WEBVTT

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If you can't imagine
life without chocolate,

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you're lucky you weren't born before
the 16th century.

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Until then, chocolate only existed
in Mesoamerica

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in a form quite different 
from what we know.

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As far back as 1900 BCE,

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the people of that region had learned
to prepare the beans

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of the native cacao tree.

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The earliest records tell us the beans
were ground

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and mixed with cornmeal
and chili peppers

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to create a drink -

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not a relaxing cup of hot cocoa,

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but a bitter, invigorating concoction
frothing with foam.

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And if you thought we make
a big deal about chocolate today,

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the Mesoamericans had us beat.

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They believed that cacao
was a heavenly food

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gifted to humans
by a feathered serpent god,

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known to the Maya as Kukulkan

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and to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl.

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Aztecs used cacao beans as currency

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and drank chocolate at royal feasts,

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gave it to soldiers as a reward
for success in battle,

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and used it in rituals.

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The first transatlantic
chocolate encounter occurred in 1519

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when Hernán Cortés visited
the court of Moctezuma

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at Tenochtitlan.

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As recorded by Cortés's lieutenant,

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the king had 50 jugs of the drink
brought out and poured into golden cups.

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When the colonists returned with shipments
of the strange new bean,

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missionaries' salacious accounts
of native customs

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gave it a reputation as an aphrodisiac.

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At first, its bitter taste made it
suitable as a medicine for ailments,

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like upset stomachs,

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but sweetening it with honey,
sugar, or vanilla

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quickly made chocolate a popular delicacy
in the Spanish court.

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And soon, no aristocratic home was
complete without dedicated chocolate ware.

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The fashionable drink was difficult
and time consuming to produce

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on a large scale.

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That involved using plantations
and imported slave labor

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in the Caribbean and 
on islands off the coast of Africa.

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The world of chocolate would change
forever in 1828

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with the introduction of the cocoa press
by Coenraad van Houten of Amsterdam.

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Van Houten's invention could separate
the cocoa's natural fat, or cocoa butter.

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This left a powder that could be mixed
into a drinkable solution

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or recombined with the cocoa butter

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to create the solid chocolate
we know today.

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Not long after, a Swiss chocolatier
named Daniel Peter

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added powdered milk to the mix,

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thus inventing milk chocolate.

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By the 20th century, chocolate
was no longer an elite luxury

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but had become a treat for the public.

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Meeting the massive demand required
more cultivation of cocoa,

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which can only grow near the equator.

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Now, instead of African slaves 
being shipped

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to South American cocoa plantations,

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cocoa production itself would shift
to West Africa

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with Cote d'Ivoire providing two-fifths
of the world's cocoa as of 2015.

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Yet along with the growth
of the industry,

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there have been horrific abuses
of human rights.

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Many of the plantations throughout
West Africa,

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which supply Western companies,

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use slave and child labor,

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with an estimation of more than
2 million children affected.

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This is a complex problem
that persists

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despite efforts from major chocolate
companies to partner with African nations

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to reduce child 
and indentured labor practices.

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Today, chocolate has established itself
in the rituals of our modern culture.

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Due to its colonial association with
native cultures,

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combined with the power of advertising,

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chocolate retains an aura
of something sensual,

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decadent,

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and forbidden.

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Yet knowing more about its fascinating
and often cruel history,

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as well as its production today,

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tells us where 
these associations originate

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and what they hide.

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So as you unwrap 
your next bar of chocolate,

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take a moment to consider that
not everything about chocolate is sweet.