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Last week, we gathered around the table at Wantagh Library for International Chocolate Day.
I called the program Chocolate Without Borders.
Not because we were simply going to taste chocolate from different countries. I wanted us to explore something bigger.
How does a fruit grown in one part of the world become a chocolate made somewhere else? How do culture, place, ingredients and the choices of the maker become part of what we eventually taste?
And what happens when we bring all of those stories together around one table?
That’s where our journey began.
Before there is a chocolate bar, there is a cacao pod.
Chocolate begins as a fruit, and that fruit belongs to a place.
Climate, soil, harvest, fermentation and drying all begin shaping cacao long before it reaches the hands of many chocolate makers. Then the maker takes over—roasting, grinding, refining, conching, adding ingredients and making countless choices along the way.
By the time we unwrap a finished bar, we’re tasting the result of a remarkably long journey.
But at Wantagh, we weren't only interested in where chocolate came from.
We wanted to discover what happened when those different stories met.
The chocolates on our table told very different stories.
Kesshō brought flavors inspired by Chinese food and culture. Zotter brought the wonderfully unexpected perspective of an Austrian chocolate maker. And Vosges challenged some of our ideas about what belongs with chocolate.
Different makers. Different places. Different ideas.
All gathered around one table.
Sesame. Salted plum. Fig, Chestnut. Parmesan. Walnut. Apple.
Ingredients that may sound surprising until you taste them together.
And instead of telling everyone what they were supposed to taste, I asked them to do what we do at Chocology:
Smell • Melt • Notice • Discover
Because tasting isn't about finding the “right” answer.
Two people can taste the same chocolate and notice something completely different.
That's when tasting becomes a conversation.
And that afternoon, one of those conversations led somewhere I hadn't expected.
Someone at the table happened to have a cup of coffee while we were tasting Zotter Chestnuts + Rum.
He tasted the chocolate, took a sip of coffee and looked at me.
“You have to try this.”
Well, you know me.
Of course I did.
And the next morning, I wanted to try it again.
I made my coffee, opened the Chestnuts + Rum and tried the pairing again at home.
Fabulous.
The coffee brought something different out of the chocolate—and the chocolate changed the coffee right back.
Then I remembered another Zotter bar I’ve enjoyed with coffee: Cognac + Coffee.
Same cup of coffee. Two very different chocolates. Two completely different experiences.
And just like that, Chocolate Without Borders had followed me home.
Maybe Chocolate Without Borders wasn't really about how many countries we could visit through chocolate.
It was about what happens when different places, cultures, makers, flavors—and people—gather around the same table.
Someone notices something. Someone else gets curious. A conversation begins.
And sometimes the discovery keeps traveling.
This one traveled from a tasting table at Wantagh Library all the way to my morning cup of coffee.
Stay curious. Keep noticing.
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What happens when music and chocolate come together? Something wonderfully unexpected.
During a recent Chocolate in Harmony gathering, four chocolates and four pieces of music sparked surprising discoveries about flavor, memory, and connection. When we listened to We Are the World, one woman chose Venchi Cremino because its three distinct layers reminded her of the many voices coming together in harmony.
The chocolate didn't change. But what we noticed did.
Come explore the curious connection between music, chocolate, and the way we experience both.
What happens when Chinese tea, fine chocolate, different cultures and a little curiosity gather around the same table? An afternoon of unexpected pairings, shared knowledge and discoveries we never could have planned.
Long before Chocology, our home had a name: The Gathering Place. This week, I realized that perhaps the Gathering Place simply moved—and these days, there's a lot more chocolate on the table.
