Chocolate Enters the Tasting Room

‘ “Chocolate is the next coffee,” confided one importer.

“Chocolate is the new olive oil,” said a chocolatier.

“Chocolate now is where cheese was 10 years ago,” a pastry chef asserted.

In the beginning, there was wine. And there were wine tastings and wine snobs and wine-of-the-month clubs. Then olive oil, vinegar, cheese, coffee and butter followed into the American culinary consciousness. Now the appreciation of fine chocolate seems poised to become the next gastronomic parlor game.’ —New York Times