Chocolate has superpowers and 4 other surprising facts in the secret history of cacao fruit

“Five hundred years ago, when somebody made you a cup of chocolate, they were taking the energy of the rainforest and transforming it with their own labor into a liquid work of art.”

Rowan Jacobsen is a food writer and explorer. Over the past few years, he has been journeying to the Amazon and Central America, chasing chocolate back to its sacred cultural roots. He has written eight books, including the James Beard Award-winning A Geography of Oysters and Truffle Hound. He has written for the New York Times, Harper’s, Outside, Food & Wine, Forbes, Mother Jones, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Vice, and other publications. His work is frequently featured in Best American Science & Nature Writing and Best Food Writing.