Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods
takes readers on a journey through 3,000 years of the history of
chocolate. It is a trip filled with surprises. And it is a beautifully
illustrated tour, featuring 132 vibrant color photographs and a
captivating sixty-minute DVD documentary. Along the way, readers learn
about the mystical allure of chocolate for the peoples of Mesoamerica,
who were the first to make it and who still incorporate it into their
lives and ceremonies today.
Although it didn’t receive its Western scientific name, Theobroma
cacao—“food of the gods”—until the eighteenth
century, the cacao tree has been at the center of Mesoamerican
mythology for thousands of years. Not only did this “chocolate
tree” produce the actual seeds from which chocolate was extracted
but it was also symbolically endowed with cosmic powers that enabled a
dialogue between humans and their gods. From the pre-Columbian images
included in this sumptuous book, we are able to see for ourselves the
importance of chocolate to the Maya, Aztecs, Olmecs, Mixtecs, and
Zapotecs who grew, produced, traded, and fought over the prized
substance.
Through archaeological and other ethnohistoric research, the authors of
this fascinating book document the significance of chocolate—to
gods, kings, and everyday people—over several millennia. The
illustrations allow us to envision the many ancient uses of this
magical elixir: in divination ceremonies, in human sacrifices, and even
in ball games. And as mythological connections between cacao trees,
primordial rainforests, and biodiversity are unveiled, our own quest
for ecological balance is reignited. In demonstrating the extraordinary
value of chocolate in Mesoamerica, the authors provide new
reasons—if any are needed—to celebrate this wondrous
concoction..
|
Chocolate
Pathway to the Gods
by Meredith L. Dreiss and Sharon Edgar Greenhill
University of Arizona Press,
2008
Order
a copy
Reviewed in
The Book Stall
|
