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Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light
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| List Price: | $24.00 |
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Product Description
Science, over recent years, has confirmed what chocolate lovers have always known: the stuff is actually good for you. It's the Valentine's Day drug of choice, has more antioxidants than red wine, and triggers the same brain responses as falling in love. Nothing, in the end, can stand up to chocolate as a basic fundament to human life.
In this scintillating narrative, acclaimed foodie Mort Rosenblum delves into the complex world of chocolate. From the mole poblano--chile-laced chicken with chocolate--of ancient Mexico to the contemporary French chocolatiers who produce the palets d'or--bite-sized, gold-flecked bricks of dark chocolate--to the vast empires of Hershey, Godiva, and Valrhona, Rosenblum follows the chocolate trail the world over. He visits cacao plantations, meets with growers, buyers, makers, and tasters, and investigates the dark side of the chocolate trade as well as the enduring appeal of its product.
Engaging, entertaining, and revealing, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light is a fascinating foray into this "food of the gods."
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #317478 in Books
- Published on: 2005-02-15
- Released on: 2004-12-23
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 304 pages
Customer Reviews
Not Interesting as a Book
This book would do well to advertise itself as a series of articles about topics and people related to chocolate and chocolate production, but marketed as the story of chocolate it's needlessly boring. The chapters are about the length of an article and don't seem to be interconnected except in subject matter. The first few chapters were very interesting, but around the chapter "The Chocolate Coast" I realized that these were the longest 140-some pages of my life. I would be more interested in the history and lore of chocolate, rather than chapter after chapter of how he followed someone around, was almost denied access to their secrets/factory, and then talking about the different fermentation processes and what the machines look like. He may fare better to talk about wines, because that's how the subject is treated and somehow it just doesn't fit. He becomes haughty about the inferiority of american chocolate, treating his audience as a oenophile would speak to someone who drinks wine coolers. As for the writing, it seems to steer wrecklessly between very dry and excessively nostalgic.
This book would be a winner with people interested chocolate economics, how different people use difference processes, and how chocolate is used in foods around the world. Unfortunately I wasn't looking for any of these things.
loved this book
This book was great to find out the background/history of chocolate and the inside to different "brand" names around the world. Though he skims over some "brands" and doesn't go into much detail on some, I still found it a good read.
Will appeal both to cooks and to chocolate fans who just like reading about it.
The uses and innovations of chocolate in foods from around the world at last receives embellishment in Mort Rosenblum's "Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light", a lively survey blending a travelogue with culinary history and industry insights. From chocolate's health promises to its various renditions, the pages pack in plenty of mouth-watering detail and will appeal both to cooks and to chocolate fans who just like reading about it.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
