I’m aware there are a lot of other pressing matters right now than my recent epiphanies about chocolate. I understand that Valentine’s Day - the Super Bowl of chocolate eating - has come and gone. And Easter is not yet upon us with its hailstorm of chocolate bunnies and eggs.
And yet lately I’m finding myself distracted by thoughts of chocolate. What has been most surprising is the realization that I am not alone. The genius combination of sugar, caffeine and whatever makes it taste like chocolate captures the imagination of a lot of people.
For the record, I know what makes it “taste like chocolate,” it’s cacao. At least I thought I did. Until I started looking into it. Big reveal, it’s not just the bean itself, it’s also about the soil, yeast, microbiomes and other unappetizing factors. Although interesting if you’re a botanophile! What’s more compelling to me is not only its unique deliciousness, but all the other reasons it beckons us.
Does it really change our mood? Make us happier, like those Ferrero Roche ads would have you believe? Is there a reason chocolate covered strawberries show up in honeymoon suites?
Turns out yes. And no. Or yes. And then no. According to Psychology Today in an article entitled, “What Makes Chocolate So Alluring,” “Chocolate’s allure is due to the synergistic interaction of fat, sugar, and psychoactive molecules.”
Psychoactive molecules? I knew it wasn’t just the sugar and the fat! According to experts, Cocoa contains at least ten different psychoactive compounds, such as methylxanthines (caffeine and theobromine), PEA (similar to amphetamine), and anandamide (a cannabinoid). Hang on caffeine, amphetamines and cannabinoid? And legal? And you can eat it and drink it? Given all of this I’m surprised you can’t snort it. My preoccupation with this substance is all starting to make sense. For the record I am literally learning this in real time.
My husband Tod and I have an ongoing argument about whether you can be addicted to food. He’s a 50 something man. You can probably imagine where he comes down on this. It’s a hard no. I’ll spare you quotes from our discussions, but they pretty much revolve around his contention that as humans we need to eat. We don’t need cocaine, weed or Skotch to live.
I, on the other hand, am a believer in the “food addiction” premise for some of us. Now, with this discovery, I have the evidence I’ve been waiting for! Yes, chocolate is for sure a food. And, It’s also full of all these addictive psychoactive substances!
I’m right! I would yell at him if we were fighting right now because after 25 years we have exhausted all the topics that could actually sink a marriage, but still feel the need for verbal sparring. “Being handed chocolate kisses in nursery school - this is clearly the gateway drug! All part of the master plan from the candy cartels - Hershey’s,Mars-Wrigley,Nestle! Why is no one doing anything to stop this? Where is the latter day Nancy Reagan to tell us to “Just Say No.” to Godiva on Valentine’s Day? Why did no one tell Forrest Gump to put the box down?” By this point of course Tod has walked out of the room to play chess on his phone, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t won the argument this time!
As a person who is guilty of measuring quarter cups of chocolate chips and then eating half a bag anyway, I know the answer to these questions. It’s in the discovery I just made. Chocolate is the perfect drug of choice for these times. It’s available to buy on literally almost every corner, it’s not expensive, you don’t need any paraphernalia to use it, it’s practically a stew of brain influencing chemicals that make you feel good and it tastes great. So what if eating too much of it makes you sick and eating an appropriate amount always leaves you wanting more? In a time when most of us are searching for relief from a world that feels increasingly less familiar, an addiction to chocolate is the sanest option.
Unless you’re a vanilla person, in which case, I have nothing to say to you.
