Theobroma Cacao

: “Food Of The Gods” Essay, Research Paper

In 1753, Carl von Linne, more commonly known as Linnaeus, gave the

scientific name to the cacao tree. As a chocolate lover, Linnaeus named the

cacao tree Theobroma cacao; the first part he took from the Greek meaning

“food of the gods.” As a chocolate lover myself, I chose Theobroma cacao as

my topic to explore the sociocultural history of the flavorful product made from

the cacao bean, chocolate. The word “chocolate” is said to derive from the

Mayan “xocoatl” and cacao from the Aztec “cacahuatl.” Chocolate begins with a

cacao bean. It has been mashed and eaten for centuries. The cacao bean’s

popularity has not dwindled since before the time of Christ when it was prized in

Mesoamerica. This paper will trace the sociocultural history of the cacao bean

and it’s product, chocolate, from it’s beginnings in Mesoamerica to it’s spread

throughout Europe.

The Olmecs was the America’s first civilization to use cacao (Topik,

1996). Some linguists have reconstructed the word “cacao” originally

pronounced kakawa as a vocabulary item in the prot-Mixe-Zoquean by about

1000 BC, just when the Olmec civilization was at its height (Empty, 1997). The

Olmecs passed kakawa on to the Maya.

The ancestors of the Maya entered the lowlands of northern Guatemala

around 1000 BC. Until then, they lived in the highlands of Guatemala and the

Mexican state of Chiapas where cacao must have been very rare, if known at all.

If they found a use for the wild cacao they found growing in the lowlands when

they arrived, they must have had another word for it. It was not until some time

between 400 BC and AD 100, they used the word kakawa (Empty, 1997).

Approximately AD 600, the Central American Maya tribe migrated deep

into South American’s northern region and established the first cacao plantations

in Yucatan. The fruit of the cacao tree played an important part in ceremonial

rituals and cacao beans were offered to gods during puberty rites, marriages

and funerals. Before the sowing of the crop, the tillers of the soil slept apart from

their women for 13 nights so that the night before planting they could fully

indulge their passions. As the first cacao seed was placed in the soil a chosen

few were appointed to sexually perform at the same time. Perhaps this ritual has

some bearing on the fact that chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac for many

years.

It was believed that Tonacatecutli, the goddess of food, and

Calchiuhtlucue, the goddess of water, were guardian goddesses of cacao. Each

year the Maya performed human sacrifices for the goddesses (Godiva, 1997).

This unfortunate victim was served a cup of chocolate which supposedly turned

his heart into a cacao bean; the heart was then ripped out and offered to the

gods (Anonymous 1, 1997). Because cacao beans were valuable, they were

given as gifts at ceremonies such as a child’s coming of age and at religious

ceremonies. The Maya had very many complicated religious beliefs with many

gods. Ek Chuah, the merchant god, was also closely linked with cacao and

cacao fruits were used at festivals in honor of this god (Cadbury, 1997).

Chocolate was a luxury among the Maya, not only in life, but also in death. Even

in death the Maya nobles should not miss chocolate. Vessels containing

chocolate drink were found in a tomb at Rio Azul, Guatemala (Empty, 1997).

The drink called “xocoatl” was made from roasted cacao beans, water and a little

spice. It was their most important use, but cacao beans were also valued as a

currency (Cadbury, 1997).

Ransoms were paid and purchases made in cacao beans. A pumpkin

cost 4 cacao beans, a rabbit 8, a good slave 100, but a prostitute was worth just

10 cacao beans (Annonymous1, 1997). Maya farmers transported their cacao

beans to market by canoe or in large baskets strapped to their backs. When

Christopher Columbus encountered a large Maya trading canoe in 1502, he

knew he had stumbled upon something of value. Some of the Maya traders

“…dropped almond-like objects and began to furiously scramble to pick them up

as if their eyes had fallen out of their heads (Cadbury, 1997).” These curious

beans were known in Mayan as kakawa. Wealthy merchants traveled further

employing porters to carry their wares as there were no horses, pack animals or

wheeled carts in Central America at that time. Some ventured as far as Mexico

and the land of the Aztecs, so introducing them to the much prized cacao beans

(Cadbury, 1997).

The Aztecs were an ancient nomadic people who took over control of

Mexico and the surrounding areas around AD 1200. They founded the great

city, Tenochititlan, in 1325. In most books about chocolate, it is the Aztecs who

are given the credit for domesticating the cacao tree and inventing the chocolate

drink. As we have already seen, this is not true. The Aztecs have however,

played a great role in the development of the use of cacao in “The New World”

(Empty, 1997). Because of their dry climate, the Aztecs were unable to grow

cacao trees themselves so they had to obtain supplies of cacao beans from

tribute or trade. Tribute was a form of taxation paid by provinces conquered by

the Aztecs in wars (Cadbury, 1997). Chocolatl was consumed in large quantities

by the Aztecs as a luxury drink. The Aztec version of this much prized drink was

described as “finely ground, soft, foamy, reddish, bitter with chili water, aromatic

flowers, vanilla and wild bee honey (Cadbury, 1997).”

To the Aztecs, cacao was considered to be a stimulant, intoxicant,

hallucinogen, and aphrodisiac. The drink also served as a cure for anxiety,

fever, and coughs. Warriors would count on cacao’s caffeine to steel them in

battle. Others would drink fermented chocolate and feel intoxicated by the

beans, especially if they were still green and consumed in conjunction with the

psilocybin mushroom as in some religious festivities. And men such as the

Emperor Montezuma would imbibe the potion before going to make love with

their many wives (Topik, 1996). Montezuma would consume up to 50 cups of

xocoatl a day before repairing to his harem. Cacao beans were so precious they

were also used as money.

Since the Aztec’s economy mostly was on the basis of face-to-face barter,

cacao represented an important opening to monetarization. That cacao really

was thought of as a form of money was demonstrated by the fact that cacao

beans were sometimes counterfeited. Empty cacao shells were filled with clay.

It might seem absurd to have money growing on trees, but in fact, the Spanish

continued this tradition in central Mexico for decades and in parts of Central

American for centuries (Topik, 1996).

The Aztecs were very superstitious; they had many gods and believed

that their world was constantly threatened by catastrophe. One story says that

one of these gods, Quetzalcoatl, creator god and provider of agriculture, was

particularly associated with cacao beans. Quetzalcoatl is further linked with the

story of cacao and chocolate (Cadbury, 1997). An old Mexican Indian myth

explains that Quetzalcoatl was forced to leave the country by a chief god, but he

was lovingly remembered by his devoted worshippers who hoped that we would

return. Until that time they still had his legacy, the cacao tree (Cadbury, 1997).

Great temples were built to honor him in Tenochititlan. Montezuma particularly

revered him. Another legend has it that cacahuatl was first cultivated on earth

by the Aztec man-god, Quetzalcoatl, from seeds he carried out of the lost

paradise of the children of the Sun (Van Epen, 1996). Another ancient chronicle

reports that the Aztecs, believing that the god Quetzalcoatl traveled to earth on a

beam of the Morning Star with a cacao tree from paradise, took his offering to

the people. They learned from Quetzalcoatl how to roast and grind the cacao

seeds, making a nourishing paste that could be dissolved in water. They added

spices and called this drink chocolatl, or a bitter-water, and believed it brought

universal wisdom and knowledge (Godiva, 1997). Yet another story is of an

Aztec myth that the feathered serpent god of light, Quetzalcoatl, came to earth

as a fair-skinned man with a white flowing beard. He bestowed upon his

worshippers the cacao bean and taught them how to make the divine chocolate

drink. The human trait of growing old horrified this glorious god, so he returned

to heaven and took the cacao tree with him, promising to return to earth again.

By unfortunate coincidence, 1519 was predicted as the year the god

Quetzalcoatl would return to free the Aztecs from the terrible burden of having to

perform human sacrifices in order that the sun would continue to rise

(Anonymous 2, 1997). Cortes’ white skin and beard fulfilled the legend of the

return of Quetzalcoatl, as well as the year of his return, and the local people truly

believed he was the reincarnated god (Anonymous 1, 1997). Which ever story

is correct, Montezuma and the Aztec people welcomed Cortes.

Hernando Cortes, while conquering part of Mexico, was most impressed

by the cacao bean. Lured by visions of wealth, he established plantations in

Mexico, Trinidad, Haiti, and generally all over the Caribbean to grow money in

the form of the cacao bean. When Cortes first landed he was received with

great reverence by the Aztec Emperor Montezuma because he was thought to

be Quetzalcoatl returning.

It was Montezuma who introduced Don Cortes to his favorite drink,

xocoatl, served in a golden goblet. The Spaniards were dazzled by the splendor

and mystique of Montezuma and they basked in the glory of being the group of a

god returned to earth. All the cacao beans consumed by the Aztecs were grown

on the Yucatan peninsula by the Mayas, who were subjects of the Aztecs by AD

1200. Within a year, Cortes had repaid the Aztec’s hospitality by imprisoning his

gracious host and declaring the country a colony of Spain. The conquistadors

returned home in 1528 and introduced the cacao bean and its preparation as a

drink to the royal Spanish court.

Chocolate’s Introduction to Spain

The conquistadors were not the first to bring the cacao bean to Spain. In

1502, Christopher Columbus is said to have brought back cacao beans to King

Ferdinand from his fourth visit to “The New World.” Columbus, himself, did not

enjoy chocolate in this form. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella did not care

much for it either, and dismissed it as a bizarre native drink (Anonymous 2,

Joffray 7

1997).

Cortes brought chocolate back from Mexico to the royal court of King

Charles V. Monks, hidden away in Spanish monasteries, processed the cacao

beans. Monks, known for their pharmaceutical skills were chosen to process the

beans and perfect the drink to Spanish tastes. Cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar

were added and the chili pepper was omitted and it was discovered that

chocolate tasted even better served hot. Soon chocolate became a fashionable

drink enjoyed by the rich in Spain. It made a profitable industry for Spain, which

planted cacao trees in its overseas colonies. It took nearly a century for the

news of cacao and chocolate to spread across Europe as the Spanish kept it a

closely guarded secret (Cadbury, 1997).

An Italian traveler, Francesco Carletti, was the first to break the Spanish

monopoly having visited Central America where he saw how the Indians

prepared the cacao beans and how they made the drink. The drink still

contained hot peppers and spices (Anonymous 2, 1997). By 1606, chocolate

was well established in Italy (Cadbury, 1997). From there, the drink quickly

spread to the aristocratic societies of Germany and Austria. Chocolate, in any

form, was still to much of an expensive South American luxury to be consumed

by the working class.

Anne of Austria, a Hapsburg-Spanish princess who married Louis XIII of

France in 1615, introduced many Spanish customs to the sophisticated French

court, including drinking chocolate (Anonymous 1, 1997). History repeated itself

in 1660, when the Spanish Princess Maria Theresa was betrothed to Louis XIV

of France, she gave her fiance an engagement gift of chocolate, packaged in an

elegantly ornate chest. Their marriage was symbolic of the marriage of

chocolate in the Spanish-Franco culture (Godiva, 1997). The French court

adopted this new exotic drink with great fervor and it was considered to have

medicinal benefits as well as being a nourishing food. The spread of chocolate

from the French court to the rest of French high society took no more than a few

years. The supply of cacao beans to the French market greatly improved after

1684, when France conquered Cuba and Haiti and set up their own cacao

plantations (Cadbury, 1997). By 1687, there were at least three chocolate

makers in Paris, selling their hand-made wares in their own shops, and by 1692,

French wine merchants were complaining that chocolate was cutting into their

business (Anonymous 2, 1997).

While the royal courts of France ensured its success, across the Channel,

an enterprising Frenchman opened the first chocolate shop in Bishopsgate

Street, London in 1657. At the same time famous London coffee houses serving

Spanish-style cakes and rolls containing chocolate to their learned and wealthy

clientele. Only the rich and noble could afford to drink chocolate. Chocolate

increased in popularity not only as a drink, but also as a flavoring for other foods

(Anonymous 1, 1997).

By the eighteenth century, chocolate was indelibly associate with

decadence, aristocracy, and the Catholic Church. Chocolate was considered a

Catholic drink just as coffee was first a Muslim drink and then a Protestant

beverage (Topik, 1996). Pope Pius V was served a cup of chocolate and found

it so disgusting that he could not imagine anyone wanting to drink it. He

therefore declared it permissible to drink though the Lenten feast. Fashionable

women of the day could not last through Mass without a cup of chocolate, and it

was a common sight to see legions of maids serving chocolate to their

mistresses, thereby interrupting the Mass (Anonymous 1, 1997). Chocolate

could also effectively disguise poisons. The Bishop of Chiapa Mexico tried to

ban the practice of drinking chocolate during Mass, but soon after met an

untimely death. Some gentlewoman poisoned his own morning cup of chocolate

(Anonymous 1, 1997).

Chocolate also appears to have been used as a medicinal remedy by

leading physicians of the day. The king’s doctor, Henry Stubbe wrote a book

praising the beneficial qualities of chocolate, called The Indian Nectar. He

advocated that one ounce of chocolate contained more fat and nourishment than

a pound of meat and he wrote medical prescriptions made from chocolate. He

also wrote that chocolate “becomes provocative to lust upon no other account

than that it begets good blood.” Coincidentally, a French medical student wrote

a thesis “On the Healthful Uses of Chocolate (Anonymous 1, 1997).”

Christopher Ludwig Hoffmann’s treatise Potus Chocolate recommends chocolate

for many diseases, citing it as a cure for Cardinal Richelieu’s ills (Godiva, 1997).

Like other mysteriously alluring substances, chocolate has from time to

time been regarded as an aphrodisiac. Montezuma consumed up to 50 cups a

day before visiting his harem. Casanova was said to find chocolate more

effective for his purposes than champagne (Anonymous 3, 1997). For Geronimo

Piperni: “Chocolate is a divine, celestial drink, the sweat of the stars, the vital

sea, divine nectar, the drink of the gods, panacea and universal medicine

(Maxwell, 1996). The French literally worshipped this new drink, applauding its

virtues and attributing it with amazing properties. By the time Louis XV

ascended the throne in 1723, it was an institution of the royal court, and his

mistresses, Madame Du Barry and Madame de Pompadour, carried on the royal

chocolate connect. It was said of Madame Du Barry that she plied her lovers

with chocolate to whip up their ardor in gratifying her lust. The opposite was

said of Madame de Pompadour who was frigid, “…to warm a temperament that

was by nature cool, to stir a sensuality that was at best sluggish, she had

recourse to curious aphrodisiacs and diets (Anonymous 2, 1997).” At breakfast

she drank truffle and celery soup washed down by hot chocolate.

The last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, had a personal chocolatier

from Vienna who made such delicacies as chocolate mixed with powered orchid

bulbs to charmingly plump out her figure (Anonymous 1, 1997). The Marquis de

Sade, a chocoholic who became grotesquely obese during his long captivity,

when denied other outlets, he spent his time overindulging in all manner of

chocolate delicacies, of which he was always demanding more from his loyal

and long-suffering wife. ” asked…for a cake with icing, but I want it to be

chocolate,” he demanded in 1779, “and black inside from chocolate as the

devil’s ass is black from smoke. And the icing is to be the same (Maxwell,

1996).”

We have seen how chocolate progressed from a primitive drink and food

of ancient Latin American tribes, a part of their religious, commerce and social

life, to a drink favored by the elite of European society and the many different

uses European’s found for chocolate, including medicinal, aphrodisiac and

religious. To this day, chocolate is still very popular. By the 1990’s, annual

world consumption of cacao beans averages approximately 600,000 tons and

chocolate consumption is on the rise (Neft and ResSeguie, 1996). The United

States consumed an average of 11.5 pounds of chocolate per person per year

(Neft and ResSeguie, 1996). Theobroma cacao is still the “food of the gods.”

References

Anonymous 1. (1997). Xocoatl: Food of the gods. World Wide Web.

http://www.vivelavie.com/sotries970316/stories/chocolate.html

Anonymous 2. (1997). A brief history of chocolate. World Wide Web.

http://www.hhh.org/cloister/chocolate/history.html

Anonymous 3. (1997). Healthy calories. Economist. 344 (8028), 68-69.

Cadbury. (1997). Cadbury’s chocolate history and the growing of cocoa.

World Wid Web. http://www.cadbury.co.uk/html/facts/cocoa.htm

Empty, T. (1997). Emptys page of the history of chocolate. World Wide

Web. http://hp5.econ.cbs.dk/people/toha96ad/chocolate/history.html

Godiva. (1997). An age-old obsession: A brief history of chocolate.

World Wide Web. http://www/2.godiva.com/resources/history.html

Maxwell, K. (1996). The road to kisses. New York Review of Books. 43

(14), 23-25.

Neft, R. and ResSeguie, D. (1996). Clear accounts and thick chocolate.

World Wide Web. http://www.efn.org/~sundance/chocolate.html

Topik, S. C. (1996). From coin to commodity. World Trade. 9 (2), 80.

Van Epen, K. (1996). Sustainability — chocolate addict: The cacahuatl

eater by Jonathan Ott. Whole Earth Review. (89), 43.