Blog

Cups and saucers are one of those classic pairings like “salt and pepper” or “knives and forks”. They’ve become ubiquitous, part of everything from formal rituals to cosy treats, containing tea, coffee, hot chocolate—or occasionally something stronger.

It’s an extraordinary and rich story, starting with how cacao (or kakau, kakaw, etc.) was the unlikely “Rosetta Stone” that helped archaeologists unlock the secrets of Mayan “glyphs” (writing). From there, we’ll explore how cross-cultural linguistics and colonial history led to a widespread misunderstanding of the word “chocolate’s” origins—and, spoiler alert, it really does seem as if a fear of confusing cacao with Spanish slang for faeces (caca) played a role in the rise of the term chocolate. And in the next blog, we’ll also untangle the contested historical and modern definitions of chocolate (and explain why many Europeans still don’t accept British or American “chocolate” as proper chocolate).

The earliest recorded decorated egg shells are of Ostrich eggs, dating back at least 60,000 years in South Africa (fragments have been found in caves).

Cups and saucers are one of those classic pairings like “salt and pepper” or “knives and forks”. They’ve become ubiquitous, part of everything from formal rituals to cosy treats, containing tea, coffee, hot chocolate—or occasionally something stronger.

It’s an extraordinary and rich story, starting with how cacao (or kakau, kakaw, etc.) was the unlikely “Rosetta Stone” that helped archaeologists unlock the secrets of Mayan “glyphs” (writing). From there, we’ll explore how cross-cultural linguistics and colonial history led to a widespread misunderstanding of the word “chocolate’s” origins—and, spoiler alert, it really does seem as if a fear of confusing cacao with Spanish slang for faeces (caca) played a role in the rise of the term chocolate. And in the next blog, we’ll also untangle the contested historical and modern definitions of chocolate (and explain why many Europeans still don’t accept British or American “chocolate” as proper chocolate).

The earliest recorded decorated egg shells are of Ostrich eggs, dating back at least 60,000 years in South Africa (fragments have been found in caves).