The True History of Chocolate
The definitive guide to the world’s best-loved food, revised and updated in its third edition
The book begins 3,000 years ago in the Mexican jungles and goes on to investigate archaeology, history, botany and socio-economics.
Used as currency and traded by the Aztecs; chocolate arrived in Europe via the Spanish conquistadors, and soon became a favourite drink with aristocrats. By the 19th century, chocolate had lost its mystique, with industrialization making chocolate a food for the masses – until its promotion in our own time as a luxury item.
Sophie D. Coe, an anthropologist and food historian, was the author of America’s First Cuisines.
Michael D. Coe, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Yale University, is the author of Breaking the Maya Code, The Maya, Mexico (with Rex Koontz), Reading the Maya Glyphs, and Royal Cities of the Ancient Maya.
‘A splendid treat’
– New York Review of Books
‘Begins with the origins of the cacao tree and follows the story up to today’s mass-produced chocolate candy and its expensive boutique counterparts…. A pleasure, not just for chocoholics but for anyone who enjoys lively, thorough historical sleuthing via the printed page’
– Gourmet
‘Exceptionally interesting throughout’
– Washington Post
‘Anyone who loves chocolate … will be riveted by its revelations’
– Los Angeles Times
‘A beautifully written, indexed, and illustrated history of the Food of the Gods, from the Olmecs to present-day developments’
– Chocolatier
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