Download word docx Download MP3 Listen to MP3 online
Read below for script, questions and answers.
Chocolate Script
Hi. Good morning everybody. Thanks for coming. Before we start today don’t forget that if you go to my home page, stevenaskew.com, the link’s in the description below, you can download the script for this talk, an MP3 of the audio and some listening questions and sample answers for all of them. Give it a go. See how you do.
Today I want to talk to you about chocolate. Who likes chocolate? Everyone that likes chocolate raise your hands. I love chocolate. Where does chocolate come from? Well, first, where does the word chocolate come from, the etymology of chocolate. Chocolate, the word in English, comes originally from the Spanish language. In about sixteen hundred it came into English. But how did it come into the Spanish language? Well, of course, it came from South America. It came into Spanish from the Aztec people. The Aztecs used to call chocolate chicolati. Not sure if that’s the right pronunciation. It’s probably not. Chicolati means beaten drink, and the word chicoli refers to a stick, a specially carved and shaped stick that was almost like a wooden whisk, and this whisk was used for beating the chocolate drink. So, beaten drink, chicoli, became chicolati which became chocolate, which is what we have today.
So, how do you get chocolate? Well, chocolate, of course, grows on a tree, the same as coffee does. It starts in a pod. You take the pod off and you open up the pod and it’s full of beans. Now, these beans originally are too bitter. You have to leave them to ferment for a few days, two or three days. When they ferment, they release their own sugars and they become a little less bitter. They don’t become sweet they just become a little bit less bitter. Then you take these cacao beans and you spread them out and you dry them in the sun and then you roast them. Roasting is the same as with coffee; it releases some of the hidden flavors. After you’ve roasted them you then have to husk them. The husk is the outer part of the bean. You take the husk off and you’re left with what’s called the nib, the cacao nib. Then you grind down these nibs. Well, in modern days we use machines, of course, but in ancient times they used to use a pestle and mortar and they’d grind down the beans. And then you melt the powder, you heat it over a fire, you melt down the powder and you get liquid cacao, which you can then drink. Now, of course, if you have ever tried pure cacao, it’s extremely bitter. So, when the people used to drink liquid cacao, they would mix it with either honey or chilli or vanilla. I’ve tried honey and vanilla but I’ve never ever tried a chilli hot chocolate. It’s probably quite nice, but I’m not sure that I want to try it.
Ok. So, if cacao is so bitter, why do we drink it? Well, coffee is pretty bitter, but we drink that because of the effects it has on our brain and chocolate is exactly the same. Chocolate has many chemicals inside it and when you eat chocolate these chemicals are released into your body. Now three of these, let me see if I can pronounce these right. The first one is phenylethylamine. The second one is serotonin and the third one is anandamide. Now, what these three chemicals do, well, the first one is called “the love” chemical. It releases chemicals in your brain that are very similar to the chemicals they release when you fall in love with somebody. So, when you eat chocolate you’re basically falling in love. And these three chemicals they release dopamine and they release endorphins in your brains. These are the pleasure chemicals. So, when you eat chocolate, these pleasure chemicals are released in your brain and you feel pretty good. Now, you could say that chocolate is a drug. Some people do get addicted to chocolate but, these days, because there is so much sugar in the chocolate they’re not really becoming addicted to the cacao itself, but the chocolate.
So, we talked about the etymology of chocolate. Where does chocolate itself come from? Well, in South America, well, what is now Mexico, there were a group of people called the Mokaya people and archeological digs have found cups and bowls and plates from about 1900 B.C. which is almost four thousand years ago that have traces of cacao on them. So, people have been drinking cacao for almost four thousand years. It could go back even beyond that, we don’t know but, the earliest traces of cacao we have found are from nineteen hundred B.C. So, the Mokaya people slowly got taken over and absorbed by different tribes, different groups, and finally you get the Aztec Empire which was about 1300 to 1521ish. Now, the Aztecs, they lived in higher areas of the Mexico … well, what is now Mexico, and of course cacao grows in the hotter lower places so, they couldn’t grow cacao where they lived so they had to import it. Now, once you start importing a crop, any crop, of course, the price increases. Now, cacao became a luxury drink. People with money used to drink it and at one point cocoa beans were used as a currency. One hundred cacao beans would buy you a turkey. Three cacao beans would buy you an avocado. So, these beans we used as a type of currency. Then, of course, 1521.
Well, about 1521, what happens? The Spanish come to Mexico, to South America, and that begins the destruction of the Aztec Empire, of those peoples. Two people that came from Spain, of course, Columbus, Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes, and both of these people were very involved in the destruction of, the westernisation of the South American cultures, which ultimately led to their demise. However, Columbus was the first European to bring cacao beans back to Europe. He never actually tried them himself. He captured a boat that had cacao beans on it and because they saw the cacao beans were a luxury, they were interested in them and they took them back to Spain. The first Spanish person to actually try chocolate, cacao, is probably Hernando Cortes. He probably tried the drink first. Anyway, the beans were brought back to Spain. In the beginning, they were not that popular, but they slowly took on and became more popular, and, of course, they were drunk as a drink.
From about 1528 in Spain through until 1650 in England, the drinking of cacao, chocolate, slowly spread and you get the … the growth of chocolate shops. Of course, we have the coffee shop industry developing at the same time but now we also have cacao shops, which are shops devoted to serving chocolate. Now, as this starts to gain popularity, as it starts to take hold, of course, people want to make money off this, they want to make cacao beans closer to home, they want to make cacao beans that they can import more easily. Of course, at that time, England is slowly colonizing the whole world. One of the … one of the parts of my history I’m not so proud of. England is starting to colonize a lot of Africa. Now, in Africa, you have access to a large amount of land, you have a very warm climate, and, of course, you have slaves. So, what they started to do is they started to grow cacao, chocolate, in Africa. And these days, the largest chocolate producing countries are in Africa. That’s “thanks” to England, I suppose.
Anyway, so chocolate spreads across Europe. It’s still a drink. From 1900 B.C. people have been drinking cacao. People continue drinking chocolate up until a few innovations. After the industrial revolution there are four people who are instrumental in bringing the chocolate that we have today to us. The first of these people is a Dutchman called Coenraad van Houten. Now, he did two things. The first thing he did, in 1815, he introduced alkaline salts to the chocolate. What that does is, it reduces the acidity of the chocolate, it reduces the bitterness, it makes chocolate a lot more palatable to us. The second thing he did. In 1828, he introduced, or he invented a press, a fat removal press. If you can remove most of the fat from cacao beans, you can make it cheaper and you can also make a more consistent product. So, those are the two things he did. You can buy Van Houten chocolate in most places around the world at the moment. The second person is a man called Joseph Fry. Fry’s chocolate is huge in England, not so much in the rest of the world, but you can buy it all across England. Now, what he did is, he took the cacao butter, Van Houten removes the fat and that becomes cacao butter. Fry took the cacao butter that had been removed from the beans and he put it back into the chocolate. What does that do? Well, it makes the chocolate moldable. You can now fill shapes with this chocolate. You can make the chocolate into different shapes. OK. So, now we have a less bitter chocolate that is shapeable, moldable. Now, the next two people are somebody called Daniel Peter, who you may never have heard of, and someone called Henri Nestlé, who you may have heard of. Now, Nestlé, he wasn’t in the food industry. Nestlé, now they own hundreds of companies, a huge multinational corporation, but back at the time, Nestlé, he was primarily involved in baby supplies and baby food. He had just invented a process of powdering milk. Now, Daniel Peter, he comes up with the great idea of putting milk into the chocolate, but, of course, you can’t put liquid milk into the chocolate because the chocolate then won’t set. He turns round, “Ah, Nestlé! You’re making powdered milk!” and they put the powdered milk into the chocolate, thereby making milk chocolate. They then go on to form the Nestlé Corporation. Nestlé’s name is now huge in the world of chocolate. KitKats, of course, are made by Nestlé. OK, So, after then we have a few more changes. People put in more sugar more and more and more sugar. Then, of course, now it’s industrialized, we don’t really use so much cacao natural fats we use artificial fats, cheaper fats. If you buy expensive chocolate, probably you’re getting real chocolate, if you buy the cheaper chocolates you’re probably not getting real chocolate.
So, that has brought us from 1900 B.C. in South America to the current chocolate, the modern chocolate we can buy today. I told you that Africa produces the most chocolate in the world. Well, there are three or four countries, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, that produce the most chocolate in the world. What country do you think eats the most chocolate? Well, America eats the most chocolate overall, purely because they have a large population. The country that eats the most chocolate per person is actually Switzerland. Swiss people eat approximately ten kilograms of chocolate per year per person. That’s incredible. I would love to eat that much chocolate.
All right. So, let’s talk about a few problems involved in the chocolate industry to finish up with. I’ve talked about slavery of course. Back in the 1900s, slavery in Africa was huge. Of course, slavery became illegal in the U.K. towards the end of the nineteenth century and in America a little bit later, so we don’t … we didn’t … so we stopped using those kind of slaves. However, there are still problems involved with chocolate. The first one, of course, is the percentage of the money that goes to the farmer. Large companies use their buying, their purchasing power, to push down the price of chocolate beans and the farmer himself doesn’t get that much money. We talked about that with coffee. Fair trade is starting to change that, but there’s a long way to go. Now the second problem, this is particularly in the Ivory Coast, is child labor. A lot of cacao plantations, they use children to farm, harvest and dry the beans. Why is that? Well, children are cheap, and children are very easy to control. So, a lot of the chocolate we buy these days has probably been grown and harvested by children. That is a huge problem and we’re still a long way from a solution for that. Another problem, of course, is deforestation and drought. The same with coffee. Cacao beans are not native to these countries, so they have to clear large amounts of forest to make the plantations. Then they have to redirect the rivers to irrigate these forests of cacao beans, these plantations which, of course, if you redirect a river you cause droughts in other areas. Ok. Another problem of course is cavities and obesity. Chocolate, cacao, itself doesn’t cause cavities or obesity. The sugar that is put into the chocolate is what causes the cavities. If you take an average KitKat, a four bar KitKat, you have twenty-two grams of sugar in there. If you take an average Snickers bar you have twenty-six grams of sugar, and that sugar is what causes the cavities and what causes the obesity. So, when people start blaming chocolate for the obesity epidemic, that’s not the problem, sugar is the problem. If you eat pure cacao you’re not going to get fat.
So, to finish. Is chocolate healthy? Well, if you go into a regular supermarket and buy a regular bar of milk chocolate, no, it’s not healthy. A lot of added sugar, a lot of added fat. Very unhealthy. However, if you eat pure cacao, or these days you can get ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven percent cacao chocolate. If you eat that in moderation, yes, it might be healthy. You don’t have so much added sugar, and also, cacao has something called flavanols. Flavanols are known to reduce blood pressure, to clean your heart and to reduce the risk of stroke. So, if you eat almost pure chocolate a few times, maybe once or twice a week, it could be beneficial for your health. However, as with anything. In balance.
Well, thanks for listening. Please go to my site to download the MP3, script and listening activities. It was good to talk to you. I’ll talk to you next time. Ok. Bye.
Chocolate Questions
- Why did the Aztecs call chocolate “chicolati”?
A: Because the word come into English from Spanish in about 1600
B: Because chocolate was not always drunk, but sometimes eaten
C: Because chocolate was a drink beaten with a chicoli
D: Because a chicoli was a specially carved and shaped stick
- What does fermentation do to the cacao beans?
A: It makes them less bitter
B: It makes them very sweet
C: It makes them taste of sugar
D: It makes them into cacao nibs.
- What do you think a pestle and mortar is?
A: Something for sweetening cacao
B: Something for heating cacao and turning it into a liquid
C: Something for drying cacao nibs
D: Something for grinding things into a powder
- How do we know that the Mokaya people drank cacao?
A: They were absorbed by many other tribes and different groups
B: There are pictures of these people drinking it
C: Traces have been found on ancient pottery
D: It existed from at least 1900 B.C.
- Why did the price of cacao rise when the Aztecs started to use it?
A: Because they had to harvest it
B: Because they had to import it
C: Because they had to dry it
D: Because they had to grow it
- Why did Columbus bring cacao beans back to Spain?
A: He saw that they were a luxury.
B: He captured a boat that was carrying the beans.
C: He tried the cacao drink and liked it a lot.
D: He thought that he would be able to use them as money.
- Who worked out how to make chocolate hold shapes?
A: Coenraad Van Houten
B: Joseph Fry
C: Daniel Peter
D: Henri Nestlé
- What country eats the most chocolate per person?
A: America
B: Cameroon
C: The Ivory Coast
D: Switzerland
- Which of these is not a problem caused by chocolate?
A: Deforestation
B: Pollution
C: Drought
D: Child labor
- What can flavanols do?
A: Raise blood pressure
B: Lower the chance of catching a cold
C: Lower the risk of strokes
D: Prevent cancer
- Why did people eat chocolate if it is so bitter?
- Steven says, “Two people that came from Spain, of course, Columbus, Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes, and both of these people were very involved in the destruction of, the westernisation of the South American cultures, which ultimately led to their demise.” What does he mean by “westernisation” and what does he mean by “demise”?
- European countries colonized large parts of Africa. What impact is this still having on modern day Africa?
- Chocolate was a drink for thousands of years until four men changed everything. Can you give another example of when a few people have changed something that had stayed the same for a long time, and suggest why this happens?
- Who is to blame for obesity?
Chocolate Answers
- C 2. A 3. D 4. C 5. B 6. A 7. B 8. D 9. B 10. C
- Why did people eat chocolate if it is so bitter?
In the talk, Steven says that chocolate contains many brain altering chemicals, specifically phenylethylamine, serotonin and anandamide. These chemicals cause the brain to release endorphins and dopamine. Both of these are hormones that give us a great sense of pleasure. They are released in times of joy, when we’re in love, and when we eat chocolate. Eating chocolate makes us feel good so we eat it. Tobacco tastes and smells bad, but people smoke for the same reasons that they eat chocolate. Chocolate only causes a small release of these hormones, but that can be enough to be addictive.
- Steven says, “Two people that came from Spain, of course, Columbus, Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes, and both of these people were very involved in the destruction of, the westernisation of the South American cultures, which ultimately led to their demise.” What does he mean by “westernisation” and what does he mean by “demise”?
“Westernisation”, is the process of remaking other countries in the style of European countries. In our time, the west also refers to America but, 400 years ago, the people in the Americas were just as vulnerable to colonization as the people in many other countries. European countries colonized other countries and imposed their language, systems of law and government, architecture, cuisine, fashions and education. The claim was that it was for the “benefit” of the local people. This is westernization.
“Demise” means the death of something. The arrival of the Spanish led to the death of the Aztec civilization. It was not a quick death, but it began the second they arrived. The Spanish sailors handed out blankets that were infected with small pox. This is a disease that the Spanish had developed an immunity to, but which had never been seen in America. It is said to have killed 80% of the population. There is some evidence that the Spanish did this on purpose, having seen the effects of the disease in other colonies.
- European countries colonized large parts of Africa. What impact is this still having on modern day Africa?
There are many reasons to colonize a country. Obviously, wealth and resources would come high on the list. However, wishing to spread your culture or your religion is also an equally important reason. The arrogant assumption is that the culture in Europe (England, France, Spain, Holland – and later Germany) was far superior to that of other countries. By introducing this superior culture, Europeans thought they were improving the lives of the “savages”. Usually, instead of improvements, they brought death by disease, war, slavery, destruction of culture and civilization. Once the local people had been subjugated it became a game of ‘who can take the most land’ among the European governments. If France took a section then England needed to take the section next to it, and so on. So, country boundaries were drawn up by men sitting over a map with rulers. If you look at a map of Africa, you can see how straight the border lines are. Compare them to European countries whose borders evolved over time.
So, what impact is this still having? That is a huge question that would deserve a book to answer it. I’ll try to be brief. In short, every problem that now exists in Africa comes from European colonization.
Wars. Many African countries are at war or have recently been at war. When the borders were drawn up, the Europeans cut up tribes and pushed together other tribes. Groups of the same tribes suddenly found themselves labeled as different countries and opposing tribes became one country. The Europeans supplied and militarized war lords who would help them, then changed loyalties when they felt it suited their needs. And then the Europeans left. They left alienated groups of people who had to form countries. They left war lords. They left armies. They left war.
Slavery. Tens of millions of people were ripped out of Africa and sent to the Americas. Families destroyed. The apartheid system used across Africa can be traced to the end of slavery. Apartheid has gone (technically) but the majority of Africans (in many countries) are still controlled by a small white minority.
Resources. The Europeans took what they could. Diamonds are a good example. De Boers managed to take control of all the diamond mines in Africa. They, and companies like them, employed slaves and encouraged apartheid so as to keep control of the resources. Recently there have been attempts to return control of these resources to the local people, but it is not always successful. There is huge poverty and discrimination that has been created.
An indentured system of corruption. For hundreds of years the European colonizers taught that service to them would be rewarded with money or power. Local war lords fought over each other to be that person. And that ideology has continued.
And so on.
- Chocolate was a drink for thousands of years until four men changed everything. Can you give another example of when a few people have changed something that had stayed the same for a long time, and suggest why this happens?
I suppose James Dyson and the Dyson vacuum cleaner would be a good example. The vacuum cleaner was invented in 1860. In the beginning vacuum cleaners were enormous things, sometimes even being pulled behind a horse to clean the rooms from the outside, using a hose. The first domestic vacuum was invented in 1905. Brushes were used to brush up dust that was then sucked into a bag, later to be emptied, and, from then on, there were no major innovations. They became a little smaller and lighter, but that was it. Then, in 1993, James Dyson released his cyclone vacuum. It uses cyclone separation technology. That means air is spun very fast inside the vacuum and it separates particles out of the air. The vacuum sucks more powerfully and doesn’t require a bag. It was a huge leap in the technology of vacuum cleaners.
Why did it happen? Why him? Many people see the problems with things. We all complain about the machines we use, the technology around us, our everyday appliances, but that’s all we do, complain. Some people try to fix those problems. They spend years, sometimes a lifetime, thinking over the problems. And, sometimes, they fix the problem. And, sometimes, it is in a way that completely revolutionizes a field of technology. Steve Jobs and the iPhone would be another great example. Some people just see things in a different way.
- What is to blame for obesity?
This is an enormous question that obviously does not have a simple answer. I am going to suggest that two groups of people are responsible for obesity. The first group is the consciously obese, and the second group is the processed food manufacturers, sellers and distributers.
There are three types of people who become obese: people who know better but choose to get fat, people who don’t know better, and people who become fat through a medical condition. I am a reasonably educated person. I know what is a healthy lifestyle and what isn’t. If I become obese, it is purely through choices I have made. I chose to eat unhealthily. I chose to not exercise. I chose to drink sugary drinks. It is my fault. If I am not a reasonably educated person, in that I do not learn about food from my school or my parents, and I become obese, it is not my fault. I do not know better. If my parents ate nothing but McDonalds, then how I am to do anything else? And the group with medical conditions we can leave aside.
So, in the case of the people who don’t know better, whose fault is it? Well, it must be the people who produce the cheap, unhealthy meals that they eat. Fast food, frozen meals, school lunches. The people who pack sugar into everything. They know the food they are producing is not healthy. They know that the information on the labels is not true. And yet they still produce it. They have a responsibility to ensure that the food they are delivering is as healthy as they possible can.
But, of course, that answer is far too simple. Who is to blame? Governments, school boards, advertisers, the list goes on.