A History of Chocolate: From the Aztecs’ Favorite Drink to America’s Favorite Candy Bar
Sarah Lohman is a culinary historian and the author of the bestselling book Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine. She focuses on the history of food to access the stories of diverse Americans. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as on The Cooking Channel and “All Things Considered.” Formerly the Curator of Food Programming at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, she has presented across the country: from the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the New York Public Library to The Culinary Historians of Southern California. Her current project, Endangered Eating: Exploring America’s Vanishing Cuisine will be released in January 2023.
Overview
Join author and food historian, Sarah Lohman, to track the history of chocolate from its roots as an ancient Mesoamerican beverage to an intercontinental dessert. You’ll learn how a yellow, football-shaped tropical fruit transforms into high-end dark chocolate, and what “Mexican Hot Chocolate” has in common with what Montezuma drank. Plus, get the answers to all of your delicious questions about modern chocolate: What’s better, milk or dark? Why does Hershey’s have its own theme park? Who created the first chocolate bar? And why do we love chocolate so much?