Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. It is hard to imagine a world without chocolate and yet, chocolate is a relatively new addition to commonly consumed foods. Once reserved solely for the very rich, chocolate is now consumed by the masses. How did chocolate go from a rare delicacy to a staple of our dessert culture? How does it become a widely consumed product when it comes from a poisonous tree? This book traces the evolving role of chocolate through the centuries to the modern day and follows the production of chocolate from tree to table. The chocolate industry and major chocolate companies are also discussed. Finally, we turn to chocolate’s influence on popular culture through books and movies including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Like Chocolate for Water, and Chocolat. Project Webster represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Project Webster continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge.
