the chocolate wars (link)
12.21.09 - the ny times

largely thanks to the existence of this here blog, chocolate's become a pretty regular part of my diet over the past year. most of the time, there's some sort of gourmet dark chocolate hanging out in my cabinets & i've recently sampled chocolates made with chiles & fruits & mushrooms & bacon & wasabi. it's basically got to the point where i've become a chocolate snob & tend to avoid the boring hershey's & cadbury types. just last night, i was out at this bar in the village & the bartender had a bucket of hershey's kisses that he kept dumping onto the bar. i was slightly tipsy so i partook in the kisses, but still, since 95% of my chocolate this year has been gourmet dark chocolate, i was done after only a couple.

the ny times points out that in 2009, we witnessed two major developments in the chocolate industry, both which speak to the importance of the quality of chocolate. the largest was the continuing battle for cadbury. ever since kraft launched a bid for control of the british company's luscious creme eggs back in september, there have been many other suitors for the world's second-largest confectioner. the most notable has been hershey, "who already has a license to sell an americanized version of the british chocolate in the united states," but as of now, nobody's been able to sufficiently woo cadbury into the fold.

if cadbury does eventually get taken over, it'll likely be an american company, a fact that appalls some brits. the times mentions how earlier this month, boris johnson (london's mayor) took to the telegraph to declare that they "face an appalling choice of succumbing either to kraft, makers of the plastic flaps of orange cheese, or to hershey, whose hershey bars have been likened in flavor--by independent experts--to a mixture of soap powder and baby vomit." wow. i mean, just...wow. he's pissed.

the other development is that the industry has seen change in the type of chocolates consumers are opting for. it's been a long time coming since godiva started selling gourmet chocolates "on fifth avenue in 1972," but folks have really embraced gourmet chocolates as of late. "shelves at places like whole foods are crowded with chocolate from smaller producers and specific countries, reflecting a growing desire for food that is less processed, less packaged and more authentic." high end chocolate's also seen a rise in popularity. for instance, "higher-end chocolate sold well at (sic) valentine's day as people traded down on big-ticket luxury items and traded up on affordable ones." it's like "sorry, honey. i didn't get you those earrings you've been hoping for. i bought you bon bons instead." keep that in mind this holiday season...girls love bon bons.