The Book of Chocolate

Book excerpt: Based on the original Flammarion title, The Book of Chocolate, this lavishly illustrated book, now edited and brought up to date, takes readers on a journey through the history and production of the world's most seductive confection: chocolate. Learn how the cocoa bean, first enjoyed by the Aztecs, has traveled around the globe to produce endless variations of chocolate. Through the eyes of food critics, chefs, journalists, and historians, this book explores the rich history of chocolate, along with a modern-day investigation of its many flavors and forms. A list of tantalizing recipes and a guide to the finest purveyors of chocolate worldwide make this volume indispensable to chocolate lovers everywhere. If the list of recipes is not enough to bring out the chocoholic in you, just look at the delicious illustrations, specially commissioned photographs, rare vintage posters, and fine paintings all in honor of this favorite confection.