Theobroma Cacao: "Food of the gods"

Theobroma Cacao: "Food of the gods"

In 1753, Carl von Linne, more commonly known as Linnaeus, gave the
scientific name to the cacao tree.   As a chocolate lover, Linnaeus named the
cacao tree Theobroma cacao; the first part he took from the Greek meaning
"food of the gods."   As a chocolate lover myself, I chose Theobroma cacao as
my topic to explore the sociocultural history of the flavorful product made from
the cacao bean, chocolate.   The word "chocolate" is said to derive from the
Mayan "xocoatl" and cacao from the Aztec "cacahuatl."   Chocolate begins with a
cacao bean.   It has been mashed and eaten for centuries. The cacao bean's
popularity has not dwindled since before the time of Christ when it was prized in
Mesoamerica.   This paper will trace the sociocultural history of the cacao bean
and it's product, chocolate, from it's beginnings in Mesoamerica to it's spread
throughout Europe.
The Olmecs was the America's first civilization to use cacao (Topik,
1996).   Some linguists have reconstructed the word "cacao" originally
pronounced kakawa as a vocabulary item in the prot-Mixe-Zoquean by about
1000 BC, just when the Olmec civilization was at its height (Empty, 1997).   The
Olmecs passed kakawa on to the Maya.
The ancestors of the Maya entered the lowlands of northern Guatemala
around 1000 BC.   Until then, they lived in the highlands of Guatemala and the
Mexican state of Chiapas where cacao must have been very rare, if known at all.
If they found a use for the wild cacao they found growing in the lowlands when
they arrived, they must have had another word for it.   It was not until some time
between 400 BC and AD 100, they used the word kakawa (Empty, 1997).
Approximately AD 600, the Central American Maya tribe migrated deep
into South American's northern region and established the first cacao plantations
in Yucatan.   The fruit of the cacao tree played an important part in ceremonial
rituals and cacao beans were offered to gods during puberty rites, marriages
and...