Hometown Favorites: The Emotional Side of Chocolate
A couple of years ago after giving a chocolate tasting, I was approached by a husband and wife from the audience who boldly announced to me, "We know what the best chocolate in the world is."
Naturally, I was intrigued, so I asked the name (which I do not remember) and had to admit that I'd never heard of the place, which was in a small town near Turin, Italy. As I'd never been to the town nor heard of the shop, I was not able to offer an opinion about whether or not the chocolate actually was the best in the world.
The man went on to explain that they happened across the chocolate shop while he and his wife were on their honeymoon. At this point I knew that there was nothing I could do to convince these two that the chocolate wasn't the best in the world because it had nothing to do with the chocolate—and everything to do with their memories of the emotions surrounding the experience of eating the chocolate.
The Perfect Setting May Lead to the Perfect Chocolate
Let me paint the picture more clearly. You're on your honeymoon and you and your new spouse are driving through the Italian countryside in a sexy Italian convertible with the top down because it's a picture-postcard-perfect kind of day: the sky is deep blue and clear cloud-free, the temperature is exceedingly pleasant, and the air redolent of the rich smells of, well, Italy. You stop in an ancient-looking little town for lunch and you have a perfectly wonderful meal al fresco in a little piazza with a fountain in the middle that dates, according to your extremely good-looking waiter, from Roman times. Oh, and did I mention that you are on your honeymoon? After lunch (which includes a bottle of Prosecco) you stroll across the square and discover a small chocolate shop. You go in, purchase a few pieces including a local specialty—gianduja made with Piemonte hazelnuts—and sit on the lip of the fountain to share them with your love.
Of course it's the best chocolate in the world.
Closer to home, if you grew up visiting a favorite aunt on Martha's Vineyard each summer, and at the end of the week (or two weeks) she took you to Chilmark Chocolates and told you you could pick out a pound box of anything you wanted and you looked forward to this with so much anticipation each year that it became a highlight of your visit with your aunt—well, there's no way I can convince you that Chilmark Chocolates are not the best in the world, even though they're not (having tasted them and speaking professionally as a chocolate critic).
Why Chocolate is Emotional
Chocolate is an unusual gourmet food in that, unlike wines and spirits, for example, we start eating it at a very young age. Therefore our taste for chocolate as adults is founded on these early childhood memories that are laden with emotions. And when we revisit these places as adults—when we have more experienced, sophisticated palates—we usually recognize that it's not as good as we remember it.
But it doesn't matter. That's because there is that one special piece that transports us back to a happy place in our childhood. Pretty much everyone I have ever talked to has at least one of these memories about a kind of chocolate shop I call a "Hometown Favorite."
My Hometown Favorite: See's
For me, it's a See's Candies shop in Los Angeles. Every year we went to one and got a box of Victoria Toffee for my mother's birthday. To this day, my memories of this toffee (and of my mother sharing it with me and my two sisters) shape my responses to any toffee I eat, even though I don't think I've eaten it in over 30 years.
How about you? What's your favorite "Hometown Favorite" chocolate shop and memory?
About the author: Clay Gordon has been a professional chocolate critic since 2001. His first book on chocolate, Discover Chocolate was selected as a finalist in the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2008 Cookbook of the Year Awards. A serious chocolate educator, Clay has created and moderates an online community for chocophiles and aspiring chocophiles - The Chocolate Life.
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12 Comments:
Minnesota State Fair! You can find anything chocolate dipped or fried.
Then there's a tiny place called Cafe Celeste.
fritesandfries at 2:53PM on 08/06/08
Powells Sweet Shoppe in Healdsburg, Ca. It is a great Willy Wonka themed candy shop that sells candy from the 50's as well as my favorite Scharffen Berger chocolates!
Shana Ray at 2:57PM on 08/06/08
on a very long backpacking trip through europe, i met and started traveling with a man who had grown up in rural texas. cheese to him meant velveeta, bread was wonder, and chocolate was hershey's. he wasn't very interested in food and didn't have much money so hadn't bothered to do more than fuel himself -- until i came along. we were in italy and i bought some of that gianduja. up until that moment, he thought he didn't care for chocolate. he couldn't believe how good it was. i'll always remember the look on his face as he took a reluctant bite, and then his exclaiming, "how did you know to buy that?"
cybercita at 3:04PM on 08/06/08
Frangos from Marshall Fields (now Macy's) in Chicago.
amyatkendall at 3:37PM on 08/06/08
Char-val's (New Bethlehem, PA) chocolate peanut butter meltaways. Instead of a peanut creme covered with chocolate, they mix the chocolate and the peanut butter into vaguely fudgey square.
MerMade07 at 6:00PM on 08/06/08
Oaks Candy in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Every time we visit family we make a special stop at Oaks and stock up on Meltaways, Melty Bars, and some awesome cream filled peanut covered things. I have great memories of that store and love the chocolates.
JennH at 7:33PM on 08/06/08
I second the See's sentiment! Their "Nuts n Chews" box has always been my favorite.
daveandcat at 8:30AM on 08/07/08
For me it's the Pralines at River Street Sweets in Savannah. I always got them when we visited there when I was little, and we stopped by for some the day after my husband proposed. Even though I can now make them myself, they're never quite the same.
PastaPerson at 10:27AM on 08/07/08
I agree there is emotion associated with chocolate, but I also think flavor plays a big part. I started out eating See's early in life, and it tastes way better to me than the flavor of any Belgian or French chocolate I have ever had.
wifeoferp at 4:11PM on 08/07/08
Definitely See's! I've lived in Chicago for 10 years now and everyone was praising Fanny May but it's just nowhere as good as See's. Mmmm.
disbelief11 at 2:51AM on 08/08/08
Char-val's! Oh MerMade07, you've brought back some memories! Haven't heard that name in ages!
See's was always a big Easter treat too.
By far tho, my 2 favorite chocolate shops are Mon Aimee Chocolat in Pittsburgh & Yossick's in Columbus, Ohio.
My favorite childhood chocolate memory has to be when my uncle came to visit and took me and my sister to Station Square and told us to get a pound a piece. My Mom went into shock and wittled us down to a half pound each, but I was still set up with more coconut chocolates than reasonable for child consumption! (It also set the bar for all of my boyfriends since!)
gastronomeg at 1:26PM on 08/25/08
I worked at La Maison du Chocolat in Rawdon, Quebec on weekends during my high-school years, and they're the best chocolates I've had so far. I remember I had friends from school that worked there as well, and the lady who ran the place was so nice, it was a small family place and I loved it. She paid us less than minimum wage, but let us eat as much chocolate as we wanted :D The others would joke about how I'd put the place out of business with all the chocolate I ate! loll. My favourite was always dark chocolate. She even made her own ice cream, and had a cappuccino machine too. That's where I got my username :P I remember the first time I tasted her chocolate, I thought it was the most amazing chocolate ever, although the circumstances weren't that great, a friend of my parents had bought them for me and my sister when we went to visit my mom in the hospital once. It was a simple dark chocolate candy cane and I asked where she had bought it. That was years earlier though, who would have guessed I'd be lucky enough to end up working there one day!
Chocolatesa at 3:50PM on 03/24/09