All hail to the chocolate king!

I am a self confessed choco-holic, and I would probably raise a few eyebrows if some health guru would mound up all the chocolate I ate in a year on a table, TV style. But I only like the good stuff, preferrably of about 85% cocoa. No milk chocolate passes my lips, no no, in fact it stays away if it contains any milk at all.

Here I could march on at length on the origins of chocolate, because I am actually something of an expert on the subjectject. This comes from that during my second year in univeristy, studying to be an archaeologist, I studied at a Canadian university (Trent University), and there I took the best course I ever took, Mesoamerican archaeology. In short I can tell you that when the spaniards arrived in the Caribbean, and eventualy the rest of Central America, the native people of various names (Teotihuacanos, Olmecs, Mixtecs, Mayas, Aztecs etc), had used cocoa in numerous ways. The bean itself was often used as currency, and its consumption was reserved for the royals and other wealthy individuals. At that time the indigenous did not keep any form of beasts of burden, meaning they didn´t mix the cocoa with milk, nor did they cultivate sugar cane or beats. The classic recipe for their chocolate drink (refining it in to bars came much later), was to add water and chilli. It was then poured from a heigh height in to drinking vessels (which were highly decorated with said process), to produce a frothy head.

It might not sound very appealing, but I think that is mostly because we are so used to that chocolate has to be sweet. During my stay in the Americas I missed no opportunity to travel till my bank account begged me to stay in, and I spent an amazing few weeks travelling around Mexico during christmas and New Year. The culinary capital of Mexic se llama Oaxaca. There is just no end to what ur tastebuds can experience there. In a little café I remember a bowl made of coconut shell, filled with a mix of water, cocoa, sugar, and corn. It was strangely fulfilling actually. In one part of town was all the chocolate shops lined up, they were completely opened up to the street, sort of 3 walls and a roof. Inside were massive drums where the cocoa was milled, and others where it was mixed with other ingredients to make bars etc, and when u wanted to buy some you could decide exactly what you wanted your bars to contain and in what proportions. Just point sugar, cinnamon, almonds...

I could go on and on about Mexico, and I thank all higher powers that I got the opportunity to travel so much before I got this illness. Its a country that has everything. Loud crammed citys, amazing archaeology, beautiful people, great culture, foggy jungle, chilly mountains, sandy beaches... Think I´m gonna have to post a few more photos from that trip. Above is the main market in Oaxaca.

The Mayan site Palenque

Colourful crafts

Zocalo in central Oaxaca on christmas day

Fabulous beach in Zipolite, a middle of nowhere town on the Pacific coast

And our makeshift hotel in Zipolite. We arrived on New Years eve and all thy had left was a couple of hammocks

Temple of the Sun, Teotihuacan, about 30 minutes outside Mexico City

Ok, I had a reason for writing about chocolate, namely that I, in memory of Mexico, made chicken with mole. But I think this post is so bloody long already, that I´ll just put the food stuff in a new one