Chocolate Chips
One of the strange things about chocolate is how a lot of advertisers promote it as the eighth deadly sin. Or, the most sensual experience you can have with your clothes on. But, the pioneer British chocolatiers Fry, Cadbury, Rowntree and Terry were all Quakers! Not sinful people at all! In their religious ardour, they wanted to encourage people to drink their chocolate as an alternative to beer or spirituous liquor.
But, nevertheless, chocolate is still tied to religion in a way in the form of the Easter egg. Pagans used the egg as a symbol of birth and fertility in Spring, because, in those days, chickens didn't lay in winter. Christians took it over as a symbol of the stone rolling away from Jesus' tomb and any that were laid during Lent were hard-boiled to preserve them, because they couldn't be eaten.
And, the chocolate egg came about as a symbol of Easter, because the period of Lenten fasting is over, and we may, once more, eat chocolate.
Although the pioneer British firms are still in business, their product is rather bland. Indeed, recently, the European Union food police' tried to prevent them from calling it chocolate'.
Many Britons prefer chocolate from abroad. A British chocolatier famous for his hand-made pralines used to import his chocolate from Switzerland, until it became too expensive, and he started importing Belgian chocolate instead.
Belgium is famous for three things its friten (chips or French fries, depending on which side of the Atlantic you live), which they claim to have invented, its beer (Stella Artois features among most lists of Famous Belgians') and its chocolate.
Buying chocolate in Belgium is serious business. It's not something you do if you're in a hurry, because any respectable chocolatier will, no matter how humble your purchase, wrap it like a precious gift for a loved one.
The Belgian chocolates with which most readers will be familiar are probably the fruits de mer, or shells. These come in dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate or any combination swirled together to give a sort of marbled effect.
There are other traditional shapes for chocolates. The port of Antwerp has long been a centre for cutting, polishing and trading in diamonds. Those who can't afford to take real diamonds home for gifts, however, can take chocolate diamonds instead. They can be found at most chocolatiers in the city, the leading one of which is H. Burie, in Korte Gasthuisstraat.
This isn't so much a shop as a temple of chocolate. Window displays here are designed to show what's going on in town in chocolate, of course! When I visited, the Tall Ships Race was starting from Antwerp the following day, so, naturally, the theme was maritime.
A chocolate octopus, about twice the size of a soccer-ball, presided over a kingdom of chocolate fish, and chocolate ships. But, there's still room for another chocolate speciality handjes or little hands'.
Handjes can also be little sweet biscuits, often served with coffee after a meal, but, most usually, they're hand-shaped chocolates.
The hand shape is said to have originated in Roman times, when a giant called Antigoon lived on this bend in the River Scheldt, and demanded an extortionate toll from each passing ship. Those skippers unwise enough to refuse had a hand chopped off. Then, along came Roman hero Silvius Brabo.
I say, Giant! This is hardly acceptable behaviour, you know' said Brabo (or words to that effect)
Take a hike, Sylvia!' said the giant.
So, Brabo slew Antigoon, and chopped his hand off, and threw it into the river.
Legend has it this is how Antwerp got its name; originally it was Hand-werpen' or hand-throwing'. There are, unfortunately, several people who like spoiling good stories with facts! It's nothing to do with hands, they say the name comes from aanwerp' which simply means a mound'.
But, there isn't a statue of the mound in front of the Town Hall; there's a statue of the heroic Brabo, pitching a severed hand into the river. And, even if the legend is untrue, say the bakers and chocolatiers, their handjes can also symbolise the hand of friendship which Antwerp extends to its visitors.