Chocolate Week
October 11, 2011
It's not very often that you get to devote one whole week just for a particular food. Suffice it to say, if the subject is chocolate, we get all the more devoted, and craving, so to speak.
Chocolate Week, UK's favorite themed week, or should I say, favorite week, is here again for its seventh consecutive year to celebrate the foodstuff that has its origins in ancient Aztec and Mayan culture. Even though we know we can enjoy it any time of day and any day of the year, it's the time of year when we can ultimately celebrate chocolate... for a week! Imagine that.
Chocolate week 2011, starting October 10, has a plethora of events lined up for everyone, over 350 events happening across the whole of Britain, from chocolate art workshops and tasting to hot chocolate sampling and dessert-making demonstrations, indulge yourself in chocolate madness.
The UK’s renowned chocolatiers and chocolate companies celebrate Chocolate Week by hosting the said events, as well as producing exclusive products, new launches, offers, chocolate meals, cocktails and recipes.
The events include:
- Chocolate Unwrapped – a chocolate exhibition in London on the 15th & 16th October. Over 4000 visitors and 40 exhibitors are expected to come. It showcases top British chocolatiers and chocolate companies along with chocolate makers from France, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Holland and Germany. Patrons get a shot at viewing chocolate art, meeting the chocolatiers, taste the top-of-the-line chocolate, watching chocolate being made in the tiniest chocolate factory in the world, and the list goes on.
- The Great Chocolate Cake-Off – a hunt for the best-tasting amateur chocolate cake.
- William Curley’s pop up shop on St Martin’s Lane, London
- Hotel Chocolat initiates its tasting adventures pack so visitors would be encouraged to do chocolate tastings at home.
- Paul A Young, one of the most popular chocolatiers in UK, teams up with another popular fusion chef Peter Gordon to make a 6-course chocolate dinner at Providores, don't fret if you missed it yesterday, there will be another one on Friday, the 14th of October.
- Thorntons continues its 100th birthday celebrations by giving away a chocolate smile to their visitors.
Chocolate Week was intended to promote the world of fine chocolate, the independent artisan chocolatiers and the chocolate companies who work in direct partnership with the cocoa farmers. This is to encourage chocolate buyers to pay a fairer price for their chocolate.
For more details on the week and participants, visit chocolate week.
- Whipped Cream Chocolate Frosting Recipe - December 3, 2014
- Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Recipe - November 26, 2014
- Broiled Banana Chocolate Pudding Recipe - November 19, 2014
Well, I run a different type of chocolate week in Belize. One that starts the week walking the fields with the cacao farmer and picking the pods off the trees and ends the week wrapping up the chocolate bars you made during the week. The Mayan chocolate makers at Cotton Tree Chocolate Company in Belize assist in making the great tasting chocolate. Private chocolate weeks can be arranged for groups of 10 or more.