There’s a new British TV Ad that opens with a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss reclining on a sun lounger under the palm trees of a desert island, with a cruise ship, no doubt packed to the gunwales with drooling chocoholics, sailing towards it.

And who could blame them? Chocolate has been around since the dawn of human civilisation. The Aztecs used to call it a ‘tribute, presumably to their Gods.

Chocolate, food for the gods

Imagine if you were an Aztec demi-deity and they insisted on feeding your passion for chocolate…yummy.

But then to anyone with an empty stomach, food, especially chocolate, is God.

It was the Spanish who introduced chocolate to Europe, by ship, of course. Its popularity grew rapidly and today the chocolate industry is a steadily growing, $50 billion plus global phenomenon.

The sweetest present of all

Possibly because chocolate is still one of the most popular gifts, especially on Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and birthdays.

It has also encouraged several successful book and film adaptations including Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Chocolat – which grossed over US$150,000,000 worldwide and received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Score. Sweet.

The annual Chocolate Cruise

Even sweeter is the forthcoming fourth annual Raddison Seven Seas Chocolate Cruise which will leave Fort Lauderdale in early December for a week of chocolate delight in the Caribbean.

The climax of the cruise is a fabulous chocolate buffet with enough chocolate desserts to sink the most demanding chocoholics under the table.

Just supposing you were a 21st century Robinson Crusoe stranded on a desert island with only a very large box of chocolate to sustain you until you were rescued, which brand would you choose?

Apart from Hershey bars and chocolate confections from Terry and Cadbury, you may wish to consider indulging in some of the finest hand-made chocolates in the world by, among others, Ackermans, Angelina, Barratti & Milano, Bendicks of Mayfair, Bernard Dufoux, Charbonnel et Walker, Charlemagne, Cote de France, Deleans, Fassbender, Fouquet, Fortnum & Mason, Godiva, Hotel Sacher, Francisco Torreblanca, La Fontaine au Chocolat, Lindt & Sprungli, Mazet de Montargis, Neuhaus, and Torras.

I can hear you smacking your lips. What a racket! Just remember, it isn’t travel that’s broadening, it’s all that chocolate.

And, as Dale Carnegie once said, ‘Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.’

I’ll happily settle for a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss. Just to be going on with.

Have a nice cruise.

James Leavey

Related posts:

• Islands in the Sun A few years ago I was basking in a...

Posted in Humour