Finding One’s Identity Through Chocolate

Emilia A. Froio

The Philosophy of Food

Professor Borghini

June 9, 2014

 

 

 

 

The person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction

 between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body,

their education and their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which.

They simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace in whatever they do,

leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing.

To them, they are always doing both.

   -Anonymous

 

 

 

 

What Is Chocolate to You?

What is chocolate to you? What is your favorite flavor; Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, pistachio, salty and sweet, white chocolate, or maybe lemon? There are millions of flavors of chocolate in the world that can appeal to different varieties of people. Personally, I enjoy dark chocolate; I enjoy its strong, often cleansing taste. Through differing techniques and differing cultures, chocolate producers are able to construct many different flavors and specialty combinations for consumers. These flavors are often mixed differently, allowing unique flavors to emerge based on the combination of sweet, salty, warm, or cold ingredients. To each person and their differing pallets, each flavor and sensation is different.  Consumers are not only able to discover new things about themselves,  but also able to relate tastes and flavors to memories, experiences, and other aspects of their life, either past or current.

 

Characteristics

Have you ever consumed a food that reminds you of your childhood? Or perhaps summer; or winter? Through these types of memories, food is able to take you back to those times. This characteristic of food, apart from it being a necessity to survive, is what excites and motivates many people to explore different types and varieties of food. However, most importantly, chocolate can open a new window to reveal one’s identity. Personally, I never considered tasting artisan chocolate, or any chocolate for that matter, with the intent to savor flavors and consider what memories or connections I could make with the flavors I would taste. However, after experiencing a chocolate tasting with Paul De Bondt, owner of De Bondt chocolate, I have learned and hopefully acquired the interest and attentiveness to tasting chocolate with an open and enthusiastic outlook. Through an experience with chocolate, one that is different than that of wine tasting for example, one can better comprehend their culture, race, and therefore the basis of their identity, by the flavors and tastes they experience.

 

Identity

One’s identity rests on education, race, gender, and additional outside influences that shape and construct it. By and through integrating interesting ingredients in chocolate that are popularly grown in a certain region, chocolate producers, specifically Paul De Bondt, is able to connect and relate to his consumers. Through the construction of chocolate and the perfected ingredients that are used for different flavors, chocolate can bring out different flavors in anyone’s palate.

Specifically, Paul De Bondt, a Dutch born man, is able to construct his chocolate in a way that is relatable to Italians all over Italy. The Italian cuisine is often known for it’s simplicity, Mediterranean ingredients, and traditionalist values. Mediterranean ingredients include things such as olive oil, cereals, fish, and tomatoes. With these aspects of Italian cuisine in mind, De Bondt believes that by creating chocolate that incorporates these aspects of Italian culture, he will not only be appealing to Italians all over Italy, but also be able to open a doorway into a world of taste that will help them discover their identity more clearly. For De Bondt, chocolate can bring people together, further understand a common culture, and serve as a catalyst to recall positive memories from the past. These aspects of chocolate significantly helped De Bondt connect with Italians. Upon his marriage to his Italian born wife, he grew a strong connection to Italian culture and Italian cuisine, specifically through the art of chocolate production. Through his excitement to learn and discover additional aspects of the Italian culture, in which he works towards achieving simplicity, De Bondt created specialty chocolates that not only bring out amazing and definitive flavors, but also define the Italian culture for those that consume it. Some interesting combinations that include popular ingredients of Italian culture include, the hot pepper bars which are called, “Peperoncino”, sensual bars which are called “Sensuale” (rose, orange blossom, jasmine), spicy hot bars which are called “Piccante” (pepper, pink pepper, ginger), and aromatic bars which are called “Aromatico” (mint, coriander, fennel). Masters Paul De Bondt and Cecilia Iacobelli are continuously working to perfect new flavors. “The taste of chocolate we eat today depends largely on the type and quality of the cocoa, but also on other ingredients that are added. In artisanal chocolate, like Paul De Bondt’s, you only find cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, a little soy lecithin and natural vanilla” (Chocolate lesson).  By introducing simple ingredients, such as fennel, mint, ginger, and peppers, De Bondt chocolate has become not only a local success, but also a global triumph.

 

Conching

In De Bondt’s chocolate constructing process, while maintaining a simplistic construction, he completes a process called conching. “Conch comes from the Spanish word concha, which means shell. The name “conching” arose because the original vessel used to hold the chocolate was shaped like a “conch shell” (The Alchemist’s Notebook).  Through the process of conching, one is able not only to create the chocolate bar itself, but also formulate the exact taste, specifically the bitterness, of the chocolate: “The conching process consists of mixing the cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla for a very long time. The chocolate is processed and well ventilated, in order to evaporate excessive acetic acid and other bitter substances” (Chocolate lesson). By using this technique, which is significantly different in De Bondt’s chocolate shop than in other chocolate producer’s workshops, De Bondt creates a unique and personal flavor to his chocolate bars. De Bondt believes that through careful and precise attention to details and to the origin of his products, he can create flavorful chocolate that will appeal to virtually anyone.

 

How To Taste Chocolate: De Bondt Style

One extremely important aspect De Bondt stresses is the ability for one to savor and experience the full flavor of the chocolate. In order for this to ensue, consumers must carefully follow his instructions for tasting his chocolate. De Bondt recommends that one should allow the chocolate to melt on the inside of the mouth, but not to bite it. By biting the chocolate, the consumer loses a significant amount of the flavors incorporated into the bar. By allowing it to melt on the tongue, the taste buds and additional mechanisms in your mouth have time to taste all properties of the chocolate. It is important to understand that chocolate tasting is very different than that of wine tasting. While tasting chocolate, it takes about four or five minutes to completely absorb the taste of certain types of chocolate. In a wine tasting, all the flavors are acquired and realized much sooner. If this process is preformed correctly, the consumer will have the opportunity to taste the chocolate as the producer intended it to be tasted. By learning to embrace every flavor, those that you like and those that may not necessarily appeal to you, the consumer will be able to advance his or her pallet in a way that makes every chocolate experience one of pleasure, excitement, and critique.

 

Concluding Remarks

For some, chocolate may be a way to experience new things in a very different way. For others, the consumption of chocolate may be a way to travel back in time and understand who he or she is, about their family, and their background. Through savoring and properly tasting chocolate, specifically all of the different flavors that have been intentionally incorporated into every bar, the consumer learns about him or herself, while also learning something about their culture. Chocolate is not solely a piece of candy; De Bondt has transformed regular day-to-day chocolate into an artisan chocolate that is capable of connecting and bringing together the Italian culture, despite his Dutch origin. Through my experience with De Bondt chocolate and Paul De Bondt’s suggestions for tasting it, I have gained a more critical outlook on chocolate and its production. Chocolate tasting will now take on more significance and meaning for me.

Work Cited

“Chocolate lesson with Paul De Bondt.” Tuscan Recipes Food and Tradition Tuscanycious. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 June 2014.<http://www.turismo.intoscana. it/allthingstuscany/tuscanycious/chocolate-lesson-with-paul-de-bondt/>.

“The Alchemist’s Notebook – Conching / Refining.” The Alchemist’s NotebookConching / Refining. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 June 2014. <http://www.cho colatealchemy.com/conchi

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