Maya and the Ka’kau.” Cacao. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.authenticmaya.com/cacao.htm&gt;.