When it comes to learning about the history of chocolate, most
people never look past the excellent book, The True History of
Chocolate by Sophie and Michael Coe. I have to say that the
timing of the publishing of this book (1996) was instrumental in
my quest to become a chocolate critic. While I am sure that the
Coe's did a fair amount of primary research, much of what they
wrote was gleaned from the writings of others, which can be
confirmed by taking a look at the bibliography. Many of the
sources that are referenced are not easily accessible - even in
the current age of Internet access - unless you have access to a
good university research library. For me, one of the cool things
about chocolate is that it affords me an opportunity to satisfy
my curiosity on a lot of subjects. While I do the tasting and
criticism things, my ability to do these is informed by my
knowledge of the history, cultural anthropology, economics,
agronomy, genetics, and more about chocolate. Chocolate is a
lens that I use to look at