Bitter s w e e t

The Chocolate

Show

cocoa pod beans

fermenting

drying

grinding

roasting

winnowing

sugar & milk

tempering

moldingconching

Paul Robeson Galleries, NewarkRutgers – The State University of New Jersey

September 1 – November 10, 2010

Bitter s w e e t

The Chocolate Show

2

Photographer unknown, stereoscopic image, “The cacao tree, native to America, bears buds, fruit and flowers all year round. The tree flourishes in hot climates with much moisture. Chocolate and drinking cacao are made form cocoa beans, which are removed from large, cucumber shaped pods”. From the Eccentric Growth of Cacao Pods, Dominica, British West Indies, Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, c.1900.

5 Acknowledgements

6 Bittersweet: The Contradictory Nature of Chocolate by Anonda Bell

18 Cacao Beans—from tree to chocolate by Francine Segan

21 Chocolate Covered: Beans, Bars and Beyond by Alexandra Leaf

28 The Cacao Pickers by James Mollison

37 The Politics of Sweet: A Sketch of the Global Cocoa Trade by Kirsty Leissle

42 Chocolate’s Italian Connection by Francine Segan

49 I have a passion for chocolate by Chloé Doutre-Roussel

53 Artists by Caren King

3

taBle of Contents

4

James Mollison Seventeen Cacao Pods, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

5

Text to Come

aCknowledGements

6

t he United States consumes the most chocolate in the entire world, annually 70 plus billion dollars worth of it, followed closely by China. Strangely, neither of these countries has a climate conducive to the growth of cacao trees, the

seeds of which are processed to form what we know as chocolate. Cacao trees flourish in the fecundity of zones around the equator, with small countries in West Africa producing more than 70% of the world’s beans. How exactly first world countries became so very dependent on a small bean imported exclusively from other continents is a tale with bittersweet tones that begins in the Amazon jungle some 4000 years ago where it is supposed that a variety of cacao plant grew wild, long before cacao was integrated into Mayan civilization. The Mayans were the first peoples recorded to cultivate crops and create products from the harvest about 2000 years ago. What we consume today bears little resemblance to that which the Mayan people imbibed as a bitter beverage or used as a currency. It is the result of Spanish exploration that the combination of cacao seeds, with sugar and other substances like vanilla, salt and other flavors, produced something closer to what we know as chocolate today. With a history spanning millennia, multiple continents, and a cast of characters including crooks, conquistadors and quacks, it is no wonder that chocolate is a food which has captured the imagination and served as a source of inspiration for artists. In this exhibition the work of fifteen artists explore various aspects of the substance, from representations in popular culture, religion, history, through to trade, politics, war and the mechanics of production.

Chocolate, perhaps unlike any other food, has pervaded the landscape of popular culture, insidiously ingratiating itself with supporters who rush to deliver testimonials sounding not unlike almost spiritual encounters with the food. Artist Donald Baechler’s “Chocolate Cone” initially appears to pay homage to a simple treat fondly remembered from childhood. However, Baechler says of his work, “For me it’s a lot about possession: the world is missing these things that I want to own, so I have to make them”. He says, “I’m an abstract artist before anything else,’ For me, it’s always been more about line, form, balance and the edge of the canvas—all these silly formalist concerns—than it has been about subject matter or narrative or politics.”1 The cone in this print sits atop a collection of non-tactile textures, an extremely flat ground generated from a palimpsest of images collected by the artist.

Bittersweet: the ContradiCtory nature of ChoColate

Anonda Bell

7

By contrast to this, Chuck Ramirez’s draws on his graphic sensibility to present photographically an exquisitely detailed pair of plastic chocolate trays. “Double Chocolate” is one of a series of works by Ramirez looking at the same subject matter. Through his forensic photograph he draws attention to something oft overlooked, an object with intended obsolescence. The glinting golden surface of this object contradicts the essential raison d’être of this object which has less than no value. It is landfill waiting to happen, presented here for a fleeting moment by the artist for our edification. One of the distinguishing features of the work by Ramirez is the absence of chocolate. Through his work we are reminded of the machinations of consumer culture and subsequent overwhelming volume of detritus that is created through our compulsive consumption of goods.

Coming from a background in detailed botanical representation of specimens, Margie Kuhn says of her series of works, “I use a trompe le oeil technique to make each object look like a real thing, to examine the object’s meaning in its own right, its relationship to other objects/artifacts, and how the meaning changes through context and time. I started drawing and painting chocolate because it has become such an Icon of contemporary culture and somewhat of a status symbol, although the chocolates I use are not particularly exotic.”2 In “Inflation” and “Never Enough” The stark contrasts in her work are of crumpled mass produced chocolate wrappers with beautifully rendered

views of a majestic landscape, or with elegantly scruffy American bank notes. Her extremely thorough approach to the subject lead her to consume copious amounts of chocolate to extract the packages for her work. She is obsessed with the way that objects are presented to us and the context which provides clues as to how we might like to encounter the subject.

Like Kuhn, coming from a scientific perspective, Harold Edgerton created some of the most recognizable photographs of the 1900s. In 1937, his efforts were rewarded by the inclusion of one of his works at the Museum of Modern Art’s first ever photography exhibition. It could be said that this image of a milk drop formation burnt its likeness into the retina of Vik Muniz, who selected it as one of the famous works of art he mimicked in his series titled, “Pictures of Chocolate”. These works relied on the artist using only his memory to recreate famous imagery on light boxes with chocolate syrup. This technique relies on a deftness of hand, as it requires immediate action to photograph the chocolate drawing before it dissolves. Muniz describes his attraction to chocolate thus, “...Chocolate inspires

Margie Kuhn, Inflation, 2009, acrylic on panel, 11”x 14”, Courtesy of the artist.

8

a multitude of psychological phenomena: it has to do with scatology, desire, sex, addiction, luxury, romance, etc. I have never met anyone who doesn’t like chocolate. Freud could probably explain why everybody loves chocolate.”3

Former Rutgers teacher and respected artist affiliated with both Fluxus and Pop art movements, Robert Watts pays homage to the tradition of still life in his work titled, “Chocolate Cream Pie”. However, unlike the organic and slowly decaying objects often captured by sixteenth century European still life painters, Watt’s pie slice is destined for perpetual perkiness. Using aluminum to create the work, Watts taps into the heritage of a humble metal, abundant in the earth’s core and once regarded as exotic and more highly valued than gold. Now though aluminum has been relegated to ubiquitous production, appearing as packaging for the most mundane of consumable goods. Consider shortening it?) This is one of a series of works that Watts created by applying the technique of recasting objects in aluminum; he has also applied this technique to fruits and vegetables. Through his work the artist encourages us to cast a second glance at humble foods which are so much a part of the everyday environment that they are often overlooked.

Other artists in this exhibition have transcended the everyday and looked to religion as a key to understanding what it is that chocolate means to them. For her paintings, Joy Nagy scoured history to assemble her cast of protagonists, from writers and artists to a president, unified by the fact that each is known for his or her outspoken love of chocolate. Selected for inclusion in this series are such luminaries as Andy Warhol, Gertrude Stein, Agatha Christie and Gertrude Stein. Nagy says, “My choice of subject matter for this series of paintings is based on my love of chocolate and search for kindred spirits.”4 The series is called “The Patron Saints of Chocolate” and the small scale of the works references icons. The artist seems to suggest that each work stands quite literally for the individual it represents, providing the viewer with a focus for veneration as they recognize a kindred spirit. Priscilla Monge has taken a different tack; utilizing mass produced religious icons, those with a delectable air of faux fanciness, as the basis for her work, including “Sacred Chocolate Heart of Jesus” and “The Last Chocolate Supper”. Rather than rendering them with paint, she has taken kitsch objects and dipped them into chocolate. Her resulting images reference common souvenirs of the divine found in many homes that were the starting point, but the photographs seem to elevate the humble objects at their most nascent to a higher state of being, imbuing them with a certain spiritual quality.

Joy Nagy, Andy Warhol – Famous for being one of America’s first Pop artists, his love of chocolate was considered to be his “biggest guilty pleasure”, 2000, gouache on paper, 10” x 10”, Courtesy of the artist.

9

Hector Canonge’s “Xocolâtl” takes its title from the Mayan word xocoatl, which means bitter water. The artist says of his work that it “relates to the transformation, commoditization and codification of cacao seeds in various countries around the world. The project integrates new-media technologies, chocolate products from various countries (packaged, bottled, canned), and appropriated visual narratives (video, print, advertisements) to construct a non-linear survey of one of the worlds most complex organisms.”5 Canonge is known for his dexterous use of existing media propaganda in his work to critique the impulses behind the creation of the promotional material. This work assembles an eclectic collection of television advertisements from around the world which relate directly to a table of objects the viewer may hold and examine. To gather further information about each product, the viewer is encouraged to scan its bar code, thus participating in a simulation: the basic action of supermarket commerce. The advertisements themselves can be read in a psychoanalytic manner, revealing more about the temperaments of the countries in which they were produced than the products they are supposed to promote. For example, the Japanese musical advert has an inane pair of dancing chocolates accompanied by a hyper westernized, cheekily handsome male lead. This confirms any lingering suspicions about the quirkiness of the Japanese, as exemplified by numerous compendium books of useless Japanese inventions. Other advertisements skirt neatly around any of the less desirable aspects of the origins of the cacao beans that constitute the product, neatly assuaging any potential guilt a consumer may feel by eating the chocolate and therefore seeming to endorse the mechanisms by which it was created.

Of her work “Ixcacao” Johannah Herr writes, “My current work explores and dissects ideas surrounding ritualistic adornment, the tradition of ‘exotic portraiture’, cultural construction and the perpetuating of fetishized Otherness. This piece expands upon such ideas in relation to the history of chocolate and the skewing of cultural associations away from the historical origin of chocolate itself and the strange relationship the marketing of chocolate creates through using words like “Dark Mayan” as selling points to make chocolate products sound more exotic though simply referencing the original source of chocolate.6 The cacao beans meant many things for the Mayans. They were the basis of a beverage available only to the well off, but were most importantly a unit of currency. In this system, ten beans could be used to purchase either a rabbit or a prostitute, and for 100 you could

Johannah Herr, Ixcacao, 2010, Styrofoam, paper, chocolate, wire, emulsifier, 36” x 48”, Courtesy of the artist.

10

secure a slave. Herr’s work looks at how the peoples of this time were represented in the eyes of the European conquerors. The way we know of the people of the Central American region is through the eyes of the imperialist invaders, rather than through the voices of the inhabitants of the region. From afar, her headdress looks like any that may be found in an anthropological museum display, but upon closer inspection you can see that in fact it is entirely constituted by wrappers familiar to those who consume chocolate in the United States. All of the wrappers come from products made by large, often multi national, chocolate companies, and the companies whose profit lines have ramifications all the way back through the chain to the cacao producers.

The politics of chocolate is a theme explored by the artists Bill Burns and James Mollison in this exhibition. Burns comes from a family who made chocolate and his observations are drawn from first hand experience. He says, “I can attest that the job of chocolate making is brutal and sometimes dangerous. Hence what many of us call the romance of chocolate, I know as its violence. The casualties of the chocolate trade bear scant resemblance to those of the arms trade; in fact such a conflation would be crude. However, as I have indicated, by the time the raw sugar and cacao had arrived in my father’s warehouse, they had already extracted a rather nasty toll.”7 His work consists of a simple wooden display box containing chocolate replicas of four antiquated hand grenades of the early to mid twentieth century. These instruments of war exact a high price on those who inadvertently come in contact, either their life or their limbs. Burns believes that the true cost of chocolate is beyond the price we see in the store, and can in fact be much higher for those individuals who have participated in the processing of the cacao from bean to bar. It is precisely these people who usually remain unseen and unheard that James Mollison turned to when looking for subjects for his photo essay about chocolate. His location of choice was the Ivory Coast, renowned for not only the high volume of cacao production, but also less desirable traits such as child slave labor, violence and miniscule wages. Mollison facilitates a certain dignity through didactic representation of the men who work in the cacao groves in a manner which was once reserved for only the wealthy plantation owners. His photographs seek to redress the balance of power, identifying and celebrating the men. The subjects are identified not only by their individual names, but also by the objects they surround themselves with, be it a machete, armadillo or cacao pod. Mollison’s work can be seen in the context of fair Trade practices which are becoming increasingly

Hector Canonge, Xocolâtl, 2010, multi-media installa-tion, dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist

11

popular in the chocolate business. This terminology applies to a movement by which end point consumers are encouraged to make educated choices about how their chocolate bar is made. Fair Trade certified bars aim to directly benefit the producers of the cacao in developing countries by paying a price for the raw materials that actually reflects the costs, as well as promoting sustainable, long term viable farming conditions.

Stefano Cagol believes that we are all guinea pigs in the game of life. His delicate arrays of mouth sized chocolate confections in attractive display trays initially seduce us and compel us to want to taste, but the titling of the work is mysterious and puzzling: “Rat Life”, “Rat Game” and “Rat Time”. The chocolates are however impossible to reach; they are sealed in transparent boxes to prevent a disaster. For along with the usual ingredients, these chocolates are laced with rat poison, leading the viewer to think that his or her own presence here is to be a laboratory mouse, an unwitting subject in a much larger experiment of which we have no real knowledge. Through this visual ploy of both eliciting desire and then immediately denying it, Cagol has demonstrated his interest in increasing the awareness of the toxic additives which are frequently identified in food. The fact that one bite of any one of these beautiful chocolates would cause us physical damage reminds us of our human frailty. Yet the multi billion dollar food industries ceaselessly promote certain food types, substances and additives which have been well documented as harmful to the human body. Cagol states we are all subjects in “…our diffused laboratory of perfection because we are the final recipients of all additives, all altered products we realize for our pleasure, but we don’t really know the consequences on a long term basis. We cannot stay without our beautiful things looking as victims of a contrappasso punishment of a Dante’s Bolgia: we want something perfect and we receive something killing.”8

Like Cagol, Joseph Sabatino has assembled a nasty array of ‘delectable’ treats. Titled “Trick or Treat”, his work focuses on the humble cupcake, a food inextricably linked with childhood pleasure. However, Sabatino’s cupcakes cannot satiate in the way that we remember from our younger years. His nasty treats resemble chocolate but are in fact made with such ingredients as cement, polyurethane, asphalt and tacks. His works do not subscribe to the historical and contemporary belief that chocolate possesses nutraceutical properties. Earlier applications of cacao in Europe after introduction by the Spanish focused on the medicinal properties, and chocolate was promoted as a cure all for everything, be it a stomach bug or fever. Chocolate was thought to be an elixir of life. Sabatino’s works contradict the hype. His neat rows of little matching cakes in clear cubes remind us that for many of the foods we consume, their appearance does not always align with their inherent properties. All kinds of modifications may have occurred, and recently these may have been on

12

a genetic level which would remain largely invisible to the casual consumer. When looking closely at the cakes, they suggest scatological impulses, they remind us of toxic waste, and they are a biological hazard rather than a source of sustenance or nourishment. According to Sabatino, this work addresses chocolates “…subtle pleasures while projecting an array of contradictions, both visually and conceptually. The precious format, presentation and scale of the work acts as a sarcophagus-like environment placed on a pedestal, as though a shrine has been erected. As a result, the work is completed sealed off from any kind of literal ingestion and replaced by mere physiological consumption.” 9

The underlying violence of Sabatino’s works is reflected more directly in the art of Carmen Alvarado. Part of her work is intended for actual consumption, and the intended interaction with “Sweet Surrender” leads to its destruction. During the period of the exhibition, viewers will be able to gnaw on a cast chocolate gun left on a pedestal for this precise purpose. The choice of guns as a subject matter seems like a logical choice for a Colombian artist who grew up in a country where a civil war wreaked havoc. Alvarado says, “Violence is often an everyday occurrence and people and communities act out the most irrational and destructive behavior. On an individual level, the act of violence is the ultimate transgression – but it’s an irrational and impulsive one. What brings someone (or a society) to the edge of reason and makes them react this way? Why do we lose control? This broad inspiration was at the source of my idea for the chocolate guns. Guns are the most immediate and most accessible tools for people to lose control. In Colombia, accessibility to guns is a recipe for impulsive destruction. In this way, guns really symbolize our relationship to this irrational, impulsive side. I hope that in interacting with this work, people will look within themselves to find the answer of what seduces or inspires the kind of irrationality that leads a person to violence and a society to war.”10

For this exhibition Stephen Shanabrook created an immersive site-specific installation, leaving the air of the gallery perfumed by chocolate. His work consists of tiny toy soldiers dipped in chocolate and then positioned to be either marching vertically up the wall, or strewn at the skirting board. The soldiers on the floor represent fallen comrades and are a common fact of war, despite which it appears that the battle must continue. Of his work with chocolate Shanabrook has said,

Priscilla Monge, The Last Chocolate Supper, 2007, color photograph on Endura paper, 28” x 39”, Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York.

13

“Chocolate and blood function at similar temperatures and as fluids they both have come down through history as offerings to the gods or at least as remedies for curing some inner melancholy. I remember reading an account of a field medic from the Vietnam War. He was explaining what he carried with him in his medic satchel, these bare necessities as he called them included: gauze, morphine, tape, comic books and M&Ms (“the candies that melt in your mouth not in your hand”). The candies were for the mortally wounded soldiers, the ones that would never make it to the field hospitals. For these soldiers the candy was a way to satisfy a simple desire, undoubtedly the desire was more to feel closer to home, (than to satisfy some unknown carnal pleasure for chocolate) before they slipped away into that unknown jungle.”11

Bittersweet seems like an apt title for a show full of contradictions. While chocolate initially presents itself as a fun, delightful treat for casual consumption, through the works of these artists it is revealed as a complex food, with a fraught history and nuanced existence in the present time. In the media much is currently being made of such issues as trade and production, the health benefits of chocolate and even the affects of the chemical composition of chocolate on the human brain (consumption releases endorphins which have many effects on the brain and nervous system). Nowadays some chocolate is composed of more than 300 chemicals, but originally the beans of the cacao crop were consumed as a bitter beverage or utilized as currency before evolving into today’s sweet treat to which many people openly confess their addiction. It is hoped that, through examination of the works in this exhibition, never again will your chocolate consumption be without consideration of the circumstances which have made it possible for you to indulge.

(Endnotes)

1. Donald Baechler interview by David Kapp, Bomb Magazine, Summer, 2000

2. Margie Kuhn Artist Statement, 2010

3. Vik Muniz interview by Aracy Amaral, Ver para Crer, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo, Brazil, 2001

4. Joy Nagy Artist Statement, 2010

5. Hector Canonge Artist Statement, 2010

6. Johannah Herr Artist Statement, 2010

7. Bill Burns Artist Statement, 1995

8. Stefano Cagol Artist Statement, 2010

9. Joseph Sabatino Artist Statement, 2010

10. Carmen Alvarado Artist Statement, 2010

11. Stephen Shanabrook interview by Jurij Krpan, Virus Magazine, 1997

14

15

16

Engraving from book by Philippe Syverstre Dourfour, Traitez Nouveaux & Curieux du Café, du Thé et du Chocolate Ouvrage également necessaire aux Medecins, & à tous ceux qui aiment leur santé (The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea & Chocolate), France, 1761.

17

K ing Tut, Socrates, Confucius, Caesar, Henry VIII – not one of them ever tasted or even heard of chocolate. In fact, because cacao trees grew only in Central America and South America’s Amazon region, chocolate was a New World

food, unknown elsewhere until the 1500s.

Theobroma, or “food of the gods,” is the name given to the cacao tree in 1753 by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. The tree’s fruit, called a cacao pod, is filled with a white pulpy center and many large seeds. It’s from these seeds, cacao beans, that we derive chocolate, a very labor-intensive product. I recently spent a week in Belize observing how the local Mayans harvest and process chocolate.

It takes 5 or 6 years for the cocoa tree to mature sufficiently to grow pods. A single tree bears about 30 usable pods each year, yielding roughly 1,000 cacao beans, enough for about 2 pounds of chocolate. The mature pods are hand-picked and

CaCao Beans—from tree to ChoColate

Francine Segan

18

then carefully cut open so as not to damage the beans. Cocoa beans must remain intact in order to develop their full chocolate flavor. One of the highlights of my Belize trip was the realization that when a cacao pod is first opened, it has no hint of chocolate fragrance or taste. Instead, the fruit pulp has a lovely peach and tropical flower aroma and a fruity tart-sweet flavor.

The pulp and the beans are pulled out of the pod and placed in a container, often a simple wooden box lined with banana leaf, where it is left for 7 to 9 days. As the beans ferment in the pulp’s juices, the pulp liquifies and flows out of the box, leaving just the damp beans. These are then spread out to dry in the sun for about a week.

At this point, nowadays, the cacao beans would be sold to companies who process them in factories. However, the locals keep some cacao beans for their own use, processing them in much the same way their ancestors did two thousand years

19

ago. The beans are toasted in clay ovens or in flat pans over open flames for a few minutes until the outer shell turns black and the beans begin to give off a chocolaty aroma. Then they are gently crushed with stones and winnowed to remove the thin film shell. After this roasting the beans naturally crumble into bits called “nibs.” (Chew on nibs, which are sold today in many gourmet shops, and you will experience chocolate in its purest unprocessed form, with no sugar or added flavorings.) The nibs are then finely crushed by hand, by terracotta or stone grinders like those used for corn. The resulting paste is fragrant and pleasingly bitter and a little grainy. This chocolate paste is mixed with water and local spices such as all-spice, vanilla, and chili pepper, to create a room temperature chocolate drink.

For more than 90 percent of its history, chocolate was consumed only as a drink, never eaten. This was true of both indigenous peoples and then the explorers who first brought cacao beans to Europe. The creamy chocolate candy bars we know today were not invented until the 1800s, after several innovations during the industrial revolution.

20

The cacao tree is a tropical plant that grows in a narrow band around 20 degrees above and below the equator, and not in any of the more northern countries we most closely associate with chocolate making. At the same time, with just a handful of exceptions, almost no modern chocolate candy is manufactured at the places of origin, which lack the sophisticated machinery needed for the modern processes of roasting, winnowing and grinding. Instead, raw cacao beans are shipped to factories in such leading chocolate making countries as Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, France, England and America.

21

22

Packaging in USA, circa 1900

23

24

Cardinal Brancaccio, De chocolates potu diatribe, New World, Old World. A personified America offering up the gift of chocolate to Neptune, Rome, 1664

25

ChoColate Covered: Beans, Bars and Beyond

Alexandra Leaf

Source of pleasure or cause of sorrow?Antioxidant-rich super-food or high–calorie junk food?Third-world agricultural product or first-world luxury foodstuff?

A lmost any discussion of chocolate today is framed in such dichotomous terms. As the world-wide appetite for theobroma cacao increases, chocolate can no longer be viewed as the mere sweet treat it once was. Choosing a chocolate

bar—rainforest-certified, organic or conventional, fair trade or equi-trade-- is analogous to casting a vote for or against some cause or issue somewhere in the world today. How did this happen?

A decade or so ago when the food media began to heavily publicize the ideas and ideals of ethical, sustainable eating, chocolate, too, became politicized, not surprisingly considering that all cacao is sourced from third- world countries. As fair trade values gathered steam in the coffee world, the concept was readily applied to chocolate, too.

Vying for shelf space in an increasingly saturated chocolate market, every company needed a “feel-good” story, and appealing to consumers’ consciences seemed a good way to appeal to their taste buds as well. It was no longer enough to sell chocolate that tasted good. There needed to be a compelling, human interest story attached to it, never mind that that story might be more marketing muscle than anything else.

This increased food awareness has spawned a small, yet influential group of craft chocolate makers here and abroad who are dedicated to a new kind of excellence in chocolate. Seeking to shorten the food chain, these artisans are traveling the world in order to do so, forging direct connections with cacao collectives rather than sourcing beans from brokers.

Working with superior, more flavorful beans and in some instances, processing these beans on century-old equipment from disparate places like the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Yemen, these producers are turning the clock back and creating exquisite, micro-batch chocolate. And proof that innovation tends to

26

be bottom up and not top down can be found in the recent sales of Scharffenberger and Dagoba Chocolate to Hershey’s (US), Green and Black’s to Cadbury (UK) and Domori to Illy Caffe (Italy).

With cocoa-mania spreading across the globe as it has, the traditional model of chocolate-making has been turned on its head and cacao-growing countries, in some instances, have become chocolate-making nations. As a result, the production of chocolate is no longer exclusively about third-world countries supplying beans to first-world powers, but grower countries themselves, like Bolivia, Ecuador, Grenada and Madagascar have begun to produce and ship out high-quality chocolate bars for the rest of the world to enjoy. This business model maximizes profits in-country as everyone from the cacao farmer to the graphic designer to the truck driver benefits.

Never has there been such attention paid to this dark and unctuous indulgence both from the botanical end of things (research on genetics) to the production and consumption side (single-origin chocolate ice cream). Around the world today, chocolate tasting clubs are forming and bar chefs are stirring up chocolate-based martinis. Chocolate-themed restaurants are catching on and chocolate fashion shows are now a regular feature of chocolate shows. Chocophiles can indulge in cocoa-based aromatherapy or partake of cocoa-tourism, wielding machetes as they harvest ripe cacao pods and learning to make chocolate while on vacation.

Large scale chocolate shows with international exhibitors are now produced in Shanghai, Beijing, Cairo, Moscow, Dubai, Madrid, Paris, London, Turin, and New York. Next month, Lima, Peru will host its first ever Salon de Chocolat. Despite chocolate’s popularity throughout the world today-- with annual sales topping $50 billion-- there was nothing inevitable about its adoption outside of Meso-America where it was first discovered three thousand years ago. The water-based, chile pepper spiked cocoa drink first encountered by Spanish Conquistadors at the end of the fifteenth century resembled nothing of the hot chocolate we drink today. Being unfamiliar to Old World peoples, the drink was initially regarded with skepticism and fear. If indeed chocolate was simultaneously “warm and humid,” “cold,” “dry” and “hot” (according to the humoral properties of disease and nutrition) what exactly was its effect on one’s health?

Catholic Spain saw the obvious advantages of a drink that could be consumed without breaking the fast and so chocolate’s appeal as a nourishing, fortifying food did not go unnoticed. Precisely when chocolate first travels to Italy and

27

France and subsequently the rest of Europe is not known but by the 18th century taking chocolate in one’s boudoir is all the rage. If coffee embodied hard work and industriousness, chocolate was its opposite. The morning chocolate ritual (a favorite theme of painters of the time) was an expression of studied leisure, moral ambiguity, and world-weariness. Stories of Moctezuma’s chocolate drinking and his many wives coupled with images of these chocolate breakfasts in bed have fueled the many (unproven) claims of chocolate’s aphrodisiacal powers that persist today.

It was, however, the 19th century’s industrialization of the processing and manufacture of chocolate bars that sent the sweet on its way to becoming the easily accessed, universally loved treat that it is today. Early on through the colonization of the New World, cacao plantations were established across the globe. Today, in order of production, the top ten countries are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, New Guinea and Malaysia. Ivory Coast is a veritable giant among cocoa-producing nations with yields greater than the next six producers combined.

The appetite for chocolate both on the mass and fine level has resulted in cacao now being grown in Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. And among the chocolate cognoscenti, exciting discoveries are being made in Peru. The world of chocolate today is noteworthy for its innovation, simultaneously looking forward and back for inspiration-- experimenting with improved plant genetics but also seeking out pure, older varieties in remote areas of the world, drawing upon a global pantry with ingredients like green tea, curry and balsamic vinegar but also returning to indigenous additions like cinnamon, chile peppers and honey. Sought after by an ever-increasing number of people of all ages, sizes, colors and religious persuasions today, it might just be that chocolate is everything to everyone everywhere.

Alexandra Leaf is a well-known culinary historian, cookbook author and culinary educator with a specialty in fine chocolate. Her publications include “The Impressionists’ Table: Recipes and Gastronomy of 19th Century France” and the award-winning “Van Gogh’s Table at the Auberge Ravoux” (International Association of Culinary Professionals). Alexandra is former chair of Culinary Historians of New York and serves on the advisory board of The New York Food Museum. In 1996, she pioneered the teaching of culinary history at The New School University. Alexandra conducts chocolate tours, creates chocolate events and teaches chocolate appreciation classes around the country.

28

James Mollison Zongo Arouna, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

29

James Mollison Soro Tefolo, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

30

James Mollison Jacob Kabore, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

31

James Mollison Sorogo Hamidou, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

32

James Mollison Sagnon Salifou, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

33

James Mollison Mohammad Ouedraogo, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

34

James Mollison Armani Brou, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

35

James Mollison Photographer James Mollison was born in Kenya and grew up in England. He studied at Oxford Brookes University and Newport

School of Art and Design in the UK, after which he began to work for a communication research centre headed by United Colors of Benetton. Mollison went on to pursue several projects highlighting social and environmental issues. He photographed immigrant workers in Italy, Balkan refugees, football fans in Bologna, and cocoa pickers from the Ivory Coast. Mollison also photographed two of Benetton’s campaigns: one for United Nations Year of the

Volunteer, and the other in association with World Food Programme, the United Nations Frontline Agency in the Battle Against Global Hunger. Mollison’s photographs and books are internationally recognizable. His work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian magazine, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and Le Monde. Mollison has had solo and group exhibitions in France, Monaco, Australia, Sweden, China, Japan, and the United States. He was the recipient of the Vic Odden Award (2009), from the Royal Photographic Society Awards, UK.

James Mollison Boniface Zongo, 2007, digital C-type print, 79” x 59”, Courtesy of the artist

36

Photographer unknown, stereoscopic image, Gathering Cacao for Chocolate Manufacturing, Nicaragua, C.A., on verso “Harvesters pluck cocoa pods from trees in Nicaragua. The high pods are harvested using a knife fastened on a long pole.” Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, c. 1900

37

the PolitiCs of sweet: a sketCh of the GloBal CoCoa trade

Kristy Leissle

t hroughout much of the world, there is a great dividing line that separates people who grow cocoa from those who eat chocolate. When it reaches Latin America, that line dissolves, for from Mexico southward we are in the

indigenous homeland of Theobroma cacao and chocolate’s ancient recipes. There, cocoa is cultivated, processed, and consumed, often by the very farmers who grew the beans. Not so in the rest of the world.

Today, the global center of cocoa production is far and away West Africa. The region produces 70% of the cocoa traded on the world market, with Ivory Coast growing around 40% of those beans, neighboring Ghana between 15-20%, and Cameroon and Nigeria the rest. Southeast Asia is important, too: Indonesia is the world’s third largest cocoa-producing country and Malaysia its eighth. Together, West Africa and Southeast Asia account for just shy of 90% of all globally traded cocoa. In the first decade of the new millennium, production in both regions rose, and production in Latin America remained roughly level.

In that same time period, global demand for chocolate also rose, partly owing to new tastes for chocolate among Asian and Eastern European consumers who could access and afford it for the first time, and partly to recent recognition in mature markets of dark chocolate’s healthful properties. While new consumer markets develop, established ones predominate still in North America and Europe: the United States, Belgium, Austria, France, Germany, Britain, Norway, Switzerland—these are the countries with the largest chocolate markets by volume and highest per capita consumption.

Connecting these places - physically and economically—are innumerable hands and a few key institutions. Cocoa beans must, first, be “evacuated” (to use the terminology of Ghana’s industry) from the remote rural areas where farming happens. Hands, heads, and shoulders, carts, vans, and trucks move vast quantities of cocoa - globally, three and a half million metric tons—from farms to buying sheds to ports, where sack after sack of dry, dusty brown beans is poured into waiting container ships. Traders and speculators on the London and New York futures markets set the price that will be paid for the beans, and an oligopoly of food processors conducts their journey across the oceans to grinding facilities. In the end, five big companies—Nestlé, Mars, Hershey, Cadbury (recently acquired by Kraft Foods), and Ferrero Rocher make and market most of the world’s chocolate bars to happy consumers.

38

Such is a sketch of the global trade of chocolate. Cocoa moves from tropical, Third World countries to the temperate latitudes of the north, where much richer populations process and consume them. As a scholar of this trade, for me the most intriguing aspect of the system, spanning as it does nearly the entire planet, is the circulation of ideas about people and places, connecting those who grow cocoa beans with those who eat bars of chocolate.

In today’s supermarket (increasingly, in the colorful produce section or near the fancy artisanal breads, and far away from the sugary cereals and Kit Kats), shoppers face an array of information about chocolate: its antioxidant properties, country of origin, exact percentage of cocoa solids per bar. Gone are the days of white, milk, and dark; we in the first world now choose between a 65% Madagascar single-origin, a dark bar flavored with sea salt, a Venezuela criollo Grand Cru. The experience of chocolate has swelled to encompass a new range of flavors and facts, even as its most basic element - cocoa - has been deconstructed, parsed out into a new discourse of taste. One need spend only moments glancing through the consumer reviews on seventypercent.com, the online encyclopedia of high-end chocolate, to understand that the act of eating chocolate has gone far beyond childhood sweet temptation to the most refined adult tasting endeavor.

As I see it, the circulation of information between farm and supermarket, producer and consumer, has broken down in important ways and muddled our ideas about chocolate. First, it is the mass-market candy companies (Cadbury, Hershey, Nestlé, Mars) and the invisible (though giant) food processors that provide the world with much of its chocolate, but it is the high-end artisanal makers - those whose bars appear next to the fancy breads - that give consumers information about chocolate. Second, and related to the first point, there has been a massive collapse between the actual trade in cocoa beans and the way chocolate is marketed to consumers, especially at the high-end. The reasons for this lie, to my mind, with the un-sell-ability of West Africa.

Anyone who has eaten chocolate in any form has almost certainly eaten a bean from West Africa: with 70% of the world market share, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria are the foundation of global supply. And yet stroll through the artisanal chocolate aisle of your local store and you will see bars celebrating Venezuela, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, Trinidad, Grenada, and Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, and São Tomé—of which only Ecuador numbers among the world’s top producers. The rest are so miniscule that they do not even register on the producer lists of the International Cocoa Organization. In short, the countries that grow the most cocoa are precisely the ones that are not celebrated by high-end makers.

39

Connoisseurs will tell you that this has to do with the beans. West Africa produces forastero, the so-called “bulk” beans that undergird the global market, while the Venezuelas and Trinidads grow criollo, “flavor” beans from which bars with the fullest, most elegant flavor profiles are made. This is quite true: West Africa does grow forastero, pretty much exclusively. But I have had some terrible bars of criollo, and some fantastic chocolate of West African origin; forastero, well processed, can produce excellent flavor, while criollo can be ruined by a clod-like manufacturer. And yet search for a single-origin bar from Ghana and you will find only few. An extensive search for chocolate from Ivory Coast or Nigeria turns up only two obscure bars, and from Cameroon none at all.

After researching the cocoa-chocolate trade on four continents, I believe that the great rift between cocoa production and chocolate marketing at the high end has much less to do with flavor than it does with a racialized, politicized global perception of Africa. Put simply, it is much more difficult to exoticize and market West Africa as a place of chocolate origin than it is Venezuela or even Madagascar, an island nation-state far off the coast of Africa proper. Limited as is our knowledge of Africa in the first world, our major associations with the place are war, poverty, and HIV/AIDS - not the sorts of things that make for a good chocolate sell. Allegations of child slavery have sealed the fate of Ivory Coast: people are much more interested in boycotting Ivorian cocoa than supporting those poverty-stricken farmers, whose labor is the backbone of a multi-billion-dollar trade. And so Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Cameroon remain the invisible, yet foundational, countries of the chocolate world.

So what should we do with this information, especially when confronting the art and artifacts (including chocolate bar wrappers) that raise our awareness of the politics of this trade? Use it to understand Africa a little better. The dire poverty and disease and political violence are there. But there is also cocoa. Hundreds of thousands of African farmers lead lives of industriousness and aspiration, laboring to grow what will become the world’s most celebrated sweet. Honor their efforts, and we will have made the first step towards equity in this global trade.

Sources

ICCO. Assessment of the Movements of Global Supply and Demand. London: International Cocoa Organization, 3 April 2008.

Allen, Lawrence L. Chocolate Fortunes: The Battle for the Hearts, Minds, and Wallets of China’s Consumers. New York: Amacom, 2010.

Dr. Kristy Leissle earned her PhD in Women Studies from the University of Washington in 2008 by studying the economics, politics, and culture of the cocoa-chocolate trade between West Africa and Europe. Dr. Leissle is currently Lecturer in Global Studies at the University of Washington Bothell, where she teaches a class each winter that is devoted entirely to chocolate (Chocolate: A Global Inquiry). She writes and lectures on chocolate in the Seattle area and beyond; has a biweekly blog on chocolate at www.chocolatebean2bar.com; and is presently completing a memoir of the year she spend traveling along cocoa-chocolate trade routes in Asia, Africa, and Europe, entitled Chocolate Planet.

Photographer unknown, stereoscopic image, Homes on Stilts where the Families of Laborers Live, Cacao Plantation, Clementine, Ecuador, on verso “The Quicho Indians, descendants of the Incas, comprise the working class and have their little villages scat-tered throughout the entire country…they are industrious and persevering in the extreme, but still hold to wasteful and primitive methods in all their work.” Keystone View Company, Meadville,Pennsylvania, c. 1900

40

Photographer unknown, A Chocolate Store in Nancy, France (Fabrique du Chocolat Lorrain à l’Exposition de Nancy, Imprimeries Réunies Nanncy, 4” x 6”, c1890s. Imprimeries Réunies Nanncy, 4” x 6”, c1890s.

41

42

Engraving from book by Philippe Syverstre Dourfour, Traitez Nouveaux & Curieux du Café, du Thé et du Chocolate Ouvrage également necessaire aux Medecins, & à tous ceux qui aiment leur santé (The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea & Chocolate), France, 1761

43

ChoCoLATe’S ITALIAN CoNNeCTIoN

Francine Segan

t he history of chocolate, beginning with its “discovery,” is uniquely tied to Italy, responsible for many chocolate firsts.

Chocolate’s journey to the Old World from the New began with Christopher Columbus, an Italian.

During his fourth and final voyage to the New World, docked at Guanaja, an island 30 miles off mainland Honduras, Columbus became the first European to set eyes on cocoa beans. On August 15, 1502, he and his crew encountered a large Mayan trading canoe filled with an assortment of goods including cotton clothing, tools, weapons, and food. Never having seen cacao beans before and calling them “almonds,” Columbus and his men nonetheless observed the high value the natives placed on them. “They seemed to hold these almonds at a great price; for when they were brought on board ship together with other goods, I observed that when any of these almonds fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen,” wrote Columbus’s son Ferdinand in 1503 in an account later published as The Life of Admiral Christopher Columbus by his Son Ferdinand.

Italians write about chocolate:

Cacao beans first made their way to Europe through Spain, but it was Italians such as Pietro Martire d’Anghiera (1457-1526) who were among the first Europeans to write about chocolate. In his book History of the New World, Girolamo Benzoni (1518-1570), a historian and Milanese native, described the chocolate drink offered to him by the natives as: “somewhat bitter, it satisfies and refreshes the body, but does not inebriate.” Francesco d’Antonio Carletti, a Florentine businessman who spent time at a cacao plantation in El Salvador, wrote a detailed description of the cacao growing and chocolate making processes, which he presented to Ferdinando I de’ Medici in 1606. Paolo Zacchia, a Roman-born physician, authored Of Hypochondriacal Sicknesses (De’ Mali Hipochondriaci) in 1644, in which he notes that chocolate can relieve gastric distress and serve as an aid to digestion.

Francesco Redi (1626-1697), physician to Cosimo III de’ Medici, poet, philologist, and scientist, wrote about and even experimented with chocolate. (He also famously disproved spontaneous generation, the obsolete notion that life springs forth from inanimate matter, a belief popular in Europe since Aristotle’s time.) Redi

44

documented that the Florentines were the first to add perfume aromatics such as amber and musk, as well a citrus flavors such as citron and lemon peel to chocolate. Redi himself was the first to add a floral flavor to chocolate and he created a jasmine infused chocolate that became very popular in Cosimo de’Medici’s court. He refused to divulge his formula except to advise that one should not use jasmine water as it did not blend well with chocolate. His recipe, which indeed employed fresh jasmine petals, was not discovered until after his death in 1697.

Italian Culinary Chocolate Creations:

Italians are responsible for the invention of many chocolate dishes, among them chocolate dessert soup, chocolate custard, and even chocolate sorbet, which was created in Naples in the mid 1700s. They were also the first to combine chocolate with coffee, in both cakes and drinks. In 1678, the then king of Italy licensed a Turinese baker, Antonio Ari, “to sell a chocolate drink” topped with a layer of cream and espresso. The drink, served in a small glass with a metal base and handle, later became known as bicherin (“little glass”), and remains popular today in Turin.

Most of us think of chocolate as something for dessert only, but Italians have been adding it to pasta, risotto, polenta, and meat dishes for centuries. To understand why, it’s important to remember that cacao beans are seeds. Thus, like many other seeds---pepper, fennel, cardamom and caraway—they are not sweet and may be used as a spice. (In fact, it is only the addition of sugar that makes ground chocolate sweet.) Italian chefs understood this when cacao beans first arrived from the New World and immediately began experimenting, adding it to many savory dishes.

Like fine wine, fine dark chocolate has an amazingly complex taste profile, with hundreds of distinct nuanced aromas and flavors. Recipes for savory dishes with chocolate were published in Italy as far back as 1680 and include lasagna in anchovy, almond and chocolate sauce, papardelle in rabbit and chocolate sauce, fried liver accented with dark chocolate, and polenta topped with chocolate breadcrumbs, almonds and cinnamon. It was such a common practice to season foods with chocolate that the Francesco Arisi, in his 1736 poem, Il Cioccolato, even pokes fun at cooks who overuse it. Pellegrino Artusi’s 1891 cookbook, Science in the Kitchen, includes a delicious recipe he calls Torta alla Milanese, Milan Pie, which is made with minced beef, chocolate, pine nuts, and raisins. Even though Artusi attributes

45

the pie to Milan, similar chocolate meat pies, called ‘mpanatigghi, have been eaten also in Sicily since the late 1700s.

Savory chocolate dishes remain common today in Italy. Chocolate is incorporated in fillings for ravioli, such as the Italian autumn favorite--- pumpkin-chocolate ravioli served with a brown butter sage sauce. It is also used to season pasta sauces and even pasta itself is made with chocolate and served with meat or cheese sauces.

One of Italy’s popular savory chocolate creations is agrodolce, “sour and sweet” sauce for pork or wild game, made from reduced vinegar or wine seasoned with dark chocolate.

In Tuscany, chocolate is a key addition to recipes for venison and wild boar. Like wine, vinegar and lemon juice, chocolate provides just the right touch of acidity and acts as an emulsifier, adding natural thickness to sauces.

Fabio Picchi, owner and chef of Florence’s famed Cibreo restaurant, fondly recalls, “Cooking with chocolate has a long history here in Tuscany. My grandmother always cooked savory chocolate dishes on Sundays during the winter.” Chef Picchi serves an updated version of his grandmother’s “chocolate rabbit,” a delicate stew of rabbit seasoned with hints of candied orange peel.

Picchi waxes poetic on the subject of cooking with chocolate, “Chocolate’s flavors persists for hours; it’s one of the only foods with such lingering after-taste. Besides its spectacular flavors, chocolate also has emotional resonance. Chocolate for dinner? Yes! It’s every child’s dream, a dream we Italians have made come true for centuries!”

Francine Segan is a noted food historian, and the author of four cookbooks including Shakespeare¹s Kitchen and Opera Lover¹s Cookbook, which was a finalist for both James Beard and IACP awards. She is frequently quoted as a food expert for papers such as Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, L.A. Times, and Chicago Tribune. Ms. Segan has appeared on hundreds of TV programs including the Today Show, Early Show, and Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood and is regular guest on Martha Stewart Living radio. She appears frequently on the History and Discovery Channels and the Food Network and has done several specials for PBS including two on chocolate.

Pasta with saGe and ChoColate Courtesy of G.B. Martelli, Venchi Chocolates

Serves 6

Chocolate adds an unexpected rich, deep flavor to this simple pasta sauce.

1 pound spaghetti or fettuccine 8 tablespoons butter, 1 stick 4 shallots, finely minced 20 fresh sage leaves, plus more as garnish Freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 1 – 2 ounces Venchi Chocaviar bits, or dark chocolate, coarsely grated

Prepare the pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté the shallots and sage leaves about 8 minutes until the butter is golden brown.

Toss the pasta with the sage-shallot butter and about a 1/4 cup of the pasta’s cooking water.

Season to taste with pepper.

Serve topped with the Parmesan cheese and a generous sprinkling of Chocaviar or grated chocolate. Garnish with sage leaves.

46

roasted ParsniP white ChoColate souP Courtesy of www.DolceItalia.com

Serves 8

An amazingly delicious soup with just the perfect hint of white chocolate sweetness. A wonderful autumn treat.

2 pounds parsnips (about 4 or 5 large parsnips) 1/4 cup extra virgin oil 8 tablespoons, 1 stick, butter 2 large Vidalla onions, thinly sliced 2 quarts chicken stock 1 tablespoon vanilla extract Salt and pepper 1 cup white chocolate, chopped 1 cup heavy cream Juice of 1 lime2 tablespoons minced dill

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and cut the parsnips into 1-inch slices, put on a baking sheet, and brush them lightly with 2 tablespoons of the oil. Roast the parsnips until they begin to soften, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium-low heat in a large stockpot and gently sauté the onion until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, vanilla and roasted parsnips, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, cover and let cook until the parsnips are very soft, about 20 minutes.

Stir the white chocolate into the soup and cook until melted, about 5 minutes.

Remove soup from the heat and stir in the cream. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add the lime juice and dill and serve.

47

48

Photographer unknown Henry Mc Cobb’s Cocoa & Chocolate Shop, New York, c.1880

49

I have a Passion for Chocolate

Chloé Doutre-Roussel

“ i have a passion for chocolate”. I’ve heard this said hundreds of times and every time I smile back and say, ” yes, chocolate is uniquely wonderful “and, while they are still salivating, because the key word was “chocolate”,

I feel a state of inner peace in which I visualize the entire direction of my 43 years of life. With stimulating lucidity I see a consistent journey around core values : wisdom is my target, philosophy the path while chocolate is my guide, my mentor and my best friend.

I have been called chocolate angel, chocolate lady, choco-dependent choco-anything. Most people associate me systematically with chocolate, and I am to blame for that. As Pierre Hermé said in 1998, when he recruited me as head of the chocolate department at the fabled patisserie Ladurée in Paris, “Nobody speaks, eats, breathes chocolate like you.” Chocolate has indeed always been on my side: in my bag, my pockets, my wine cellar, my suitcases, under my bed. One spring day in 2005, Mourad Mazouz, from Sketch in London introduced me to Chef Pierre Gagnaire with the following words: “Chloé, a woman with a passion for her passion.” It was a good summary. Christine Mulkhe, from the New York Times (1), defined my personality as, “… in chocolate circles ,the twinkly Frenchwoman is a goddess, it’s Bella Abzug, Julia Child and Isabelle Huppert foil-wrapped into one; a tireless enthusiast for the stuff.”

We all are in an endless quest for happiness (or less unhappiness), for the meaning of life, for understanding ourselves better. We all follow unique paths, determined by accidents of life, encounters, luck and crisis. I am no exception, but what made my path so special, many even say enviable, is that every step of my journey has been linked to chocolate.

All started when, at the age of 14, when I moved from South America to France, and discovered the enormous range of chocolate bars available in the supermarkets. Chocolate was the only sweet food I liked and thirsting for the best ratio pleasure/pocket money, I decided to taste all of them, comparing them, taking notes. My taste buds helped me to understand Spinoza:” all that gives joy is good, but not all joys are equal”. And not all these choco-joys deserved their price or the flattering words on their packaging. I had started my path towards wisdom, and chocolate was showing me the way. Since then, all my life, I have been eager to learn more, to understand better, to open more choco-horizons. Driven by a delightful blend of

50

passion and wisdom, I have tasted all the world’s finest chocolates, relentlessly asked why, when, who, working hard to get answers. I visited plantations and factories, tasting everything from bean to bar, from bar to filled chocolates, and met all kinds of chocolate professionals, from sharks to soul mates. I soon realized that learning to enjoy and enjoying go together. The more you know chocolate, the more you understand your pleasure, the more pleasure you get from chocolate. This was my earliest revelation; I felt I had a mission to fulfil. I wanted to share my discoveries of the fascinating world of chocolate! It can help you to be happier, have more fun and to learn a lot about yourself. Listen to your body and trust what it tells you.

In Paris, I organised monthly choco-evening parties open to the general public. Only chocolate was eaten and discussed. I started to give chocolate tasting classes in 1999. . As at that time there was no school to learn the art of tasting chocolate, I just followed my instincts and developed a personal teaching method: tickle the senses to push the mind to question itself and trigger analysis. The most common question I get is “how can you be slim and eat so much chocolate (It is true that my daily consumption is usually 300 to 500 g a day, but only if I have fine chocolate around me). . Well, chocolate has taught me how to listen to my body, and this is the secret behind eating what it wants with what it needs. This listening tells me what people I want to spend time with, where to spend my holidays, what music to listen etc... Listening to chocolate is a delightful way to find a connection with oneself.

There is no school in the world teaching what I know, what I share with people in my consultancies or classes. My knowledge is the result of years of a focused and wise (choco) journey, fuelled by passion, curiosity and an adventurous spirit. In 1999, I was invited to visit the factory of a renowned French chocolate brand. The factory was in the midst of some vineyards and I took the night train to reach it. One of the directors was supposed to pick me up at the station at 6:30 am. It was a hot summer, and there I was standing in my light summer dress with my suitcase, alone at this station, in the middle of nowhere.

After waiting some 30 minutes, I decided to go to the factory by myself. Following the smell of chocolate I easily found it. I walked around the factory. All the doors were closed but obviously there was activity inside. I lifted my dress, climbed over the wall, jumped down into the production unit (all people were dressed in lab gear) and shouted, “Can anyone help me find mister XX.” Many people still remember “Chloe’s visit.”

The path does not follow a straight, linear line. Rather, it is full of surprises, rich in encounters, experiences, fights, rebellions. You are always stimulated when you ask questions or put your nose and mouth in secret places.

51

A few major events determined my destiny:

First, there was my encounter with real chocolate at the age of 30. One Saturday morning at 8;00 am in a beautiful Parisian flat decorated by Jacques Garcia, Pierre Hermé called me for a choco-job interview for Ladurée:. He welcomed me with a shy “bonjour” and we immediately moved to a comparative tasting of 10 single origin bars of Pralus. At that time, Lindt 70% was the best I had ever tasted. This new chocolate, complex, rich, intense, opened my soul and spirit..Soon after, I explored a totally new choco-planet: Valrhona, Bonnat, Bernachon, Michel Cluizel, all put my senses in turmoil, filling my head with new questions. The fire inside me turned into a conflagration. I had crossed the line of chocolate quality.

Later, I would encounter soul mates; experts in tea, chocolate, coffee, perfume, music, wine. Our common bond was the relentless exploration of the senses and the need to share it with the world. It is a need, almost as strong and natural as breathing. These are extra-ordinary people and their experiences were immensely enriching and motivating. While I walk through life, I try to combat injustice and to support innovation, determination and courage. It is my own way of bringing about change, to make a better place, at least choco-better place.

I have heard so many times “she has the best job in the world, she is so lucky”. Of course there was luck, both good and bad but I chose my path. I built and continue to build on it every day. Our lives reflect our choices. To achieve success, you need dedication, discipline and hard work. Chocolate is the underpinning of my path, and has punctuated my journey with magic and delights. It has shown me a way of life and given me a philosophy for living. Discovering the world of chocolate has given me the opportunity to learn about myself: what inspires me, what hurts and delights and surprises me. I’m driven by curiosity and chocolate helped me to know who I am and what I want my life to be.

When we look back in our lives, we often ask the question, “If I had to start all over again, what would I do? “ I would with no doubt again take the opportunities chocolate has offered me.

Foot note: New York Times Magazine, February 14th, 2006

Chloé Doutre-Roussel has been exploring the world of fine chocolate for more than 35 years. She has visited plantations, production units and shops and met the people behind the brands, collaborated with experts, and relentlessly analyzed the processes, marketing and strategies. In 2006 she released her book, “The Chocolate Connoisseur: For Everyone With a Passion for Chocolate”.

52

Photographer unknown, The Brussels Chocolate Man, Belgium, c.1920.

Carmen AlvaradoDonald BaechlerBill Burnsstefano CagolHector CanongeJohannah HerrMargie KuhnPriscilla MongeVik MunizJoy NagyChuck ramirezJoseph sabatinostephen shanabrookrobert watts

Artistsby Caren King

53

54

The years that Carmen Alvarado spent in war-torn Colombia have given the weight of experience and memory to her

videos, installations, and performances. Alvarado seeks to draw attention to the symbols of war, death, and violence, and to influence the ways in which her viewers interact with such symbols. Her works also encourage her viewers to consider the effects of violence on collective (national, historical) and individual memory.

Born in the United States, Alvarado received her BFA in sculpture at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. She went on to receive her MFA in combined media at Hunter College in New York. Her work has been exhibited in Colombia, New York, and France.

Carmen Alvarado

Sweet Surrender, 2003, chocolate, variable dimensions, each gun 11” x 5” x 1½”, Courtesy of the artist

55

Donald BaechlerKnown for his collage-painting hybrids and multimedia work, Donald Baechler has been a constant on the American modern art scene for the

past three decades. His work, which has relevancy to outsider art, engages the use of cultural symbols and the visual dialogues that occur with layered images. Baechler was born in Connecticut and attended Maryland Institute and Cooper Union. He also spent time among the emerging art of Germany in the early 1980s. Baechler’s sculptures, paintings, and collages are shown all over the world. Some recent solo exhibitions have been held at the Galerie

Forsblom in Finland, McClain Gallery in Houston, Galleria In Arco in Italy, the IBM Sculpture Garden in New York, and the Galerie Alain Noirhomme in Belgium. Baechler’s work can be found in many permanent collections, including those of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul. Baechler lives and works in New York City.

Chocolate Cone, 2007, silkscreen, 57¾” x 40½”, Courtesy of the artist and Pace Editions, Inc. New York

56

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and living and working mostly in Canada and England, Bill Burns is known for

approaching serious subject matter with compassion and gentle humor. Burns has published several books dealing with such issues as environmental stewardship, prison life, and the reality of pain. One of his well-known projects, entitled “Safety Gear for Small Animals” (2005), included the display of tiny

goggles, safety vests, and the like. Burns’ art also takes the forms of sculpture and photography. Burns has received awards and commissions from various sources, including Canada Council for the Arts, I’APAPE in France, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and the Danish Arts Agency. His works have been shown not only in Canada, the United States, and Europe, but also in Korea, Argentina, and Cuba.

Bill Burns

Chocolate Hand Grenades, 1987-95, chocolate, wood, paper, 13½” x 13½” x 3½”, Courtesy of the artist and A.M.Richard Fine Art, Brooklyn

57

stefano CagolBorn and based in Italy, Stefano Cagol attended art school in Italy before receiving his PhD at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Cagol has received numerous awards and fellowships for his

work, and is currently working in New York City as the resident artist at the International Studio & Curatorial Project (ISCP). Through photography, video, installation, performance and action, Cagol’s work engages ideas about society and politics, influence and perception. His works are frequently

interactive, and he has had various public art installations across the world, including permanent installations at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, and the Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, Italy. Cagol’s work has been exhibited all over Europe and the USA, as well as in Tokyo, Japan and Shanghai, China. He lectures internationally at conferences and museums. Articles about his work have been published in three languages.

Rat Game, 2008, chocolate, rat poison, paper, cardboard, Plexiglas, variable dimensions, Courtesy of the artist and Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, New York

58

Hector Canonge is a New York City-based artist whose various media projects, public art works, performances,

videos, and films have been shown extensively in the New York-New Jersey region. His works explore ideas of geography and identity, and Canonge is active in seeking to engage the local communities in artistic conversation and exploration.

Canonge has been influential in initiating many community projects, art forums, collaborative artists’ groups, and film festivals. These groups and projects bring together local artists and seek to give voice to various diverse communities within the city of

New York. Canonge has taught at many art centers and colleges, including New York City College of Technology, The New School, Bronx River Arts Center, and Hunter College (CUNY). He is recently the resident artist at The Wassaic Project (Summer 2010). His works, which have been exhibited in venues such as the Jersey City Museum and City Without Walls in Newark, have been reviewed by the New York Times, ART FORUM, New York Daily News, Manhattan Times, Queens Chronicle, Queens Courier, Times Ledger and on online publications such as NYRemezcla, and Turbulence. Canonge’s films have also been screened internationally.

Hector Canonge

Xocolâtl, 2010, multi-media installation, variable dimensions, Courtesy of the artist

59

Johannah HerrHerr graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2009. She creates colorful and provocative artworks that have already made an impact

in the Brooklyn and NYC art communities. As storyteller, performance artist, and visual artist, Herr seeks ways to discuss what she calls “the messiness of the human experience.” She uses mundane

objects and endows them with special meaning in the tradition of folklore and rituals usually associated with non-Western cultures. Herr has exhibited in Berlin, London, and across the United States, and has been involved in special art and community projects in Nepal, Guatemala, and Peru. Most recently, Herr has had solo exhibitions at Envoy Enterprises and Chasama 266, both in New York City.

Ixcacao, 2010, styrofoam, paper, chocolate, wire, emulsifier, 48” x 48” x 8”, Courtesy of the artist

60

Trained as a scientific illustrator, Kansas native Margie Kuhn paints in a trompe l’oeil (fool-the-eye) style that closely

examines her subjects, raising questions about meaning and the transformation from artifact to symbol. Many of her works speak towards the fragility and transience, and also the beauty, of existence. Kuhn has exhibited largely in the Midwest

United States and has been awarded a number of grants, awards and scholarships for her work. She also teaches and lectures at various art centers and universities, including the National Art Education Association and the University of Kansas, and has completed residencies at numerous Kansas institutions.

Margie Kuhn

Inflation, 2009, acrylic on panel, 11” x 14”, Courtesy of the artist

61

Sacred Heart of Jesus, 2007, photograph on Endura paper, 38” x 30”, Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York

Priscilla MongePower, aggression, love, gender, and violence are some of the themes that surround the work of Costa Rican artist Priscilla Monge. Her outspoken

installations, photography, and multimedia pieces often unite seemingly disparate objects, giving them new meaning and significance. Monge attended the University of Costa Rica in the 1980s and went on to push the boundaries of her traditional education as she began to embrace conceptualism and the use

of words and text in her art. With a subversive wit, Monge challenges the expectations of her audience. Monge has participated in a number of group exhibitions, including: “The Image Implications” at the MUCA in Mexico City (2008), “Global Feminism” at Wellesley College (2007), the 49th Biennial of Venice, and the Liverpool Biennial (2006). Her works are in private and public collections all over the world, from Spain to Switzerland, Great Britain to Mexico.

62

Brazilian-born New York artist Vik Muniz is known for challenging ideas of perception and representation,

as well as ownership and interpretation, in his photographs. Using a wide variety of materials such as cotton, dust, peanut butter, wire, shredded paper, sugar, and of course, chocolate, Muniz re-creates famous images in unexpected materials. The arranged “pictures” are then photographed, with the photograph serving as the final product. Muniz is an artist of international acclaim. Since his emergence in the early 1990s, Muniz has shown his work extensively, including solo shows at the

Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As the subject of countless articles, books, and interviews, his work is well known and referenced throughout the contemporary art world. His photography book, Seeing is Believing, made the New York Times and Village Voice’s top 10 lists in 1999, and his work has been the subject of two documentaries “Worst Possible Illusion: The Curiosity Cabinet of Vik Muniz” (2003), and “Waste Land” (2010). Along with his art making endeavors, Vik Muniz also teaches and lectures at various academic institutions across the United States.

Vic Muniz

Vik Muniz, Milk Drop (after Dr Harold Edgerton), from the series “Pictures of Chocolate”, 1997-1998, Cibachrome photographic print, 40” x 30”, Courtesy of private collection. Art@Vik Muniz/Licensed by VAGA, New York

63

Joy NagyJoy Nagy, author of several books, including Chocolate Astrology (Clarkson Potter, 2003), works in drawing, painting, sculpture, and

installation. Her most recent series of works centers around the leaves of the burdock plant, which

represent to her the beauty and fragility of nature. Nagy currently teaches silk-screening at the School of Visual Arts/Liberty Partnership Program. She has had her work exhibited both in the United States and in Europe.

Joy Nagy, Thomas Jefferson April 13, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States, believed in “the superiority of hot chocolate, for both health and nourishment”, 2000, gouache on paper, 10” x 10”, Courtesy of the artist.

64

Primarily working in photography and graphic design, Chuck Ramirez possesses a sharp sensibility towards

the media world and the visual language of modern consumerist culture. His large-scale photographs are sharply focused and shot on a blank white background, inviting the viewer to consider the meanings suggested in commonplace objects when they are isolated and scrutinized. The common becomes ritualized and the human condition can be visually represented in a manner both penetrating

and pithy. Ramirez has shown his work in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Madrid, Mexico City, Berlin, and Texas, among other locations. He was selected to be the 2002 International Artist in Residence at ArtPace in San Antonio. He has been reviewed in ArtForum International magazine, the San Antonio Express-News, the Washington Post, and many other publications. Ramirez is based in his hometown of San Antonio, TX.

Chuck ramirez

Chuck Ramirez, Double Chocolate, 2006, pigment ink print, acrylic, Cintra, 25” x 30”, Courtesy of the artist and the collection of Travis Capps. Originally commissioned by Artpace San Antonio.

65

Joseph sabatinoNew Jersey artist Joseph Sabatino was born in Belleville and received his BA Fine Arts Studio at Montclair State University, later going on

to study photography in Florence, Italy, with internationally acclaimed artist Cosimo Bargellini. Working out of his studio in Paterson, Sabatino interprets his surroundings with a childlike perspective of vulnerability and wonder. His sculptures, installations, and drawings exude a sense

of nostalgia and memory. Sabatino has received full fellowships for programs and residencies in Wyoming, Vermont, and New Jersey. He was a participant in, Jersey City Museum’s Arts Annual “SPRAWL” (2008), the Newark Museum’s 2006 New Jersey Fine Arts Annual, and the Emerge-Artist Fellowship Program at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art. His work has been exhibited in New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Florida, Italy, Austria, and Norway.

Trick or Treat, 2006–2007, mixed media installation, variable dimensions, Courtesy of the artist

66

The work of Stephen Shanabrook walks the line between the safe and the grotesque, the alluring and the

unsettling. Engaging interplay between perception and realization, Shanabrook’s sculptures, installations, and drawings reside in a state of mystery that invite further examination. Shanabrook has worked extensively in chocolate, but also in such materials as cotton candy, melted plastic, and mercury. His interest in chocolate as a subject matter draws back to its relationships to pleasure, desire, comfort, and the body, as well as associations with consumption, familiarity, and memory. Shanabrook stated that in

his view, the average chocolate bar is more public than any art gallery. Shanabrook was born in Ohio and educated in Maine, Italy, New York, and the Netherlands. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions all over the world, from Shanghai to Berlin, San Francisco to Scotland. His work has also been featured in solo exhibitions in the UK, United States, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Russia. Included in his solo projects are two permanent public installations in Amsterdam. Currently, Shanabrook splits his time between Moscow and New York.

stephen shanabrook

Slippery Slope, 2010, mixed media installation, dimensions vari-able, Courtesy of the artist

67

robert wattsRobert Watts was an influential, though lesser known, member of the international avant-garde art movement Fluxus. Born in Burlington,

Iowa, Watts studied mechanical engineering at the University of Louisville, art at Arts Students League, and art history at Columbia University. He became a Professor of Art at Douglass College, Rutgers University in 1953, where he taught until 1984. Watts worked and exhibited alongside such artists as Andy

Warhol, Claus Oldenberg, George Brecht, and Roy Lichtenstein, Allan Kaprow, and Geoffrey Hendricks. His playful sense of humor and interest in challenging originality and authorship became important characteristics of American Pop Art. Watts’ artworks can be found in collections in Germany, Missouri, Minnesota, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

Chocolate Cream Pie, 1964, aluminum, 2½” x 5” x 5”, Courtesy of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Gift of Bernard and Florence Galkin

68

CoPyriGht

This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition Bittersweet: The Chocolate Show. This exhibition was organized by the Paul Robeson Galleries, a program of Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey, Newark.

Exhibition Dates: September, 1 – November 10, 2010

Paul Robeson Galleries Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey, Newark Campus 350 Dr Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard Newark, New Jersey 07102 U.S.A. www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/gallery

The Paul Robeson Galleries’ programs are supported, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and by private donations. We are also supported by the Robeson Campus Center, the Office of the Chancellor and the Cultural Programming Committee, Rutgers-Newark.

Catalogue Design: Ludlow6, LLC. James Wawrzewski, Creative Director & Principal Designer Printer: Brodock Press, Utica, NY

Copyright ©2010 Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey

“Bittersweet: The Contradictory Nature of Chocolate” ©2010 Anonda Bell “I have a passion for chocolate” ©2010 Chloé Doutre-Roussel “Chocolate Covered: Beans, Bars and Beyond” ©2010 Alexandra Leaf “The Politics of Sweet: A Sketch of the Global Cocoa Trade” ©2010 Kristy Leissle “Cacao Beans—from tree to chocolate” & “Chocolate’s Italian Connection” ©2010 Francine Segan

ISBN: 978-0-9795167-8-8

Copyright, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may not be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, otherwise, without prior permission of the Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey. The copyrights of the works of art reproduced in this publication are retained by the artist and their legal successors.

Large Print

“My! But dose chotlates are dood”, Strohmeyer & Wyman, New York, NY, c.1890

P a u l R o b e s o n G a l l e r i e s

Bit

te

rs

we

et t

he C

ho

Co

lat

e sh

ow

Pa

ul r

oB

es

on

Ga

ller

ies