In Defense of Chocolate

We Americans have had a long standing love affair with food and though lately the emphasis has been on the negative aspects of this (i.e. the rampant obesity that is rapidly becoming the leading public health concern in our country, which I maintain has more to do with our sedentary lifestyle than food... but I digress) our love of food has engendered some truly wonderful things. I should start by pointing out that the spark which gave life to the fiery U.S. was in fact food: tea (yes, I know its technically a drink, but its still relevant). More recently, American foodie-ness has given rise to the great bar-b-que traditions of the south and southwest, "fusion" restaurants and cuisine and broader dissemination of the many cultures that have come to be a part of our melting pot (its hard to maintain quite so steadfast an ignorance of another's culture when you're trying to figure out how they cook such good food). But most important of all, we brought chocolate to the masses.
Chocolate (from cacao bean, of the tree theoborma cacao which literally means "food of the gods") was originally cultivated by the Mayans and Aztecs as a rather bitter, spicy drink. It was brought to Europe by Cortez where it was mixed with sugar and vanilla to become our more familiar sweet treat. Chocolate as we know it (in solid form) first appeared in Bristol England in 1847, however, it remained an exclusive indulgence of the wealthy until the industrial revolution allowed for mass production, a miracle that was mainly achieved right here on our home soil. These days Americans consume about half of the world's chocolate.
The sanctity of this most awesome of foods is now under siege. recently some coalitions of chocolate manufacturers have proposed that the FDA lift the restriction that requires that anything called chocolate only be made with cocoa butter and milk products as the only sources of fat. This means that the manufacturers could make something with vegetable oil, and "milk substitutes" (I don't even know what that is) and call it chocolate. In addition to negative health impacts (cocoa butter contains no trans fat, and is high in some chemicals thought to reduce cholesterol) this would have a terrible impact on the texture and quality of chocolate as we know it. All fats are not equal, nobody in their right mind would attempt to mix skim milk with vegetable oil to make ice cream (or god forbid, milk substitutes and vegetable oil). However, vegetable oil is quite a bit cheaper than cocoa butter meaning that virtually all chocolate manufacturers would have to switch over in order to remain competitive if this change is allowed. The FDA is currently having a public comment (that will continue until june 25) period in which you can let them know just how stupid an idea this is. Guittard (a chocolate manufacturer here in the bay area) is among those trying to stop this grave travesty, please visit their website and follow the simple instructions to post your concerns. The entire process takes ~1 minute.
http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/
I firmly believe that this is one the most important issues of our time.
At first glance that might seem like an extreme statement given the mess in Iraq, growing concerns over global warming, racial and sexual inequality, intolerance in all its varied forms and natural disasters hitting with frightening regularity and power. I have two responses to that completely legitimate point. The first is that while many of the problems that confront our society seem largely insurmountable or at least outside our realm of influence this is something we can directly and simply address. The second is that, given that so many of the aforementioned problems center around human suffering what the world really needs right now is chocolate. Consider this: who would go and blow themselves up if they were surrounded by chocolate. You give me a billion dollars to spend on chocolate, and I will mend the sunni shia rift in Iraq, or the pakistani-indian conflict. Heck, with enough chocolate I could probably get Kim Jong-Il to open up his borders. In conclusion, protect chocolate. If not for our own sakes, do it for the sake of future generations who might face a world without chocolate, a reality I simply don't want to contemplate...
Vive Le Chocolate!