Section 2: Chocolate Around the World
This second section of the exhibit explores the ways Chocolate has increasingly reached around the globe. From transatlantic trade of the 16th century to today’s international global market, Chocolate has had an effect on many parts of the globe. It’s been absorbed into cultural practices as a food, a commodity, and a source of jobs. It’s been a tool for domination, and a way to retreat from the cares of the world. These themes have laid the foundation for Chocolate’s global presence today.
Columbian Exchange Heading link
Columbian Exchange
Columbian Exchange
Source: Ms. Day’s History Class website
2007
Returning from the brutal colonization of today’s Mexico, Hernán Cortés brought a ship of “oddities” back to Spain, including the first transatlantic shipment of chocolate. Chocolate was just one of many foods, like tomatoes that Europeans had never seen before. Everything exchanged between the two continents was named “Columbian” after Christopher Columbus, the first infamous European to connect with indigenous Americans. Just imagine Italian food without tomatoes!
Chocolate pot
Chocolate pot
Porcelain; Japan
Nippon Moriage, 1891-1921
This chocolate pot is distinct from teapots & coffee pots because of its short, wide spout. It is both easy to pour from and easy to clean once the rich chocolatey contents have been poured out. Considering its golden highlights and Art Nouveau appearance, it was probably designed for European tastes. Japan was first exposed to chocolate by Dutch traders in the Meiji era (1868-1912), but it didn’t become popular until the Second World War. Chocolate was included in American military rations for the first time in the 1940s, and when troops occupied the island, soldiers would often throw candy to groups of Japanese children. Since then, the Japanese have grown quite fond of chocolate. They now produce an astonishing array, from green-tea flavored Kit-kats to the famous Koala yummies.
French Children’s Book Illustration
French Children’s Book Illustration
Source: LokFoods.com
This image from a French children’s book reads “It’s in Latin America that the slaves directed by masters cultivate Cacao which mixed with sugar creates the chocolate bars loved by children.” This book may have been intended to teach past tense grammar, but it also teaches kids to normalize slave labor. Although chocolate grows best in small production, amid a complex rainforest ecosystem, Europeans soon shifted to plantation-style growing for mass consumption. European colonies brought exploitative chocolate-growing to many places around the world, and some of today’s chocolate is still grown in unjust working conditions. Look for “fair trade” logos to ensure your chocolate bar helps growers around the world.
Masson Chocolate Advertisement
Masson Chocolate advertisement
Paper, ink; Paris, France
Eugene Grasset, 1892
By the time this poster was made, most European chocolate was mass-produced in factories in industrial cities. The Parisian Masson chocolate company sought to stand out by associating their chocolate with more authentic Mexican origins. They hired the Swiss artist Eugène Grasset, a pioneer of Art Nouveau, to design this poster. The beautiful design also gives us an impression of how Mexican identity was imagined in other countries.
What symbols would you use to represent your ethnic heritage?
Tell us about it using #chocostorylcc or submit a story on our home page
Riquetta Chocolate Advertisement
Riquetta Chocolate Advertisement
Paper, Ink; Germany
Ludwig Hohlwein, 1910
By 1910, chocolate had spread to many equatorial regions beyond the Americas. German colonies in sub-Saharan Africa grew the cacao for Riquetta Chocolates, and this poster was designed to highlight these “exotic” African origins. Despite the beauty of this poster, the reality for many African workers was ugly. Today, exploitative labor practices like slavery and child labor continue to haunt former colonies like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Nestle, Mars, and Cadbury are just some of the many transnational companies that benefit from underpaid workers, so look for the “fair trade” logo to support chocolate-growers everywhere.
Hot chocolate ladle
Hot chocolate ladle
Silver; Pennsylvania, USA
Community Plate Silverware, 1921
A Pennsylvania utopian community of religious “perfectionists” founded the Community Plate Silverware Company in the 1890s, changing the name to Oneida in 1935. Although the company also produced military and medical equipment through both world wars, their specialty in silver led to their peak in the 1980s as America’s #1 silverware producer. This particular ladle was purchased by local chocolate lover Priscilla Zimmer of Moline, IL. She would use this ladle to serve hot chocolate out of a pan on the stove, and it has continued to be used this way in the family for four generations.
Women and chocolate
Black Magic Chocolate Advertisement
Britain
Rowntree, 1934
Prock Chocolate Advertisement
Brazil
2014
On the left, this 1934 ad shows a woman writing how thankful she is that her beau has bought her chocolates. “We silly creatures are always so thrilled when a man thinks us worth the very best… My dear, each choc’s an orgy!” On the right, a woman is shown transforming into dark chocolate. In both ads, stereotypes are used to sell chocolate. Women are often sexualized, racialized, and exoticized in marketing, but chocolate in particular has a close historical association with women.
Chocolate Box
Chocolate Box
Tin; Moscow, Russia
Krasny Oktjabrj, 1958
Chocolate became popular in Russia in the mid-19th century, just as the Krasny Okjabrj chocolate company was founded in 1851. Russia pioneered many chocolate innovations, like hidden prizes inside candies, wrappers that turned into puzzles, and packages that doubled as jewelry boxes. After the revolution of 1919, many ostentatious chocolate companies were shut down, but Krasny Okjabrj became “State Factory #1.” Chocolate packaging became much simpler and more utilitarian, but it continued to show beautiful imagery. This box from the 1950s shows Moscow’s Red square with the characteristic towers of Saint Basil’s Cathedral.
Amul Chocolate ad
Amul Chocolate Advertisement
Gujarat, India
1970s
Amul is the largest dairy cooperative in the world. After milk farmers went on strike demanding better wages, the cooperative was founded in 1946 in order to cut out the corporate middlemen between rural dairy farmers and metropolitan consumers. Today the company is collectively owned by over 3 million small-scale dairy farmers. Amul is the largest chocolate company in India, after the British Cadbury’s, and the American Hershey’s. And yes, they specialize in milk chocolate!
21st Century Chocolate Production
Map of Global Chocolate Trade
Red – Highest Import Countries, Yellow – Highest Export Countries
Lena G. Reynolds, 2015
Global Chocolate Production Chart
Source: The Guardian, 2015
This map shows countries producing and consuming chocolate around the world. Look for yellow pins to find where chocolate is grown and red pins for the biggest importers around the world. Look to the pie chart to the right to see worldwide production percentages. Although chocolate has ancient roots in Mexico’s cooperatives and small farms, the country now produces less than 1% of the world’s chocolate, while nearly 70% comes from Africa. Chocolate consumption remains relatively low in many chocolate-growing countries in Asia and Africa.
What does that say about international corporate priorities when the people growing chocolate can’t even afford to eat any?
Tell us what you think at #chocostorylcc or submit a story on our home page
Choco-Stories Around the World
