Paris has just acquired a new award to add to their trophy case. They are now the chocolate capital of the world!
You can blame the French president Nicolas Sarkozy who was elected in 2007. Sarkozy perferred drink is chocolat, the very best. His 24/7 excitability – some call it dynamism – are attributed in part to the capital's current choco-manie.
Theobroma cacao, or dark chocolate (containing at least 60 percent cocoa) is good for the health, the libido, the mind, and the morale.
What better way to fuel the French man's appetite than giving him the finest chocolate?
However, evidence shows that the rise of chocolate in Paris predates and goes beyond Sarkozy's infatuation.
The annual Salon du Chocolat has done wonders to raise Paris's profile. The nationwide decrease in liquor consumption, thanks to Sarkozy, has also been a contributing factor. So naturally, chocolate is the ideal, socially acceptable substitute.
But the main reason for the rise is easy: French chocolate has become exquisite in its simplest incarnations, and excitingly wild in its extreme expressions.
Since France's great pastry chefs started breaking away from the famous restaurants where they were employed, chocolate-making has slipped out of the grip of the industrial candy-makers, local bakeries-pastry-and-chocolate-shops, and local neighborhood chocolatiers.
But the main reason for the rise is easy: French chocolate has become exquisite in its simplest incarnations, and excitingly wild in its extreme expressions.
Since France's great pastry chefs started breaking away from the famous restaurants where they were employed, chocolate-making has slipped out of the grip of the industrial candy-makers, local bakeries-pastry-and-chocolate-shops, and local neighborhood chocolatiers.
Silly? Yes, but it is the French and it is Paris, City of Chocolate.
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