Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, which means that we will be seeing a lot more chocolate at the grocery store. While it may seem as if there is an abundance of the stuff, we may actually be facing a decline in supply! Over at Gastropod, they have interviewed experts on the history of chocolate, its transformation from currency to candy bar, as well as its medicinal properties — yes, you heard that right! Here’s what the Gastropod team has to say about this exciting episode:
In this episode of Gastropod, we trace chocolate’s journey with chocolate expert Carla Martin and historian Helen Veit, and explore its shifting role from traditional medicine to potential wonder drug with historian Deanna Pucciarelli and Harvard epidemiologist Eric Ding. Along the way, Simran Sethi, author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of the Foods We Love, takes us deep into the lush, fragrant, midge-filled humidity of a chocolate forest, only to warn us that these forests, and the precious beans within them, are now facing not just one but multiple existential threats. Listen in now to savor your next chocolate bar that little bit more.
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Need even more reading on this addictive substance? Look at our previous posts on the chocolate addiction of Marquise de Coëtlogon and its uses in 17th century France.