Food Lit

Nonfiction: The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural & Natural History of Cacao with Recipes by Maricel E. Presilla (2001, 2009) 
or
Nonfiction: The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz (2004).

With special guest chocolatier Bar Cacao.

If there is one food that seems to express Americans’ love for one another more than anything else, it is chocolate. Over 58 million pounds of it are sold during Valentine’s week, which is 5% of total yearly sales. Let’s learn more about this fabulous treat: where it comes from, how it’s made, and the history behind it.

The author of The New Taste of Chocolate, Maricel Presilla, grew up eating fresh cacao from her great-grandparents farm in Cuba. Her book covers much of the culture and history around farming of cacao. The Great Book of Chocolate, by renown pastry chef and author David Lebovitz, is more about chocolate after it leaves the farm and reaches the kitchen. Take your pick of either book (or both, if you wish) and we’ll discuss their similarities and differences. 

Food Lit meets every third Sunday of the month for casual conversation around 18 Reasons’ table, usually featuring the author or other expert guest, led by our fearless moderator-coordinator Heather Knape. We talk about food, flavors, farming, politics, life in San Francisco and anything else that can fit into two hours and connect back to our book of the month.

Please bring a dish or drink to share for our potluck lunch. Both books this month have recipes, so feel free to bring something chocolatey. Remember, you don’t have to have finished (or even begun) the book to attend, our discussions run the gamut from sparking interest in the book’s subject to full on raging debates over writing style, flavors, the food system and other loosely related topics. If nothing else, we’re hoping to get you fired up and thinking about eating well.