Tea at Trianon: Hot Chocolate for Strength

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Hot Chocolate for Strength

From History:

Today hot chocolate might be thought of as a creamy treat for kids after a day of sledding and snowball fights, but it has been a source of strength and wellness for thousands of years. Between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, cacao plants were first cultivated in Mesoamerica by the Olmec, living in southern Mexico. Rather than eating chocolate in solid form, however, the nibs from the cacao plant were ground into a paste and mixed with water to make a chocolate drink known as “xocolātl.” In order to achieve its frothy consistency, the mixture was poured back and forth between two bowls or jugs. It was found to be an energy booster and mood enhancer, as well as providing long-lasting sustenance; these positive nutritional effects led the Olmec to believe the drink possessed mystic qualities, so it was generally reserved for important figures at sacred ceremonies.

The Olmec passed the chocolate drink on to the Maya civilization, which passed it on to perhaps the beverage’s most famous historical forefathers, the Aztecs. Legendary Aztec leader Montezuma II was known to demand cacao beans from conquered peoples and supposedly drank goblet after goblet of hot chocolate every day in a display of power and opulence. Besides his own enjoyment of the beverage, he only allowed those who contributed military service to drink chocolate. When Hernan Cortes and his soldiers encountered the Aztecs, one of his men wrote about Montezuma’s consumption of the curious cacao-made drink and how the Spanish themselves were also served the beverage “all frothed up.” Ultimately, Cortes conquered the Aztecs, and brought the popular drink to Spain, from which it spread throughout Europe and, eventually, the world.

Montezuma was not the only one to put hot chocolate to use in the military. During the Revolutionary War, medics administered the beverage to wounded, sick or tired soldiers to expedite their recoveries, and soldiers themselves were allotted small portions of chocolate in their military rations to make the drink themselves. Thomas Jefferson was so impressed with the drink that he wrote to John Adams in 1785 saying, “The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the preference over tea and coffee in America…” As we know, Americans did not end up trading in their morning cups of Joe for hot cocoa, but the drink remained a valuable source of sustenance for Americans in future military conflicts. During World War I, volunteers from the YMCA set up recovery stations near the battlefields to assist and comfort fatigued troops; warm cups of hot chocolate were staples at these stations. Americans fighting in World War II were also treated to the hot drink when cocoa was added to some of the military’s field rations in 1944. (Read more.)