Already a subscriber? Log in
All this and much else is related here, but the book suffers from three literary failings. The style is both breathless and subjective, in a tabloid way; worse, much new information is preceded by a ‘journey’. We have to take the train for Vevey before learning about NestlZ, the world’s largest food company that processes one-tenth of all the cacao beans that reach the world market. (There are a dozen travelogues.)
Not enough is made of the neo-colonial exploitation to keep going an industry which still regards itself as benign, altruistic, even philanthropic. Think of young near-slaves in West Africa when you next bite into your Fruit & Nut. Not much fair trade in chocolate.
One story, not in the book, indicates the potential of the bean in a drink. There were issued to naval ships in the second world war solid blocks of unsweetened chocolate; these, cut up and mixed with sugar and condensed milk, became a comfort, especially at night on convoy duty in the Atlantic. One day, 60 years ago, a naval escort ship picked up four very wet, very cold sailors who had been on a raft without food for two days. Of the four, two died of their ordeal. The surviving two had each by chance been sunk after drinking a cup of almost solid naval cocoa. Cause and effect? Almost no one on board the rescue ship believed otherwise.
Henry Hobhouse’s Seeds of Wealth will be published next month by Pan at £20.
Also in Book Reviews
Latest
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in