28/10/2008

"Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!
Eu só quero chocolate
Só quero chocolate
Não adianta vir com guaraná
Prá mim é chocolate
O que eu quero beber"
-Tim Maia

It is not uncommon for the tourist traveller, amidst the pressures of locating monuments and appreciating historically applauded works of art, to forget the little secret guilty pleasures that are sometimes the key to finding hidden enthusiasm in the inevitable monotonous moments of disconnection from ourselves we all suffer from time to time. Little pleasures. I know someone who likes to take a big spoonful of honey, and suck on it slowly until the taste of warm metal replaces the last hint of rosemary. Another who occasionally ignores her embargo against fried foods, and rejoices in dipping french fries in a little bit of mayonaise, before swallowing them down with dark beer. Someone else likes to order an espresso and a hot chocolate from the office coffee machine, and then mix the two in a separate cup, to attain the perfect coffee to chocolate ratio. Hmm. Chocolate. Alright, all those someones are me. That's the thing, secret pleasures are so secret, no one wanted to confess theirs to me for this diary. And so it should be. So, I will take a wild guess, and assume that, hmm, chocolate, is a small pleasure shared by many. We all need that Juliette Binoche mixing dark chocolate with powdered sugar in a bowl moment, the moment where you treat yourself to something that is just for you, the moments you allow yourself to just enjoy, and hopefully resolve some deeply hidden emotional hurdle that is troubling you. See, chocolate, is a psychoactive food. As explained on www.chocolate.org: "Chocolate  contains small quantities of anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid found in the brain. Sceptics claim one would need to consume several pounds of chocolate to gain any very noticeable psychoactive effects; and eat a lot more to get fully stoned. Yet it's worth noting that N-oleolethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine, two structural cousins of anandamide present in chocolate, both inhibit the metabolism of anandamide. It has been speculated that they promote and prolong the feeling of well-being induced by anandamide...consumption of chocolate triggers the release of endorphins, the body's endogenous opiates. Enhanced endorphin-release reduces the chocolate-eater's sensitivity to pain. Endorphins probably contribute to the warm inner glow induced in susceptible chocoholics."
Magnesium, antioxidants, and phenylethylamine (PEA) known as the "love-chemical," are only some of the other benefits secretely hidden in this dark pleasure, which only has benefits, when sugar is not added. Nothing to feel guilty about.
So lighten your day by sucking on your favourite piece of chocolate, but when enjoying the physical and emotional benefits, just take a moment to think of West Africa, where most chocolate suppliers are from, and make a wish for the universe to provide us with the fair trade needed to keep our chocolate supply healthy and noble. This is the best way to nurture your inner glow.
And if you don't believe me, take my brother's words for it. Reading this very diary this morning he said: "Why guilty pleasure? Don't you know chocolate is the black gold. I'm telling you man, it's good for you." Here here... are the lists of the best spots to find chocolate in town. And, for all you secret chocoholics, guess what? Madrid's first chocolate fair, ChocoMadrid, is coming up the 28, 29, and 30th of November. You know who'll be there? Yours truly. Tune into this diary then, and I'll let you have a lick, a descriptive lick, of whatever goodies will be there to discover.

For more info on ChocoMadrid check out: http://www.chocomad.es/

Xocoa
www.xocoa-bcn.com
C/ Gravina, 3
C/ General Díaz Porlier 15
28001 Madrid, Spain
+34 915 759 232

La Casa Del Chocolate De Tino Helguera
C/ Ferraz 30
28008 Madrid, Spain
+34 915 412 815‎

Cacao Sampaka
C/ Orellana, 4 • 28004 Madrid
Tel. 91 319 58 40   Fax 91 308 37 45
madrid-centro@cacaosampaka.com

Valor
C/ Póstigo de San Martin, 7
(Metro Callao)

Mon Chocolate
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C/ Lucio Del Valle 12
28003 Madrid, Spain
+34 915 342 673‎