Chocolate: The Exhibition

A unique tree in a lush tropical environment. A seed so precious it was used as money. A spicy drink and a sweet snack. A heavenly craving and a sublime pleasure. Chocolate is all this … and much more. Explore the relationship between human culture and this rainforest treasure in Chocolate.

Chocolate will immerse you in a sweet experience, engage all your senses, and reveal facets of chocolate you may never have thought about before. You’ll explore the plant, the products, the history, and the culture of chocolate through the lenses of botany and ecology, anthropology and economics, conservation and popular culture. And if all that sets your mouth to watering, we’ll send you off with a chocolate treat to satisfy your cravings.  [ ... ]

The exhibition explores the commodification of chocolate by Europeans, and the use of forced labor on colonial plantations to meet the insatiable European demand for chocolate and its new soul mate, sugar. “It’s a parallel to the stories of gold, diamonds and bananas,” Haas says. “The use of a rare and valuable product becomes stratified; those who produce it can no longer afford to consume it.”

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

See the museum website for more information about chocolate and the  exhibition.