Baker, Walter. Cocoa and Chocolate: A Short History of their Production and Use . Boston: Walter Baker & Co., 1886.
The book covers the subject of cocoa and chocolate broadly in terms of cultivation, history of use in Europe and Mexico, and its current use in food, with comments from physicians. It will be useful for deeper reading next semester since it was published in Boston, during a relevant time period - the late Victorian period. While the author mentioned that some people had difficulty digesting chocolate, it was also a highly nutritious drink. Therefore, the book might be useful for exploring attitudes to cocoa and chocolate during a period when it was becoming more widely available for consumption.
Beckett, S.T. ed. Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use . New York: AVI, 1988.
Articles published in this collection of essays were written by industry specialists who have expertise in specific areas of the chocolate manufacturing process. A brief history of the chocolate industry is provided in the introductory chapter of the book, but remaining articles focus on specific processes, and authors critically evaluate production techniques. While the book is roughly organized chronologically according to the manufacturing process, it is based ideologically on what the authors state are the two principles of chocolate manufacturing: achieving optimal flavour and texture. The book is also useful for its chapters on packaging and marketing. For marketing, the author predicts little innovation since the purposes of wrappers (to contain, protect and advertise) have changed little since their original adoption.
Knapp, A. W. The Cocoa and Chocolate Industry: The Tree, The Bean, The Beverage . London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1923.
Written in the early twentieth century, this book addresses a range of topics related to the cocoa and chocolate manufacturing industries. A fairly detailed examination of consumption focuses on its appeal in Europe. The author attributes increased popularity and consumption by the 1800s to the creation of cocoa powder, a decrease in price, improved transportation, and better manufacturing techniques for solid and fondant chocolate. Therefore the book is useful for both historical context in terms of its increased availability and affordability, but also or its concise summary of production techniques.
Minifie, Bernard W. Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionary: Science and Technology . Second Edition. Westport: AVI Publishing, Inc., 1980.
Based on the author's lengthy experience with the Cadbury Group of Companies as well as ten years of consulting, lecturing and writing experience, the author provides a detailed review and analysis of cocoa and chocolate processing, manufacturing and production. This lengthy, detailed, methodical discussion of industrial technologies and their impact on changing the chemical composition of cacao to different types of cocoa and chocolate is appealing for a narrow audience in the chocolate manufacturing and chocolate confectionary industries; it is intended as a textbook for students, technologists, quality controllers and factory managers. The author emphasises the importance of adhering to strict operational procedures in all steps of cocoa and chocolate production to ensure proper taste and high quality chocolate. However, in providing a range of methods to achieve results, the book is illustrative rather than argumentative. While the author shows how technologies have changed over time and how their use varies according to the size of a business, the book does not evaluate their relative effectiveness. In addition, while references are provided at the end of each chapter which draw on a range of agricultural, economic, scientific and government sources, the text is rarely footnoted. The book is useful for consultative purposes, but it is too weak in evaluation and heavy on details for a novice in the industry.
Szogyi, Alex, ed. Chocolate: Food of the Gods . Westport: Greenwood Press, 1997.
This collection of twenty essays was compiled from presentations delivered by academics at a Hofstra University Conference. The essays in the collection are organized thematically and collectively represent a broad range of approaches. Of particular use is an article by Robert M. Rees, “Bite-Sized Marketing: Candy Bars,” in which he provides an overview of the evolution of cocoa and then chocolate consumption and production. Here, he attributes the origins of the rise of the candy industry to the introduction of solid chocolate in the 19 th century. While this short essay is not footnoted and claims will need to be compared with other sources, the overview is useful for early stages of research. Similarly, Barbara Albright's article, “Trends in Chocolate,” explores how chocolate has been incorporated into many other types of food, despite the presence of a health conscious society. Articles that explore the history of cocoa and chocolate consumption are Sophie D. Coe's “Cocoa: Gift of the New World,” and Janine Gasco's “The Social and Economic History of Cacao Cultivation in New Spain.” Other articles are less pertinent to my project but suggest possible areas for further research, such as in fictional literature.
West, John A. “A Brief History and Botany of Cacao.” Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World , editors Nelson Foster and Linda S. Cordell, 102-122. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996.
While essays in this collection explore the consumption of a range of food in history, West provides an overview of the origins of “chocolate culture,” which he argues is deeply rooted in western societies. While the author draws on botanical information to contextualize the origins of cacao production and use in South and Central American cultures, he then traces the origins of its consumption in European countries as an expensive drink, consumed first by royalty, and then by the elite in chocolate houses in England by 1657. Its deeply nested cultural value is clear in western societies from its eventual consumption by groups for its nutritional value, such as the Royal Navy, and then finally at people's homes. Currently, its deep value is indicated through discussion on its nutritional and psychological value, its use in literature, and during holidays such as Valentine's Day and Easter. The author draws on primary sources to illustrate his points, but since it is aimed at a general audience, he covers a breadth of subjects at a superficial level only.
Young, Allen M. The Chocolate Tree: A Natural History of Cacao . Washington: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.
Through documentary research and ten years of fieldwork in Costa Rica, the author provides a natural a cultural history of cacao cultivation and use. The author effectively combines the two histories to show that ancient production techniques were far more efficient than current ones. The author reports on extensive research completed through fieldwork, as well as the steps followed to determine the underlying reasons for current poor, unreliable cacao yields. The author draws an innovative, convincing conclusion in which he attributes poor yields to specific pollination problems associated with cacao plantations. He argues that higher yields are dependent on having cacao trees in proximity, and preferably, integrated into rainforest. He concludes that this is ironic, considering the continued depletion of rainforest for agricultural production.
Graziano, Martha Makra. “Food of the Gods as Mortals' Medicine: The Uses of Chocolate and Cacao Products.” Pharmacy in History 40/4 (1998): 132-146.
Whorton, James. “The Phenolphthalein Follies: Purgation and the Pleasure Principle in the Early Twentieth Century.” Pharmacy in History 35/1 (1993) 3-24.
Cakebread, Sidney. Sugar and Chocolate Confectionary . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Harwich, Nikita. Histoire du Chocolat . Paris: Editions Desjonquiers, 1992.
Williams, Trevor C. Chocolate and Confectionary. London: Leonard Hill Ltd., 1964.
Wilson, K.C. Coffee, Cocoa and Tea . New York: CABI Publishing, 1999.
See also www.hersheys.com for information on manufacturing and products.
Mintz, Sidney. “The Changing Roles of Food in the Study of Consumption.” Consumption and the World of Goods . New York: Routledge, 1993.
The author focuses on themes related to the consumption of sugar and stimulant beverages. Of relevance to this bibliography are the themes which focus on how luxury food items became “everyday necessities,” as well as those which contemplate social conditions that underlay transformations in eating patterns. Ultimately, the author shows how luxury food items were consumed to define identities, but that as they became more widely consumed, the meanings associated with their consumption changed. Chapters in Mintz's other work, Sweetness and Power , (New York: Penguin Books, 1985) are also being considered for a more detailed approach to sugar consumption and its use in society seventeen and eighteenth century Britain.
Glickman, Lawrence B. “Born to Shop? Consumer History and American History.” Consumer Society in American History: A Reader . New York: Cornell Paperbacks, 1999.
While the majority of the book is beyond the scope of this project, the introduction of this reader is useful for providing context regarding the history of consumption in the United States. The chronology begins in the colonial period and progresses into the 1990s. It is brief and point form, but provides an overview of general trends.
Woloson, Wendy A. Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers in Nineteenth-Century America . Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach based on primary sources such as etiquette manuals, cookbooks, and magazine and newspaper articles, the author explores the democratization of refined sugar in American society during the nineteenth century. During this period, consumers were no longer satisfied simply with adding sweetness to beverages; candies and chocolates became more widely consumed, but were considered appealing only if they were visually pleasing. The author argues that the physical characteristics of the food items were laden with meaning and throughout the century, sugar and “sweetness” became increasingly associated with femininity. Because of the time period, area under consideration and approach, this book is a very important work to explore further.
Young, Allen M. The Chocolate Tree: A Natural History of Cacao . Washington: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.
Through documentary research and ten years of fieldwork in Costa Rica, the author provides a natural a cultural history of cacao cultivation and use. Through this interdisciplinary approach, the author suggests that ancient cacao cultivation techniques were highly scientific and efficient. Since many books deal with either the cultivation of cocoa, the manufacturing of chocolate or its cultural importance, the effective integration of the plant's natural and cultural history is a major strength of the work. In the historical part of the study, the production and consumption of cacao is considered from the perspective of Central American cultures; Europeans are mostly addressed in terms of their observations regarding cocoa consumption as a drink and its value as currency. However, the early observational accounts are useful because they suggest the extremely high value attributed to cocoa when it was introduced into European markets, despite the fact that many people despised its taste.
Garvey, Ellen Gruber. The Adman in the Parlor: Magazines and Gendering of Consumer Culture, 1880s to 1910s . New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Loeb, Lori Ann. Consuming Angels: Advertising and Victorian Women . New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Chapters such as “Social Emulation and Mass Consumption: Elitism or Material Democratization?” may provide some insight into increased availability and affordability of previously considered luxury goods. Similarly, “Commercial Interpretations of the Domestic Ideology,” may also be useful for considering advertisements in the context of Victorian ideology generally.