A New York Times bestseller with over a half-million copies in print, CHOCOLATE continues to delight chocoholics everywhere. Packed with Boynton's famous hippos, bunnies, pigs, and other animals, this gift-perfect book is a whimsical commentary on the individual's relationship to chocolate, its varieties, and its sources. From the several sorts of chocolate connoisseur-including the gourmoo, who eats only milk chocolate-to the several shapes of chocolate itself (bunny, kiss, glove compartment bar), Boynton's apologia for chocolate misses nothing. Myths are debunked: chocolate is not fattening, she argues, especially when the caloric expenditure of carrying it home from the store and hiding it from company is factored in. Directions are supplied: to remove stains, lick them. Plus, how to grow chocolate at home, a foolproof method for determining if chocolate is in season (does the name of the month contain the letter A, E, or U?), and a recipe for Hippo Pot de Mousse. "Fourteen out of ten people like chocolate," says the artist. This is the only guide for people who like chocolate the way they like to breathe. Vanilla people, keep out. Selection of the Literary Guild. 553,000 copies in print.
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About the Author
Sandra Boynton is a Summa Cum Outie graduate of the Navel Academy. Well, okay, not really. In addition to the Boynton on Board series, she has written and illustrated (and in some cases composed the music for) Philadelphia Chickens, Rhinoceros Tap, Grunt, and Chocolate: The Consuming Passion. She and her family live in Connecticut. Her Web site is www.sandraboynton.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Myth No. 2 "Chocolate is fattening." A crucial factor has been overlooked in this widespread condemnation of chocolate: Most chocolate eaters tend to supplement their chocolate intake with other foods. By what right, what logic can chocolate be singled out as the cause of plumpness? How can we be certain that, say, carrots are not a catalyst of weight-gain when chocolate is present? And there is empirical evidence that also raises serious doubts about chocolate's fatteningness: Few chocolate lovers can simply lie back and wait for chocolate to come to them. For most, getting and keeping chocolate often requires strenuous physical work. Myth No. 5 "Chocolate is nothing more than a substitute for affection." Much has been made lately of the recent scientific finding that there is a chemical in chocolate-phenylethylamine-that is virtually identical to the substance manufactured by the brain of the infatuated individual. In various studies of the phenomenon, the conclusion drawn is that chocolate obsession is in fact self-medication for the spurned lover. He or she is trying to synthesize the "high" of being in love. As is too often the case with these social scientists, they are taking sound, highly suggestive data and drawing empirically absurd conclusions. What reasonable soul prefers romance to truffles? Clearly it is not the lovelorn sufferer who seeks solace in chocolate, but rather the chocolate-deprived individual who, desperate, seeks in mere love a pale approximation of bittersweet euphoria.Drs. Donald F. Klein and Michael R. Liebowitz, "Hysteroid Dysphoria," Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Vol. II, No.3. Dec. 1979; Dr. John Money, Love and Love-Sickness: The Science of Sex, Gender Difference, and Pair-Bonding, John Hopkins University Press, 1980.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Stabby
Format:Paperback
I have lent this book to so many people, just because it's too funny to not share. The white chocolate description, the advice for removing chocolate stains, the personality types - it's all hilarious. Anyone with a sense of humour should love this book.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is a lovely book! Beautiful and funny illustrations, delicious recipes, interesting facts ... "Chocolate The Consuming Passion" covers basically everything any chocolate lover would want to know. It includes chocolate profiles, information about different kinds of chocolate, chocolate myths and funny observations. One example is this: "The greatest tragedies were written by the Greeks and by Shakespeare. Neither knew chocolate." Of course, there is no causality, but still!
Although this book is written for children, any chocolate lover will adore it, regardless of age. Actually, one does never really grow out of picture books, at least not the good ones.
The first time I saw this book was in the window of the best chocolate store in my town, The Belgian House of Chocolate. I knew I must get it! I have not been disappointed.
Format:Paperback
I have always had a soft spot for anything Sandra Boynton does, but "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion" is probably my favorite of her books. I have bought it for more chocolate-loving friends than I can count and they have all been thrilled with it.
Boynton deftly blends together her signature cartoon animals (who for the most part try to look dignified in less than dignified circumstances--the key to their hilarity), actual chocolate facts (on the front of the book, it says, "Written, Illustrated, and Overresearched by Sandra Boynton"), and a heaping helping of utter silliness. Boynton tosses her own opinion in wherever possible:
"Those who favor dark chocolate have little patience with cute candy."
"Whoever said, 'The best things in life are free' was, of course, just kidding. The best things in life go for $6.50 a pound and up."
"Chocolate is not a privilege; it is a right."
"If the remotest possibility exists that you could become snowbound, take this simple precaution: Remove and discard all insulation from ski jacket. Replace with seven lbs. (approx.) of shaved chocolate. Resew seams. Warning: Never warm up in front of a fire without first removing jacket."
See especially Boynton's sections on white chocolate and carob (as you might expect, she's a dark chocolate snob, as are so many chocolate aficionados) and her hilarious explanation of the "myth of chocolate's fattingness." Boynton gives helpful information on opening up your own cacao plantation--on which you will need "4,000 or so cacao seedlings and time" and an international section on how to ask for chocolate in half a dozen languages.
There are even recipes, including one for "Chocolate Chip Cookie (Theoretical yield: 48 cookies, 2 inches each) and "Hippo Pôt de Mousse." This book has pleasures that keep on giving even after the first, second, or fourteenth reading.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tasty, Addictive Fun!
I cannot imagine a better combination of information, humor, and fun concerning the great pleasure we all get from chocolate. Read more
Published on Dec 21 2001 by Donald Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chocolate fun!!!
Sandra Boynton really did over research this topic, and has done a wonderful job telling us about chocolate with all of her comic characters. Read more
Published on Nov 27 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sooooooooo cute and FUNNY !
Please don't read this book in public places. People will think you've gone crazy.
Published on Sep 21 2001 by annamaynoon(a)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Almost as addictive as chocolate itself
What could be better than a book written by my favorite greeting card author and illustrator? And about my favorite vegetable: CHOCOLATE (is a many-splendored thing)! Read more
Published on Aug 23 2001 by John Wheeler
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hippy - er - happy consumer
How Sandra Boynton has managed to follow me lo these many years without me noticing is an amazing feat. Read more
Published on Aug 14 2001 by "jroland631"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Laugh Out Loud Over Chocolate!
If you want a book that will make you weep with laughter, this is it. I read this book as a very young woman and I still make people laugh when I share with them the humor of the... Read more
Published on Mar 19 2001 by M. Lion
5.0 out of 5 stars
chocoholic heaven!
The brownie recipe in this book is deliciously yummy! Sandra Boynton really has a winner here. The illustrations are wonderful too and so funny like the writing.
Published on Oct 12 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
Attention Chocoholics: this is a MUST READ!
As a self-diagnosed chocoholic (and proud of it!), I can honestly say that the only way this book could be improved upon is if it were EDIBLE! Read more
Published on April 1 1999 by Jacquie Barker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential book for chocolate lovers
This book has been a favorite of mine for years. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves chocolate. It is filled with information, humor and fun illustrations - even recipes! Read more
Published on Mar 25 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Personal Guide to Life in General.
Well researched and deeply thought out. My favorite Boynton book. Explains the necessity of having chocolate for a meaningful life. Read more
Published on Feb 11 1998
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