If you are a self-proclaimed true blue chocoholic and want to satisfy your need for anything chocolate, then why don’t you head to the Field Museum in Chicago?

“Chocolate: Around the World”, a smash hit exhibit which sold more than 360,000 tickets in its first Field run in the year 2002 is back not only to entertain you, but also give you juicy and interesting information.

In the past nine years, “Chocolate” has already been to 22 other American museums and will go international when its present Field run is done in January, said the Field president and chief executive officer, John McCarter.

“Chocolate” is a combination of both the Field’s focus on anthropology as well as natural history and its attention to the origins of cacao beans and the role chocolate played in the past centuries. “This is one of the great combination stories,” McCarter said.

From the modest examples of cacao beans to a vintage chocolate mold with the shape of a rabbit driving a scooter, “Chocolate” aspires to present a food that Americans love dearly.

One of the “Chocolate” exhibition keepers, Gary Feinman, said that visitors were interested as much toward the exhibit’s story as the subject matter. “Everybody loves chocolate,” Feinman said. “The story is great, and the exhibits are about stories.”

The exhibit is almost untouched since it first premiered at the Field, very little has changed. Among the new items featured are excavated ceramic vessels in which chocolate residue was found. This aids in explaining how chocolate was used.

There is also information about the disturbing situation at African cocoa farms. “There are issues with child labor, the labor conditions,” Feinman said. “There are still issues but I think there’s more consciousness about some of the problems.”

Try visiting there and have a shot at kicking your love of chocolate up a notch.

-Through Jan. 8 (9 a.m.-5 p.m. every day but Christmas)
-The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
-The exhibit is included in the Discovery and All-Access passes, $22-$29 for adults, $18-$24 for seniors and students with identification, and $15-$20 for ages 4 to 11.
-(312) 922-9410; fieldmuseum.org

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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