Another instance of snobs getting a hold of something pleasant and butchering it beyond recognition:
Like coffee before it, chocolate is going complex and upscale. This holiday season, look for Tasmanian honey wrapped in dark chocolate from Godiva and custom-made boxes tied with double-faced satin ribbon at exclusive Manhattan specialty store Bergdorf Goodman. Christmas is the peak time for premium chocolate sales, and big candy companies and small chocolatiers alike are rolling out some of their most high-end products to date.
"Chocolate is not always about eating," said Laure de Montebello, co-owner and chef of Sans Souci Gourmet Confections, an independent chocolate shop in New York . . . "Chocolate is a 'feel' business."
Maybe that's why so much fine chocolate doesn't taste good. They're making it for the wrong sense (feel).
Vosges' Barcelona Bar [is] made with sea salt and roasted almonds -- that sell for about $6. Then there are the boutique chocolate shops that will sell their wares by the piece when you just need a quick fix. And for special occasions, there is the $200 box of truffles from Godiva encased in Ultrasuede and adorned with Swarovski crystal.
In his book, On Paradise Drive, David Brooks points out that 15% of the population has a household income in excess of $100,000. The result: a mass upper class with ostentatious tastes that aren't based on tradition or reason. Just ostentatious for the sake of being ostentatious.
