
Why the 1930s were a golden age for chocolate (1996) - bootload
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/10/roald-dahl-why-1930s-golden-age-chocolate
======
bootload
_" My passion for chocolate did not really begin until I was fourteen or
fifteen years old..."_

Bit of a background. Dahl going to school in the 30's got the chance to taste
all these chocolates (Sweets/lollies) as a tester for Cadbury resulting in a
sweet tooth. [0] These stories are told in "Boy" and "Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory".

Interesting facts: Dahl got the cane for putting a dead mouse in a jar of
gobstoppers while at Cathedral School, Llandaff. Credited with creating the
word, ^Gremlin^. [1] Dahl collected the silver foil wrappers of chocolate he
had for lunch, rolled them into a ball [2] that sat on his desk, the writing
shed at Gypsy House. Sharpened pencils at the side, board across his knees and
feet on his mothers old suitcase. [3]

Nowhere in the article is the a ^reason^ why Cadbury developed so many
classics in this period. There seems to be a fair bit of innovation working
out how to get Cadbury chocolates lighter, and no Thatcher didn't have a hand
in this. [4]

Reference

[0] [https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/archive/archive-
highlig...](https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/archive/archive-
highlights/roald-dahls-history-of-chocolate)

[1] You can hear Dahl talk about the mouse, the thrashing he got, gremlins and
chocolates ~
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040dzz0](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040dzz0)

[2] [https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/archive/archive-
highlig...](https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/archive/archive-
highlights/the-chocolate-wrapper-ball)

[3] [https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/archive/search-the-
data...](https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/archive/search-the-database)

[4] [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-
check/2013/apr/...](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-
check/2013/apr/17/margaret-thatcher-team-mr-whippy)

------
emptybits
The article focuses on a golden age of _candy bars_ more than a golden age of
_chocolate_. Big difference IMO.

~~~
timthorn
This being an article from a British newspaper, it wouldn't use the term
"candy bars" \- they're all considered "chocolate bars" in the UK

~~~
chrisseaton
Yes in the UK 'candy' means what you would call 'hard candy' (although most
people would probably use the term 'boiled sweet' instead), and what you would
call 'candy' we call 'sweets'. A 'chocolate bar' is any sweet enrobed in
chocolate.

~~~
joncrocks
Be careful with your definition...

A chocolate bar is generally something that is vaguely rectangular (longer
than it is wide), has chocolate as it's outer layer, and would take multiple
(often many) bites to eat.

If I take a sherbet pip and dip it in chocolate, it is not a chocolate bar
good sir! :-)

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n4r9
Am I the only one who came away with more appreciation of the "what", but none
at all of the "why"?

~~~
autokad
i got confused at first too. its evidence that the 1930s was the golden age of
chocolate, not an explanation of why the 1930s are the golden age of chocolate

~~~
dragonwriter
Lots of "why X is Y" articles are really "why X is described as Y" rather than
"what caused X to be Y".

~~~
n4r9
The confusion is compounded by one of the first lines:

> this extract ... explains why the decade produced virtually all the classic
> bars we still love today

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phaed
> But Forrest Mars had the secret, and the Mars bar was born. It swept the
> world, the first ever chewy bar. And very soon 600 million were being eaten
> every year in England alone. That is 10 per year, per person.

What was the secret?

~~~
trendia
Not sure about the Mars bar, but the Hershey secret is adding butyric acid to
the chocolate [0]:

> The process is a company and trade secret, but experts speculate that the
> milk is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the
> milk from further fermentation.

Fun fact: butyric acid is also what makes vomit smell.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_bar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_bar)

~~~
nly
The very first time I tried Hersheys (Brit, travelling to the US as a teen),
my immediate reaction was "this tastes like vomit". Worst chocolate I've ever
tasted, I have no idea how it's so popular

~~~
mc32
It tasted that way because you're not used to it and used to other flavors.

I appreciate unsweetened lattes (sans flavor syrups) other people enjoy
vanilla, sweetened matcha, etc. Neither one of us can say one flavor is
objectively better than the other, we just prefer different things --many
children detest greens when young but come to appreciate them later in their
youth or as they get older.

~~~
maxerickson
Sweet milk chocolate is pretty awful though.

~~~
autokad
a lot of people prefer it, around 45% over all other chocolates

------
perilunar
Bring back the Polly Waffle!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Waffle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Waffle)

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jmjanzen
Also a good year legally for the start of the long fight to end the
involvement of child/slave labour in the production of cocoa. See [the Tariff
Act of
1930]([https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19/1307](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19/1307)).

Unfortunately, this fight has yet to be won.

------
Theodores
The Mars company historically were big on automation and vending machines, in
the pre-computer era Mars were the big player in this business. I think that a
lot of that expertise must have been gained on the factory production hardware
before the other business came along, i.e. the vending machines and the global
export opportunities for such hardware, able to do such things as reliably
dispense a packet of crisps.

Once Mars and co mastered the art of automation then anything became possible.
I think this was a different thing to 'mass production' as that had gone on
for a long time before Ford in UK food manufacturing, e.g. biscuits in
Reading.

