Neide Rigo is a foraging tour guide/chef and has been a part of the natural, local, and healthy food movement in Brazil since many years ago -before it was cool and easy. When I landed in Brazil I immediately fell in love with her blog because it taught me about the foreign Brazilian ingredients that…
People always seem confused when I say I travel for cacao. Take my recent trip to Belize as an example. Most assumed it was for scuba diving or snorkeling, as diving experts deem the country as having the second best, if not the best, reef in the world. Few realize how the country is probably the most appropriate launch pad for my two month long choco-journey.
Cacao of Colombia has been in the shadows of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru when it comes to the small-batch, bean to bar, craft chocolate movement.
Ecuador is the first stop in my South American tour of cacao. Tasting chocolate in San Francisco is always a pleasure but tasting that same chocolate bar on the farm that produced the cacao is magical.
Fazenda Camboa is owned by two brothers and is the largest organic farm in Brazil, possibly the world. It is in the state of Bahia, north of Sao Paulo, and a short 2 hour flight for me. I have visited the farm twice in the past year, once alone and the other with Greg from…
When I moved to Brazil a few years ago, I thought I would import cacao from Ecuador, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Belize; my preferred countries for cacao. After some research I realized I was going to fail tremendously because Brazil protects its cacao furiously and makes it impossible to import. Luckily, Brazil has a lot…
MuCho- Mundo Chocolate is a new museum in Mexico City (Colonia Juarez) that is dedicated to the story of chocolate.