(see below for etymology) describes a number of raw and processed foods that originate from the tropical cacao tree. It is a common ingredient in many kinds of sweets, chocolate candy, ice creams, cookies, cakes, pies, and desserts. It is one of the most popular flavours in the world.

Chocolate is made from the fermented, roasted, and ground beans taken from the pod of the tropical cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, which was native to Central America and Mexico, discovered by ancient Mayas and Aztecs, but is now cultivated throughout the tropics. The beans have an intensely flavoured bitter taste. The resulting products are known as "chocolate" or, in some parts of the world, cocoa.

Theobroma is Greek for "food of the gods".http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/2421/?letter=B&spage=4

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L.A. Times - Food & Dining

Cookbook politics: Democrats, Republicans in the kitchen
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Out on the fringes of the campaign trail, the partisan cookbook is a perennial candidate. Want a cookie? "NOT ONLY do I eat, I also am a Democrat," wrote Frank Sinatra in an intro to 1960's "Many Happy Returns: The Democrats' Cook Book, or How to Cook a G.O.P. Goose" (the sales of which helped buy TV air time for candidates). "Not only should every Democrat own a copy of this book, but he should load up all his or her friends, and even smuggle some copies into Pasadena and other points where the enemy is strong and square."
Ripe time for Southern California's pick-your-own farms
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Grab your kids and some baskets and head out to the nearest U-pick farm for the freshest fruits and vegetables. ON A recent Sunday, a friend and I watched as our kids pulled a wooden wagon through a Ventura County field, pausing to gather black-eyed peas and sun-ripened heirloom tomatoes. They ran down rows of raspberry bushes, filling their hats with the ripe fruit. The air rustled the leaves of a row of peach trees; bees hummed on the periphery. Two hours later, the contents of our wagon (weighed out and paid for at the market stand) held enough produce for dinner, for dinners all week. The kids, faces browned by dirt and sunlight, were eating tomatoes as if they were apples; they didn't want to leave.
Review: Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the London hotel, West Hollywood
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700
The 'Hell's Kitchen' chef offers sophisticated fare in a glamorous setting. Everything you've learned about British superstar chef Gordon Ramsay on television is a crock. On his hit television shows, "Hell's Kitchen" and especially "Kitchen Nightmares," the three-star Michelin chef hams it up, cajoling and bullying some of the most exasperating cooks and restaurateurs on the planet into doing better work. The histrionics make for riveting television, but give the wrong impression about Ramsay's own cooking.

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