I hope the same quality revolution occurs with cake frosting (dangerous stuff), croissants (the US still insists on making them w/ shortening instead of butter), fruit fillings of all kinds (what the hell is that goop inside the apple pies), and mac & cheese (it can actually be made without a flavor packet). Nevertheless the strange, woodsy notes in the chocolate of an Oreo cookie (without the “cream” filling) really is a special thing.

"darker" chocolate up in the 60 &70's tastes better to some & varietal can too. Wonderful to have a choice now-if you don't want the pretension, just ignore it.It just comes with the expanding market.

I like wine. I've even been to napa and done lots of tastings at various vineyards. I've learned enough to be able to distinguish between most of the common varietals and to know a couple of bottles I find enjoyable. Basically, I know enough to be able to select a bottle from a restaurant wine list or from a store shelf with some confidence it won't be a complete dud. And that's all I personally need to know.

I know that other folks are way more into it, and know all the details from provenance of grapes, to the various characteristics of harvest years, etc. I don't begrudge them that knowledge, any more than I begrudge the knowledge of anyone who has decided to go in-depth in learning about an item that they love. And people do it with all kinds of things: cars, cooking tools, cheese, stamps, coins, clothes, cigars, jewelry, clocks, art, architecture, audio equipment, bicycles, and yes, even chocolate. It's good for people to want to learn about the things they love, and the learning is pleasure in and of itself to many of these people.

But there's this thing in our culture now, where people use that specialized knowledge, that notion of "connoisuerism" as a means to demonstrate to those around them that they are somehow a better kind of person because they know these things and more importantly consume these things -- that only people with fabulous taste and refined tastebuds and significant intelligence can truly appreciate these things, and "those other people" who own or consume the pedestrian versions of these things are somehow deficient. We all know people who learn the lingo of wine because they want to use it at a business dinner to prove to that client that they are knowledgable. We all know people who parade their knowledge of wine at every dinner party and restaurant outing, taking the opportunity to show themselves the "teacher" and the others around him as mere "students." We all know people who thumb their nose at wine from a box, not because they've tasted it and find ir repulsive, but because drinking wine from a box simply doesn't fit with the connoiseur "image" they have crafted for themselves. That kind of elitism is to be despised.

I suppose in a consumer-driven culture, where we are what we can afford to buy, connosieurism becomes the new way to prove your membership in the societal elite. And in a consumer culture where luxury branding has become more mass-market in scope, it is no longer enough to recite high-end brand names. TO separate yourself from the unwashed masses you have to be able to say why a certain brand might be different or better than another. And in an information age where that knowledge is only a few mouse-clicks away, people have to invent more and more obscure categories of luxury items to get snooty about. Five years ago it was wine. Last year it was artisanal cheese. Now it's "high-percentage chocolate." Next year it'll be something else. And all these people who are busily crafting for themselves the image of an educated connoiseur will forget about waxing poetic about chocolate, and the special chocolate box on top of the fridge will begin gathering dust in favor of a new obsession, a new thing that proves that they are indeed, the classy, educated, elite person they fancy themselves to be.

I don't have a problem with people who love chocolate and want to taste different kinds of it. I don't even have a problem with people who are obbsessed enough with the practice to learn all kinds of specialized, useless knowledge about chocolate. I have a problem with people who feel the urge to display their pleasure and the knowledge as a way to puff themselves up, to demonstrate their belief in their own superiority. There's no difference between a person who is a "connoisseur" of NASCAR racing and a "connoisseur" of fine wine -- if by that term you mean that someone has taken the time and the trouble to learn detailed knowledge of a thing that they love. But let's be honest -- more often than not, the NASCAR guy is just happy to share what he knows with someone who also appreciates it. While the wine guy tends more often than not to use his knowledge to make others feel "less than," to intimidate others around him with how smart he is. And this new chocolate connoiseurism has the nose of the more like the hoity-toity, snobby varietal.

I see the usual 'they put WAX in chocolate in america!' rumor going around. Not true. Cocoa butter is actually quite similar to wax, and they do use that, not surprisingly.

The next time you get on your lame high horse about Hershey chocolate containing wax, in particular, I invite you to actually read the ingredients.

Andrew

It's not the enjoying of the chocolate, or the appreciation of greater varieties of chocolate, or even the learning of trivia about it. All fine.

It's the stupid buzzwords. Why does everything have to come with buzzwords? The buzzword is the lovely of the empty-suit executive, who has only a faint grasp of, and no plan for improvement of, his company's practices. The buzzword is the resort of the pseudointellectual, who reads always, but never carefully or discerningly, and so uses the buzzword as a credential, so as to avoid scrutiny. Whether working out ("my pecs!"), learning about your loved one's disease ("his meds!"), enjoying art ("neo-minimalist post-impressionist yet dada-esque artistic statement") traveling ("la dolce far niente!"), or doing yoga (don't get me started), no-one can be happy without feigning posh with the g-ddamn buzzwords.

"Notes." "Polish." "Finish." Can we please just knock it off?