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The cultural pharmacology of chocolate

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2004 by Tim Batchelder

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Chocolate Today

The idea of using chocolate to deliver bitter tasting medicines as a binder by pharmaceutical companies eventually led to the modern candy industry that flourishes in the US today (indeed Mars, Inc. sponsored much of Dillinger's research). Pharmacist Jean-Antoine-Brutus Menier created a chocolate factory in France in 1825 where he coated medicines with chocolate until his sons took over and transformed it into a candy factory which became more lucrative. Also it is interesting that traditional people used all parts of the tree: cacao bark, fat, flowers, fruit pulp and leaves and we are beginning to see a revival of interest in this in modern health foods and beverages.

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Recent ethnographic fieldwork by one of the authors in Oaxaca, Mexico showed that many Mesoamerican and Colonial practices of chocolate use continue to survive, it is one of the principal foods consumed in Oaxaca on a daily basis. The oils make it a useful medicine for bronchitis and it is used as antivenom against scorpion, bee or wasp and used to treat espanto (susto), a disease of fright, by feeding the earth at the location of the fright with cacao.

The use of chocolate through history for medicinal purposes attests to the many health-promoting and pleasure-inducing properties of this food and explains widespread interest in the use of chocolate today for its nutritious, medicinal and cultural properties.

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Sources

Coe S. D., Coe M. D. The True History of Chocolate 1996 Thames and Hudson London, UK.

Dillinger, T. L., Grivetti, L. E. Food of the Gods: Cure for Humanity? A Cultural History of the Medicinal and Ritual Use of Chocolate Journal of Nutrition 2000; 130: 2057S-2072S.

Montejo V. Popol Vuh: A Sacred Book of the Maya 1999 Douglas and Mclntyre Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Tedlock D. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings 1985 Touchstone New York, NY.

Yuker H. E. Perceived Attributes of Chocolate. Szogyi A eds. Chocolate: Food of the Gods 1997:35-43 Greenwood Press Westport, CT

by Tim Batchelder, BA

www.anthrocode.com * tim@anthrocode.com

About the Author

Tim Batchelder, BA, is a communications consultant who specializes in the anthropology of science and technology. He can be reached thru his website www.anthrocode.com and by email at tim@anthrocode.com for further discussions, reprints or additional research.

Health Care Industry

The cultural pharmacology of chocolate

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2004 by Tim Batchelder

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