Chocolate x 0.15 = Vegilate

Written by Stacey R. Donnell

There has been a drastic change in my life of late. My eyes were opened for me. It was a realization I never would have come to on my own. But now that I’ve been exposed to this whole new world, I will never go back to the old way.

I love chocolate. Correction: I have an almost unhealthy obsession with chocolate. For so long, I was content with grocery store chocolate. With Milky Way, Kit Kat, and once in a while Hershey’s Special Dark. It was tasty, accessible, and the price was right. But recently, thanks to a chance encounter with a help-wanted ad on Craig’s list forwarded to me by my roommate, I was able to gain employment at a gourmet, artisan chocolate shop. Suddenly, I found myself at an agonizing crossroads.

Hershey’s and I had some very good times. S’mores at bonfires, chocolate milk, giant novelty Kisses on Valentine’s Day. It has been a great companion. And once I started eating it, it was hard to stop. I could have been happy with Hershey’s my whole life, had it not been for this rude awakening.

I was informed that Hershey’s is barely even chocolate at all. In fact, it’s really only 15% cocoa. The rest is wax, artificial flavor, preservatives, and oil. I came to find out that there is chocolate out there that’s 60, 70, 80, even 100% cacao solids. Not only this, but when its flavor isn’t disguised by fillers, it is deep, satisfying, almost a spiritual experience. One can detect notes of coffee, raisins, even wild mushrooms in one bar of dark chocolate, while another contains red berry tones with floral aromas. After tasting this chocolate, there was no going back for me. How was I to ever again be satisfied with “chocolate” that was only the chocolate I needed 15% of the time? In fact, in England, chocolate like this is required to go by the name “vegilate” because cocao is only a minor ingredient.

One of the reasons Hershey’s is so affordable is that the cacao beans used to make it are harvested before they are fully ripe. To increase profit, growers are forced to gather the bean pods before their flavor and aroma have fully developed. They are forced to do a job they are not adequately prepared to perform, and for that I can’t blame them. In a way, Hershey’s simply isn’t ready for me yet. Perhaps the reason I couldn’t stop eating it was because I tasted glimpses of what it could be, and I persisted hoping it would magically reach its potential in my mouth. It’s like when you sit down with a bowl of popcorn. The first kernel is delicious—buttery, salty, wonderful. You’re hooked and you keep eating, seeking that same experience, perhaps finding it a few more times, and before you know it, the bowl is empty and you feel like trash.

But here’s the snag. I can’t just wash my hands of Hershey’s. I cannot just eradicate it from my life. The truth is you can’t have S’mores without Hershey’s. And you can’t have bonfires without S’mores. There can be no clean cut. But it helps that I can now give it a new name: Vegilate. There will always be a place for Vegilate in my life, but never the same place it held before. I will now only turn to real chocolate as the object of my affection. And I will not need to eat until I feel like trash. One bite at a time will be sufficient… Deep, spiritual, and immensely satisfying.