Imagine a world filled with candy and chocolate where you can sample chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, bubble gum, cotton candy, licorice and gum drops. No, it’s not Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory – it’s the National Confectioner’s Association Sweets & Snacks Expo. Thousands of brands, iconic and new, are on display, exhibiting all manner of sweets and snacks. Some are a flashback like Bazooka gum and Pop Rocks.  Others are everyday indulgences like M&M’s. And others are new and unusual ways to eat sweets. Or inhale them.

Le Whif bills itself as “inhalable cuisine.” Inside a small, plastic, lipstick-sized tube is a very fine chocolate or coffee flavored powder. To experience it, you place the tube in your mouth and inhale. The powder in your mouth gives you all of the flavor promised but with none of the calories or the effect of feeling full. It is an interesting sensation. They gave me both chocolate and coffee and I enjoyed both. Certainly different than eating a chocolate bar or drinking a cappuccino!

Le Whif was developed in France and began selling in boutiques in Paris last year.  Now it’s available in the United States and its creators say it’s selling well at stores such as Dylan’s Candy Bar, a well-known specialty candy and confectionery store in Manhattan. This could be the beginning of a new trend of inhaling lots of interesting, unusual flavors. I look forward to it.

I was recently in Chicago for the annual National Restaurant Association trade show, still the biggest restaurant show in the country. It is known in the industry as the NRA, but for butter and not guns.

While there, I stopped in to a new restaurant by well-known food authority and chef Rick Bayless. Called Xoco (and pronounced SHO-koh), it is adjacent to his other restaurants, Topolobampo and Frontera Grill. Xoco is a casual operation, serving food quickly, but not fast food. Everything is fresh, and the attention to detail and care of preparation is evident. I loved the fact that I had chocolate in each part of my meal.

Mole is a wonderful dish, a savory sauce made from chocolate. Most people don’t think of chocolate as anything other than a sweet dessert, but for centuries cacao beans have been used to flavor meats in Mexico and Central America, notably pork and chicken.  My pork mole sandwich consisted of shredded pork and onions flavored with chocolate on a hearty, toasted roll.

Churros are a dessert that is basically fried dough dusted with flavored sugar. The churros were served with a small cup of very thick, rich chocolate. The churros are meant to be dipped in the chocolate, and the combination of the sugary churros combined with the dark, thick, unsweetened chocolate is fantastic.

I was completely satiated when I left. But I’m thinking I’ll return soon and try the house-made vanilla ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce…

Who knew that Prague had a Chocolate Museum?! I was astonished to discover, tucked behind a Belgian chocolate shop on one of main streets,  one of the best chocolate museums I have ever seen. One of the benefactors for the museum lives in Prague and has amassed a collection of over 125,000 chocolate-bar wrappers from around the world from 5,300 companies and spanning more than 130 countries. I’ve certainly eaten my share of chocolate bars from around the globe, but the scale of this collection is astounding.

Ingredients in Aztec hot chocolate

The museum is extremely well laid out, with interesting exhibits and displays. It follows the bean from its earliest use in Central America through its use today in cocoa and chocolate. One of the opening displays shows the value of cacao beans and what they could purchase in the days of the Aztecs when the beans were used as currency. Then, one bean would purchase a tomato or five peppers, and 10 would buy a rabbit. Additionally, a display illustrated the spices and flavors that the Aztecs used when making their hot beverage, including pepper, honey, cinnamon and cloves that were added to the cocoa powder.

What Cacao beans could buy

The exhibit also included sections on where chocolate is cultivated around the world and how chocolate is processed from cacao beans into chocolate and cocoa powder, including a demonstration showing how to make molded chocolate pieces in the traditional Belgian style. Other sections showcased tools for processing sugar and chocolate, different types of pots and cups for drinking chocolate, plastic and metal molds for making chocolate bars and decorative shapes, and tins for storing and selling cocoa powder and chocolates.

Sugar processing tools

The museum was a delightful surprise, and packed with interesting information. I was thrilled to discover it and hope that others touring Prague will enjoy it as much as I did.

There is a long history of chocolate in Milan, with one well-known store, Venchi, dating back to the late 1800s. During my visit, I wanted to check out some of the different locations and see what was being made and sold. My tour started at ChocoCult, a space on three levels with a nifty chandelier made from metal and containing light bulbs inside of wire whisks hanging down the stairwell. ChocoCult offers gelato, espresso, chocolate bars and handmade chocolates. I tried the drinking chocolate, which was thick and rich and not overly sweet. Fresh whipped cream helped give the drink added body. And I thought the chocolate ganache centers in the chocolates were nicely made.

The next stop was at Chocolat Milano. I love its logo! This is a tiny place on Via Boccaccio, and it was packed. People were falling all over one another trying to get in and try the gelato, drinks and chocolates. Many of the chocolates had an interesting crunch, with a feuilletine added to the centers for added texture. But what surprised me was that there was no chocolate display case. All of the chocolates were prepacked into gift boxes, so it was impossible to choose one’s own assortment. Never my favorite way to buy chocolates, since my rule of thumb when purchasing chocolate as a gift is to always give people what you like, on the chance that you will be offered some!

My next stop was at Cioccolat0 e Sapori, a small boutique owned by Franco Aguzzi. I had the chance to talk to Franco. He makes all of his chocolates in another location, and most of his business is wholesale. However, in his store there is a small display case with different varieties. He gave me different pieces to sample, including a dark-chocolate truffle with rum, a Grand Marnier-filled piece and the dark chocolate he uses to make the chocolates. I was quite happy choosing my own assortments this time, with my biggest decision being whether I want to give them away as gifts or keep them for myself!

Next I visited Venchi, the traditional chocolate shop from 1878. Chocolates there were classically European, costing about €60 a kilogram, or about $45 a pound. In addition to its finished chocolates, Venchi had nice packaging with its own label for gifts.

My last stop was Chocolato Puro, a small shop tucked away on Piazza Carmine. It had the most innovative and interesting packaging, including small boxes that had inner partitions holding four types of chocolate candies like panned chocolate beans. The shop’s daily dose was a small treat in a cellophane box that contained seven individual servings for €5, a great idea for a daily treat. The Campari truffle I had was one of the best I enjoyed all day.

By the time I returned to my hotel, I was laden with boxes from all of the places I had visited. I loved Milano for its logo and energy. I enjoyed talking with M. Aguzzi about his chocolates and had the closest connection with him as an owner of the enterprise. ChocoCult made a terrific drink for me, Venchi was the classic European shop, and Chocolato Puro offered the most innovative packaging and had some of the best-tasting chocolates as well. I’m glad I got to visit all of them so I didn’t have to choose from just one. Now I’m looking forward to hearing what my friends say about their gifts. And more important, if they share what I brought with me!

Want to try a decadent cup of hot chocolate? El Submarino is a drink popular in both Buenos Aires and Santiago. It is a cup of steamed milk with a submerged chocolate bar. Thus the name. Upon receiving the glass, it is necessary to stir the drink well to mix the melted chocolate and the milk. If the chocolate is of a good quality, it makes a smooth, chocolaty drink. If the chocolate is too sweet, however, it makes the drink quite sweet. Different tastes, I suppose, but I prefer my chocolate and beverages darker, with less sugar.

I enjoyed the Submarino at La Biela, a café that is adjacent to the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. La Recoleta’s best-known resident is Eva Perón, or Evita, and her mausoleum is always adorned with fresh flowers left by well-wishers. La Biela was a pleasant surprise for me. It is a traditional café, opened in 1850. Upon the back wall was a large photograph of a distinguished gentleman with several small toy cars in front of him. As I am a Formula One racing fan, he was instantly recognizable as Argentina’s most famous racecar pilot, Juan Manuel Fangio, considered by many as the greatest driver of all time. In his time, he drove for Alfa, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari. The walls were decorated with photographs of other famous drivers as well, and on the back wall was a trophy case containing silver cups from various Argentinean races. The café serves as the unofficial headquarters for some of Argentina’s racing community. I was sorry that it wasn’t a Sunday with a Formula One race, as I am sure the café would have been packed with fans. However, the combination of El Submarino and Fangio, known as El Maestro, made a delightful start to my morning.