English + Español
What Champagne is to sparkling wine or Ethiopia to coffee, Mexico is to chocolate—a food-beverage product branded for its uniqueness, origin and quality, resulting in voluminous sales at premium prices to a dedicated consumer base…
English + Español
Since a very early age, I worked in the summers in chocolate factories, in the markets where chocolate was sold and in the fields where the raw materials grew. I developed a passion for chocolate and the production process…
One early morning in September 2017, I bought a bean tamale for two quetzals, equivalent to a U.S. quarter. The middle-aged vendor wore a multi-colored cloth skirt, snug above the waist and falling to mid-calf, and a knit mesh crop-top over a purple tank. Her skirt…
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English + Español
In the southern regions of Mesoamerica in what is today Mexico and Guatemala, the historical Lacandon and Manche Maya developed complex methods that produced what we now call “the chocolate triad,” referring to the associated planting of cacao…
Approaching Guayaquil in 1879 to assume his duties as French vice consul, Charles Wiener assessed the port city and nearby farms. “A tropical Holland,” he later declared. Guayaquileños have always taken Wiener’s remark as a well-deserved compliment, even if it might…
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