Étienne Liotard, “The Chocolate Girl” (1744-45), pastel on parchment, 82.5 x 52.5 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (Image via Web Gallery of Art)
Last week, a food blogger called into question the Mast Brothers’ artisanal chocolate’s “bean-to-bar” reputation, and the controversy has continued, setting off, as reported by The New York Times, “an intense and at times vitriolic discussion”:
Some chocolate insiders acted as if the brothers had disgraced the craft. People who think all small-batch food producers are scam artists, meanwhile, took the micro-scandal as proof that anyone paying more than $2 for a candy bar is a pretentious sucker.
Oh, you are a very poor soldier — a chocolate cream soldier!
—George Bernard Shaw, Arms and the Man
What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.
—Katharine Hepburn
The slopping of the sea grew still one night
And in the summer morning hued the deck
And made one think of rosy chocolate
And gilt umbrellas.—Wallace Stevens, “A Sea Surface Full of Clouds”
Made a lightning trip to Vienna,
Eating chocolate cake in a bag.—John Lennon, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”
The Duchess set about studying Annette and shortly found her adversary’s tragic flaw.
Chocolate.
—William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Every now and then, I’ll run into someone who claims not to like chocolate, and while we live in a country where everyone has the right to eat what they want, I want to say for the record that I don’t trust these people, that I think something is wrong with them, and that they’re probably – and this must be said – total duds in bed.
—Steve Almond, Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America
Believe me, there’s no metaphysics on earth like chocolates,
And all religions put together teach no more than the candy shop.
Eat, dirty little girl, eat!If only I could eat chocolates with the same truth as you!
But I think and, removing the silver paper that’s tinfoil,
I throw it on the ground, as I’ve thrown out life.—Fernando Pessoa, “The Tobacco Shop”
Carob is a brown powder made from the pulverized fruit of a Mediterranean evergreen. Some consider carob an adequate substitute for chocolate because it has some similar nutrients (calcium, phosphorus), and because it can, when combined with vegetable fat and sugar, be made to approximate the color and consistency of chocolate. Of course, the same arguments can as persuasively be made in favor of dirt.
—Sandra Boynton
He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.”
—Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
He turned and reached behind him for the chocolate bar, then he turned back again and handed it to Charlie. Charlie grabbed it and quickly tore off the wrapper and took an enormous bite. Then he took another…and another…and oh, the joy of being able to cram large pieces of something sweet and solid into one’s mouth! The sheer blissful joy of being able to fill one’s mouth with rich solid food!
“You look like you wanted that one, sonny,” the shopkeeper said pleasantly.
Charlie nodded, his mouth bulging with chocolate.
—Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
It was like having a box of chocolates shut in the bedroom drawer. Until the box was empty it occupied the mind too much.
—Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter
A good night’s sleep, or a ten-minute brawl, or a pint of chocolate ice cream, or all three together, is good medicine.
—Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso.
(Ideas should be clear and chocolate thick.)—Proverb
<3
I recently learned
I’m allergic to chocolate
I eat it anyway!
Life is to be lived, no?
“Life is like a box of chocolates….you never know what you’re gonna get.” ~Forrest Gump