Sophie D. Coe

Michael D. Coe

Draws on botany, archaeology, socioeconomics, and culinary history to relate the story of chocolate, from its early use by the Maya and Aztecs to its revival in modern times as a luxury item. Reprint.

The True History of Chocolate

The story begins some 3,000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the chocolate tree, Theobroma Cacao, and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the Maya, and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it first became the drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate a food for the masses, and now, in our own time, it has become once again a luxury item.

The true history of chocolate

Dieses Buch entführt uns in die uralte, wechselhafte und überaus spannende Geschichte der Schokolade, die vor dreitausend Jahren in den Hochkulturen der Maya und Azteken begann. Unser »Schokoladenriegel für zwischendurch« verrät nur noch wenig von dieser atemberaubenden und wahren Geschichte, die hier wie in einem Roman nachzulesen ist und Aufschluß gibt über Mentalitäten und Alltagsleben von den mittelamerikanischen Hochkulturen bis heute. (Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine frühere Ausgabe.)

Die wahre Geschichte der Schokolade

After long weeks of boring, perhaps spoiled sea rations, one of the first things Spaniards sought in the New World was undoubtedly fresh food. Probably they found the local cuisine strange at first, but soon they were sending American plants and animals around the world, eventually enriching the cuisine of many cultures. Drawing on original accounts by Europeans and native Americans, this pioneering work offers the first detailed description of the cuisines of the Aztecs, the Maya, and the Inca. Sophie Coe begins with the basic foodstuffs, including maize, potatoes, beans, peanuts, squash, avocados, tomatoes, chocolate, and chiles, and explores their early history and domestication. She then describes how these foods were prepared, served, and preserved, giving many insights into the cultural and ritual practices that surrounded eating in these cultures. Coe also points out the similarities and differences among the three cuisines and compares them to Spanish cooking of the period, which, as she usefully reminds us, would seem as foreign to our tastes as the American foods seemed to theirs. Written in easily digested prose, America's First Cuisines will appeal to food enthusiasts as well as scholars.

Sophie D. Coe

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