According to legend, the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl originally gave cocoa beans to humans as a gift. He taught the ancestors of the Aztecs how to roast, ferment, and grind the beans to make a drink called xocoatl, meaning “bitter water.” Pronounced “sho-KWA-til,” the word xocoatl was the phonetic predecessor to the word “chocolate."
Archaeologists now know that the ancestors of the Aztecs, including Olmec and pre-Olmec societies, had been drinking chocolate since at least 1500 BCE. The Maya continued that tradition, and eventually the Aztecs took it to a whole new level. The Aztec ruler Montezuma II supposedly drank 50 cups of the stuff per day, partly because of its alleged properties as an aphrodisiac.
The conquistador Hernán Cortés was introduced to chocolate while at Montezuma’s court. Impressed, he took it back with him to Europe. Within a century, drinking chocolate was nearly as popular as tea and coffee in the Old World.
In 1847, British chocolatier Joseph Fry created the first chocolate bar for widespread consumption. This product opened up a whole new world, and soon the likes of John Cadbury, Rodolphe Lindt, Henri Nestlé, and Milton S. Hershey were delivering quality chocolates to the masses.
Today, chocolate is one of the most popular food types (and flavors) in the world. A 2020 study estimated that the average Brit will consume 7,560 chocolate bars, 2,268 slices of chocolate cake, and 8,316 chocolate biscuits in a lifetime — and Britain isn’t even the world’s biggest consumer of chocolate (that coveted title belongs to the Swiss).
To celebrate chocolate’s decadent and enduring influence, here are 14 quotes about it from chocolatiers, scientists, artists, comedians, and more.
Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power … It soothes both stomach and brain.Justus von Liebig
I have formed a new habit. In case of feeling hungry in the night, I keep a box of chocolate under the pillow. You have no idea what a comfort it is. If I ever meet with the man who fulfills my ideal, I shall make it a condition of the marriage settlement, that I am to have chocolate under the pillow.Wilkie Collins
Caramels are a fad but chocolate is permanent. I am going to make chocolate.Milton S. Hershey
It was like having a bar of chocolate shut in a bedroom drawer. Until the box was empty it occupied the mind too much.Graham Greene
Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.Dave Barry
Chocolate is medicinal. I just did another study that confirms it.Michelle M. Pillow
Everywhere in the world there are tensions — economic, political, religious. So we need chocolate.Alain Ducasse
Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands — and then eat just one of the pieces.Judith Viorst
Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.Jo Brand
Nothing heals the soul like chocolate … It’s God’s apology for broccoli.Richard Paul Evans
Oh, damn! Chocolate-covered raisins. I'd like to meet the idiot that came up with these. Take a grape, let it shrivel into a disgusting little wart, and cover it with perfectly good chocolate. What the hell, I'll just suck the chocolate off.Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) in “Frasier”
Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good.Mariska Hargitay
There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate.Sandra Boynton
What I love about chocolate is that everybody has some connection to it. Most people I know like chocolate, and if you don't like chocolate then you haven't tried the right chocolate.Rachel Khoo
Featured image credit: baibaz/ Shutterstock
