Last year I was working on a presentation about diversity.
One part showed that diversity can present difficulty and I showed just how many different types of telephone connectors there are in the world. Not all places use the trusty RJ-11 plug and socket you know.
Nobody disagreed with that idea.
Then I got to talking about chocolate. This is where things got a bit hairy.
Europeans are such snobs about chocolate and there is some real national pride at stake when it comes to describing which chocolate is best.
The British and Irish seem to like Cadbury's. It's a unique taste with high vegetable fat content and lower cocoa content than most other European types.
The Swiss claim to make the best chocolate in Europe, and most would probably agree with that. They have brands like Lindt and Nestlé which are famous, varied and very popular.
The Italians don't make any great claims and that's probably about right. They do make Nutella and that's not bad I suppose. And Ferrero Rocher stuffed with Nutella is pretty good too.
The French have a few well known chocolate brands, like Maxim's, but they are not hailed across Europe as far as I can see.
Germany doesn't have any great tradition of being master choc makers. Austria has the wonderful Mozartkugeln by Mirabell, which has no equal anywhere in my view.
Funnily enough when I came to asking people, granted they were mostly Europeans, what they thought of American chocolate the verdict was unanimous.
It's crap. It takes gak and nobody in their right mind would eat it.
Is this fair?
I suppose we're talking about stuff like Hershey's chocolate, those weird Reese's peanut-butter thingies and those big peppermint patties.
I personally once ate the best part of a family sized bag of chilled peppermint patties so I do like them.
But I got a fair bit of bashing for bringing American chocolate back to Dublin from some of my trips to the USA. I mean what was I going to do? Scour the stores of North Carolina looking for Cadbury's chocolate??
So. That's the question.
Is American chocolate crap?
8 comments:
LOL. I love this. I just happened upon your blog and what do I see a post about my favorite subject...Chocolate.
As an American I may be biased but I definitely don't think our chocolate is crap...but like revenge it is a dish best served cold (as in put it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so..)
Smooches!
So Kris, are you a Hershey's kisses fan or a York Peppermint pattie purist?
You've gotta have a favourite so what do you keep in the fridge? Is that your secret stash or would you share it with others who respect the good stuff?
Have you ever tried those Mozartkugeln? whshmshfgshlllll. Mmmmm.
Most mass-market American chocolate is far too sweet and not chocolate-y enough, but some of the lesser known brands are excellent. There's a wonderful chocolate factory not far from where I live and their stuff is divine. http://www.mrchocolate.com/
sounds good annulla! I'll check it out. As always there are exceptional exceptions.
I did realise since that I completely omitted all references to Irish chocolate, and nowadays there are loads and loads of brands. You can even buy Guinness flavoured stuff.
American chocolate is crap compared to European chocolate, but even crappy chocolate is still pretty good. I'd rather eat Hershey's than Turkish delight or, you know, custard.
We're honored to appear in your blog roll by the way.
Anna. I assure you the honour is all mine :-)
I agree with you about turkish delight.. over here that could be rhyming slang for something unsavoury.
Custard is redeemed only by virtue of its suitability for Christmas Pudding and apple crumble. Maybe these treats are unique to the UK and Ireland..not sure if such pleasures are had in North America
Turkish delight, much like "Microsoft works," is an oxymoron. Ew.
As for American chocolate - I agree that all chocolate is good. Plus, I was raised on crappy American chocolate, so it's what I'm used to.
Of course, travelling Europe and Ireland ruined me, and I have been elightenend. American chocolate, in comparison, does indeed suck.
My favorite chocolate-eating experience was in Killarney (in Ireland), where my sister and I ended up stranded at our hotel without food. We were on a two-week family bus tour and somehow we escaped one of hte outings, but quickly realized we were without sustenance.
We walked to the gas station across the street and were absolutely amazed at all the Cadbury's candy available to us, so we took a "one of each" approach and brought an huge bag of chocolate back to our hotel. I have a great photo of the hotel room bed covered in chocolate.
That was a great afternoon...
that's so hilarious. One of everything. Everything that is except Turkish Delight. It is indeed muck.
But then I don't understand the whole chocolate and peanut butter combination.
That to me is like mixing ice cream and tomato ketchup. Yuuuuk.
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