Those who savour both chocolate and the complications of human endeavour and existence will be further struck by the pioneering role played in this most earthly of indulgences by the Quaker families of Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree. The fiercest critic was Italy, home of Ferrero Rocher, makers of the most deliciously misfiring class ad yet, the ambassador's reception where the things are piled high on salvers, and the sophisticated lady memorably opines, "Monsieur, with these Rocher you're really spoiling us!" Bliss.Īnd much more deliciousness in all senses has arrived with the artisan chocolatier: 100% cocoa chocolate, Chunky Ladies Secrets, Strawberry White Puddles, Dark Bolivian Brazil Nut Nibbles, Nostalgia Peanut Nougat Bar, Caramel Smudge, and other such delights. The rest of Europe, for instance, has long sneered at our lower-class milk chocolate – the vegetable fat! the pathetic amount of cocoa! They wanted us to call it vegolate, not chocolate, until, as we journalists like to say, sanity prevailed. Should you give Roses or Quality Street?Īll very difficult, and packed with the usual ridiculousness of both class and sex. The real (or imaginary) truck-driving men who always kept a Yorkie (another of Sollitt's) on the dashboard were not supposed to be the sort who would be impressed by the ability of Treets to melt in your mouth and not in your hand. (By contrast, Cadbury's Dairy Box, launched in 1936, was aimed squarely at working-class women.)Īnd so it went on. Sollitt's After Eights were aimed at the aspirational middle classes in the 1960s just as the real secret of the Black Magic box, introduced in the 1930s by one of Rowntree's predecessors, was that they were stylishly presented but cheap chocolates pretending to be the ones that the toffs were paying a good butler's wage for. Yes, indeed: hence the giant selection pack which includes Joanne Harris's Chocolat, those terribly subtle old Flake adverts involving a solemn but determined girl in a field, those persistent but unfounded rumours about Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger, George Lazenby as "Big Fry", and, of course, the Milk Tray man, originator of the beguiling idea that all you had to do was abseil down a cliff, kill a shark, haul yourself up the side of a luxury yacht, leave your box, escape undetected, and the hazelnut whirls or whatever would make nookie a sure thing.īut there's something else, too: none other than that acclaimed British sex substitute, class. Significantly, when pronouncing 'chocolate' the lips are pouted as if to kiss, and when eating chocolate the lips seem to curve round it like two lovers embracing." In truth, it's a combination of both of these, plus the added symbolism. ![]() ![]() Others say it's because chocolate appeals to all five senses. ![]() "What is it about chocolates that they should lend themselves so readily to seductive interpretations? Some say it's because chocolate melts at body temperature, and feels so pleasurable on the palate. This, for example, is the Chocolate Dictionary: But, as the juices run and thoughts turn to a quick trip out for a few favourite purchases, you do find yourself wondering about the British and chocolate especially as it is supposed to be all about sex.
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