Chocolate
The inhabitants of Central and South America were discovered consuming a beverage prepared from the seeds of a plant then unknown to the Europeans: the cocoa (also known as cacao) tree. The Mayans gave the drink the name xocoatl, which translates as "bitter water," indicating its characteristics. The bitterness of the drink was masked by a variety of flavorings utilized by the ancients, who consumed it as a health tonic and were unaware of sugar. Although Hernan Cortez carried the seeds and the methods for turning them into a beverage to Spain in 1528, it was Columbus who first found the drink on his fourth journey.
Cortez deserves credit for turning the bitter beverage into something the nobles could only buy by adding sugar, which made it infinitely more palatable. In the mid-17th century, the French figured out how to use chocolate into confections. Later in the same century, cakes and rolls with chocolate and sugar flavors were available in London coffee shops. Up until 1830, chocolate was only used as a flavoring or beverage. Then, the British figured out how to make solidified chocolate that could be eaten. Finally, milk chocolate was developed by a Swiss chocolatier in 1875. The Swiss government designated Swiss chocolate as a national food in 1910.
Today, chocolatiers from all over the world extol the superiority of their goods, and chocolate is used to flavor cuisine everywhere. It is available in a wide range of flavors, such as milk chocolate, semi-sweet, unsweetened, dark, and others. Few people connect it to a traditional dish and drink that was solely consumed by Mesoamerican locals prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. Today, Austria is the country that consumes the most chocolate per person, followed by Switzerland. The amount of chocolate consumed annually per person in Switzerland is about 19 and a half pounds, which is double that of Americans. In Switzerland, about 19% of adults are considered obese, compared to over 36% in the US. Oh, right.
