Folium: A Gigantic Chocolate Mayan Temple via Gizmodo

Posted by LEAF Architect on Tuesday, July 3, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Folium: A Gigantic Chocolate Mayan Temple via Gizmodo.com (Photo via Qzina.com)

Folium: A Gigantic Chocolate Mayan Temple via Gizmodo

I present to you an unexpected quip from the bloggers at Gizmodo.

To celebrate Quinza’s 30th anniversary and the opening of the company’s new chocolate institute, chefs Francois Mellet and Stephane Treand created this six-foot tall 18,239 pound chocolate Mayan temple. It wasn’t the Europeans that wiped out the Mayans, it was diabetes.” – via Gizmodo

Bravo good sir for the mesoamerican history joke.

The cultivation and use of chocolate as a food item dates back before the Mayans, and even before the Aztec civilization. From what we can tell, the Olmecs in Honduras utilized chocolate as early as 1100 BC, and passed their recipes and traditions down for generations. However it was the Aztecs who really took the cacao bean to the next level. Evidence of bitter fermented chocolate drinks date back over 2000 years, and were considered more of a ritual drink for their mood-enhancing properties. The first native “Kahlua” drinks!

Long story short, chocolate is considered to be a “new world” food that originated in the Americas. The Spanish shipped it back home and the Europeans took to adding milk and sugar to make the wonderful milk chocolate products that we have today.

Could you imagine a world without chocolate?

Cultural anthropology teaches us the importance of food and culture, and I’ll go as far as to say that food and culture are inseparable concepts. The more we know about what people cultivate and eat, the more we can get to know them!

The chocolate pyramid, while mostly just cool to look at, is also an interesting symbol of the people who brought its use to light. An appropriate homage if I say so myself.

So go eat! Expand your knowledge of food, its origins, and the people who made it a staple of their lives!