A History of Sweets

Have a sweet tooth?  Listen up!

My speech I gave at Toastmaster's recently was about the history of sweets, favorite things to many, I'm sure. Relax in your chair and enjoy.  Maybe even close your eyes.

Before Christopher Columbus, the world didn't know anything about chocolates - such a delicious treat didn't exist.  It was Hernandez Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador, who introduced it, borrowing the name from the language of the Aztecs, Nahuatl, "xocolatl".  This word is built on xococ "bitter", a drink made by a sugar free people from Cacao, itself from Naguato cacauatl "cacao".  Similar Aztec words are avocado, coyote (wild animal, smuggler), tecolate, chipotle. Chipotle is the top California Mexican grill.

Now let us review the Mayan myth a little bit. God was creating the world to be fair and well-balanced:

Give country A a vast land but, be harsh in climate.

Country B is small - let's compensate it with delicacies from land and sea.

Now comes Mexico. Fairly good sized but mostly desert and hot. God said OK, leave it as is....  God heard a shadow voice. "It's a pity to leave it as is. Can you add something?"  So God sent Quetzalcoatl to check it out. He brought many goodies to Mexicans: corn, cotton, and cacao in particular, my subject tonight.  But this benefactor god, disguised as a feathered serpent, vanished suddenly.

Cortez, Spaniard I mentioned above, landed in 1519, the year Quetzalcoatl was believed to return. Cortez faced no resistance. Instead, Cortez was welcomed by Montezuma, a Mayan Emperor. Montezuma served Cortez in golden goblets, a "Theobroma" ritual.  In Greek, theobroma means food from God.  Cortez found it bitter, and did not find it to his taste. However, Montezuma reportedly drank 50 chocoatl a day. To make the concoction more agreeable, Cortez and his countrymen added vanilla and other miscellaneous ingredients.

The Spaniards took chocolatl to Europe.  It gave a sudden rise to all kinds of confectioneries and world enterprises. After many centuries, companies like Hershey, Godiva, Nestle, See's, Mars, Kinder, and Dove survived, just to mention a few. I'm sure you know them well.

Many thank Cortez for adding tasty pleasures, tickling our taste buds and giving us moments of sweetness. Today’s talk was just a tasty slice of history.