In "Why the French love chocolate bears", Joanna Robertson says that one part of the French economy that is not suffering today is the sweets industry, which "continues to grow at about 8% a year" (2012). Using examples such as the popular oursons guimauve, small chocolate-covered marshmallow teddy bears, Robertson explains that this is because the French people love to be reminded of their childhoods by favourite sweets.
My first reaction was: "Yuck!" I thought the French had better taste in food, but then I remembered that Robertson is writing about the tastes of children, or at least tastes forged in childhood even if they have carried over to adulthood. My own childhood delights include things like Jaffas, a ball of milk chocolate in a sweet, orange candy shell. I don't know if I could eat even one today - much as milk chocolate used to appeal to my primary school tastes, it hasn't for a long time. I also used to love gummy milk bottle candies, musk sticks, and lots of other things. As I just wrote that I had a little craving for a musk stick, which is something I haven't seen or heard of for many years. I wonder if they are still made? And would I really like them as I once did? It's probably better to keep my memories and avoid trying them again.
The one thing that did sound pretty good in Robertson's article were the Queen Margot's Nipples, or Les Tetines de la Reine Margot as they are called in French. They seemed like an odd sweet to be giving children, but my mother also used to share, sparingly, her liqueur cherries in dark chocolate with us from an early age, so perhaps it's not so surprising that French adults have nostalgic memories involving alcoholic chocolates with strong sexual connotations. Happily, the Oriental Hotel and a few other places in Bangkok do now sell these sorts of tasty sweets that appeal to my adult tastes. They have an outlet at Paragon which I might conveniently visit tomorrow. And on my annual visits to Australia, I always pop into one of Sydney's better chocolate shops to get a rich selection for my old mum, who loves them today as much as she did decades ago.
Where would we be without these wonderfully unhealthy delights steeped in drugs and naughtiness?
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After posting, I did a bit of research. Musk sticks are still readily available, as my Google search on "musk stick" revealed.
ReplyDeleteChocolate is my most favourite sweet. I believe, same as many researches, that some substance in chocolate or cocoa powder helps people alleviate their stress or stay in a good temper. So, it is not surprising that there are many chocolate lovers on earth.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cee,
DeleteI'm always happy when I hear that chocolate has health benefits, but I have to confess that I eat it for the taste - even if it had zero health benefits, I would still enjoy a rich, dark chocolate.
Recent research suggests that alcohol also has some minor health benefits, but I don't know anyone who drinks wine, cognac, beer or other forms of this drug for the health benefits it might give in small quantities - much smaller quantities than alcohol users often drink.