Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Upmarket Cadbury Cocoa Houses to challenge coffee shops in England

Borrowing from the tradition of the Lyons tea shops (begun in 1894), the Cadbury Cocoa Houses will challenge American-style coffee shops with upmarket foods and service.

Rise and fall of Cadburys (book review)

In nineteenth-century Britain three Quaker-owned chocolate companies dominated the market, Cadbury, Fry, and Rowntree.  The last of the companies to survive, Cadbury, was sold to the American company Kraft in 2010.   A distant relative Deborah Cadbury has written Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers  For a review, see 

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/entertainment/books/history-of-chocolatiers-informative-digestible-read-105093219.html

British hedge fund buys virtually all cocoa futures

British hedge fund manager Anthony Ward has virtually cornered the cocoa market.  He owns enough cocoa to make more than five billion chocolate bars.  Expect higher prices for chocolate products.  For details, see here.

Peru's organic cocoa (and coffee)

Peru already is the largest exporter of organic coffee.  It now hopes to carve a niche in organic cocoa.  Peru currently is a distant second place as an exporter of organic cocoa.  Its quality is praised by European chocolatiers. Peru hopes that people will come to think about Peru when talking about quality chocolate products as they now talk about Colombia when talking about quality coffee.   For more, see here.

Does eating chocolate cause depression?

The Wall Street Journal reports that medical research associated depression with the eating of chocolate.  For details, see here.

China's chocolate Great Wall, with 560 chocolate terracotta-styled warriors

China imported 85 tons of Belgian chocolate to create near the Olympic site a chocolate wonderland.  It includes (in dark chocolate, with white chocolate as mortar) the Great Wall of China and much else more, such as an army of 560 chocolate soldiers modeled on the famous terracotta warriors.  For more, see here.  The chocolate wonderland is both a tourist attraction and a way of encouraging the Chinese (who eat very little chocolate) to acquire a taste for it.

Quakers, chocolate, and temperance in the UK

The recent takeover of Cadbury by the American firm Kraft occasions a look at the role of temperance-minded Quakers in the British chocolate and sweets industries.  In the 19th century it began with the drink cocoa.  The major Quaker firms were Cadbury (Birmingham), Fry (Bristol), and Rowntree and Terry (both York).  For more, see here.

Chocolate as the affordable indulgence during bad times

The Los Angeles Times reports on a Great Recession phenomenon in exotic New York City: tours of Manhattan gourmet chocolate shops where a box of candy may cost $50.  Moneyed chocolate lovers consider this an affordable indulgence at a time when they otherwise are economizing.  For more, see here.

Chocolate wars

Britain is upset over Kraft's bid to take over Cadbury.  The New York Times article here also looks at Cadbury's effort to purchase cacao produced ethically and the changing image of chocolate, once identified with women or children or a cheap source of calories.  Currently high end chocolate is marketed as a luxury product.

Chocolate rebel: Le Chocolaterie de Jacques Genin

The most fashionable artisan chocolate maker in France today is Jacques Genin.  The Wall Street Journal tells his story here.  A sidebar to the article briefly describes Belgian chocolate makers Pierre Marolini, Wittamer, and Mary Chocolatier Confissur, Swiss chocolate maker Confiserie Sprüngli, and British chocolate maker Auer Chocolatier.  By the way, when chocolate arrived in France around 1615, ordinary people were not allowed to consume the "food of the gods."