In Which We Unapologetically Eat a Lot of Chocolate

In it’s pure dark form, chocolate has indeed been shown to be “heart smart,” with more antioxidants than black tea or red wine, as well as lots of magnesium, iron, and potassium (all vital to women’s health). It can also ease anxiety and depression, as it contains serotonin and theobromine, which act on brain receptors and have a beneficial influence on mood. —French Women Don’t Get Fat

Well, thank god for that. Because shortly before I received the PR copy of French Women Don’t Get Fat (revised with recipes), I received a bunch of chocolate from the PR folks for Green and Black’s Chocolate. The goodies from Green and Black’s came with a little educational pitch on how to hold a chocolate tasting, who knew?

Before I go any further, just so it’s perfectly clear: the chocolate and the copy of French Women Don’t Get Fat came from PR companies. Disclaimer enough? Okay.

Some people around my house are addicted to sweets, I ain’t saying who. And some people, in combination with their addiction, are terribly snobby about their sweets, making for a rather expensive habit. Others are not quite so discerning, they’re satisfied with a Snickers Bar or a Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bar. To them, I say, “Can I have a bite?” even while saying “Don’t you have anything better?”

In French Women Don’t Get Fat, there’s a whole lot of talk about quality, quality, quality. The French, it seems, have cornered the market on epicureanism and it’s their indulgence in the best stuff that keeps them from overindulging in anything – one ounce of quality chocolate is equal to snarfing down an entire jumbo sized Hershey bar. That’s the trick, apparently, to staying svelte.

I don’t happen to think that bit about the French being the pinnacle of epicureans is true though admittedly, I’m a total dilettante, my travels and living abroad have ruined me for a lot of things. I do prefer dark chocolate to milk, and I think white chocolate is beside the point and I don’t like it very much. In spite of the clear quality of the Green and Black’s I didn’t like their white chocolate any better than Milka white chocolate, which I’ve eaten too much of on accident because I “forgot” to give it away. I do like the Milka with whole hazelnuts, though once we got some Italian knock off brand at the Hofer (a sort of food clearance store in Austria) that was superior in all ways. I’ve intentionally stayed away from the chocolates at my local French bakery, more out of fear of addiction than fear of lousy quality – once when they were out of twice baked almond croissants I had the twice baked chocolate instead and oh, let’s just say that it was an immensely satisfying experience.

The Green and Black’s chocolate was awfully nice, even the milk chocolate preferring husband had to admit that it was damn fine snacking while I had to concede that the milk chocolate they make is better than anything from the choco-industrial complex. The Maya Gold, their “signature” was damn fine, you taste it with your whole mouth, instead of just this waxy sweetness, there’s so much more… it took everything out of me not to snarf the whole thing down in a frenzy, a very anti-French way of enjoying food, excellent quality be damned.

There are three bags of chocolate chips in our pantry, they’re waiting to be made into cookies, of course. Chocolate chip cookies are also anti-French, I think, but there’s few things that are so delightful – or American – as a chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven, cool enough to eat but warm enough so that the chocolate is still kind of gooey. If we are to apply the French style moderation, we’d make them in very small batches out of the best possible chocolate chips. That’s probably not going to happen.

I tend to stay away from diet philosophy because I believe (perhaps wrongly) that we all know how to be thinner: Eat less nonsense and get more exercise. I also stay away because I really enjoy food so very much and I think that a life of deprivation is a waste. I think French Women Don’t Get Fat talks about food in very reasonable ways, but I also think it’s nothing new.

More attractively to me, the book includes a recipe for croissants. It takes three days to make them – with a lot of resting time for the dough – and I think I’m going to try it out. Then, I can eat them with the last of my Green and Black’s chocolate and a really good cup of coffee. THAT sounds French in the best possible way.

Sort of related on NEV:

• Mozart and the Chocolate Factory
• Dear Bakery Nouveau, I Love You