In news sure to unite unhappy couples everywhere, a new archaeological discovery seems to indicate that chocolate was first enjoyed by prehistoric Mesoamericans as a "frothy, bitter brew of fermented roasted and ground cacao seeds." Do you hear that, disgruntled, Russell Stover-chomping wives and lethargic, Labatts-addicted husbands? You have a shared prehistory! You had each other at hello!
Cornell's John S. Henderson and Berkeley's Rosemary Joyce also collected data that seems to push the first chocolate consumption back 500 years, to 1100 B.C. The team came to their conclusions by analyzing cacao matter absorbed by pottery shards recovered in Honduras, and they also found traces of alcoholic beverages. They think early Mesoamericans brewed fermented cacao at first and only later learned that the seeds made superior product.
“Cacao was the social grease of Mesoamerica,” Dr. Henderson said.
I've used both chocolate and beer as "social grease," but not together, and not in that order. Also, I was alone. And lonely.
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