NWR- Chocolate Lovers Read this!
Chocolate history exhibit opens in Oyster Bay
BY PAT BURSON
[email protected]
People who like - no, love - chocolate can't get enough of the dark, delicious treat. But how much do they actually know about it?
The story behind one of the world's sweetest indulgences can be found in 'Chocolate: A Dip Into History,' an exhibition opening June 7 inside Coe Hall at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay.
The exhibition is based on the book 'The True History About Chocolate,' co-written by the late Sophie D. Coe with her husband, Michael D. Coe, a retired anthropology professor at Yale University and grandson of William Robertson Coe, the founder of Planting Fields Arboretum.
Aspects of chocolate's rich history - stretching from its use in ancient Mayan and Aztec societies in southern Mexico and Central America to its popularity today - will be on display in rare artifacts, prints, paintings and objects 'that document the story and our appreciation and passion for chocolate,' says Henry B. Joyce, executive director of Planting Fields Foundation.
WHAT YOU'LL SEE
The exhibition will include artifacts such as a rare Mayan ceramic drinking vessel from about AD 750 decorated with hieroglyphs for the word cacao, the bean from which chocolate is made, as well as an instrument used for grinding the cacao beans and an 18th century sterling-silver chocolate pot used to serve the drinkable elixir.
'There is a very old tradition of drinking chocolate,' Joyce says. 'It was drunk at room temperature then and considered very, very fine because you could make a very fine froth on top. The drink was only drunk by aristocrats and rulers and nobility and great traders.'
Visitors will learn about the growing of cacao (the park's greenhouses will have live cacao plants) and how the dark beans were not only ground and used for drinking, but also as a form of currency. Other areas of the exhibition will cover its arrival to European coffeehouses in London and France, its transformation into a hard candy by the Dutch and Swiss in Holland and the rise of famous chocolate makers, including Cadbury and Hershey.
A section of the exhibition will describe how chocolates became one of the most popular holiday gifts.
FUN WITH CHOCOLATE
On opening day, visitors will be treated to storytelling, a demonstration by The Chocolate Lady (a boutique chocolatier in Oyster Bay) and a screening of the original 'Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.'
Special children's programs linked to the exhibition will run throughout the summer. For instance, kids will get to make chocolate pancakes and play a math game using M&M's.
Chocolate: A Dip Into History: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. daily, June 7 through September 30; Coe Hall, Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay, 516-922-9200, plantingfields.org. Cost: $3.50 (free for members and kids younger than 12).
direct link to story
BY PAT BURSON
[email protected]
People who like - no, love - chocolate can't get enough of the dark, delicious treat. But how much do they actually know about it?
The story behind one of the world's sweetest indulgences can be found in 'Chocolate: A Dip Into History,' an exhibition opening June 7 inside Coe Hall at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay.
The exhibition is based on the book 'The True History About Chocolate,' co-written by the late Sophie D. Coe with her husband, Michael D. Coe, a retired anthropology professor at Yale University and grandson of William Robertson Coe, the founder of Planting Fields Arboretum.
Aspects of chocolate's rich history - stretching from its use in ancient Mayan and Aztec societies in southern Mexico and Central America to its popularity today - will be on display in rare artifacts, prints, paintings and objects 'that document the story and our appreciation and passion for chocolate,' says Henry B. Joyce, executive director of Planting Fields Foundation.
WHAT YOU'LL SEE
The exhibition will include artifacts such as a rare Mayan ceramic drinking vessel from about AD 750 decorated with hieroglyphs for the word cacao, the bean from which chocolate is made, as well as an instrument used for grinding the cacao beans and an 18th century sterling-silver chocolate pot used to serve the drinkable elixir.
'There is a very old tradition of drinking chocolate,' Joyce says. 'It was drunk at room temperature then and considered very, very fine because you could make a very fine froth on top. The drink was only drunk by aristocrats and rulers and nobility and great traders.'
Visitors will learn about the growing of cacao (the park's greenhouses will have live cacao plants) and how the dark beans were not only ground and used for drinking, but also as a form of currency. Other areas of the exhibition will cover its arrival to European coffeehouses in London and France, its transformation into a hard candy by the Dutch and Swiss in Holland and the rise of famous chocolate makers, including Cadbury and Hershey.
A section of the exhibition will describe how chocolates became one of the most popular holiday gifts.
FUN WITH CHOCOLATE
On opening day, visitors will be treated to storytelling, a demonstration by The Chocolate Lady (a boutique chocolatier in Oyster Bay) and a screening of the original 'Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.'
Special children's programs linked to the exhibition will run throughout the summer. For instance, kids will get to make chocolate pancakes and play a math game using M&M's.
Chocolate: A Dip Into History: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. daily, June 7 through September 30; Coe Hall, Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay, 516-922-9200, plantingfields.org. Cost: $3.50 (free for members and kids younger than 12).
direct link to story
