On Chocolate

I have finally exhausted my emergency supply of Finnish chocolate. Well, actually I still have some but it's ment for special fancy occasions (which I'm certain will arise sooner or later).

There are some stores, though, that sell actual chocolate here. Not the usual one they sell in most places: the one with “chocolate” written on the cover but something too dark, too dry, too sweet and too odd inside with an unmistakably artificial taste.

But as I mentioned earlier, I have found my new favourite chockolate. And since you're all dying to hear about it, I'll tell you. You can get it from the People's Food Co-op, which is a great place.

(By the way, have I mentioned that americans have a different attitude to shops and stores than "we" do. It's kind of hard to explain: stores and chains are treated more as persons or attractions or as – and maybe this is the closest to what I mean – concepts of some kind. It's infectious, you can notice it in the way I talk about the People's Food Co-op or Espresso Royale or NoThai! (and by the way NoThai! was closed this week because of the spring break and I'm really beginning to be desperate already). A funny example of the hubris over brands, labels and buying, is the fact that most bars sell their own T-shirts.)

Anyway, back to my new favourite chocolate. It's called the Endangered Species Chocolate. It's REALLY good. And you can feel good about buying chocolate since 10% of the profit is donated to “help support species, habitat and humanity”. And there are pictures of cute animals on the wrapping!!! My favourite is the sea otter: smooth milk chocolate with 52% cocoa.




Also, I was catching up on my Viivi ja Wagner. Check out Wagner starting up his own research unit on Feb 19th and Feb 20th. I won't even try to translate. Or how would you translate: “Wagnerin tutkimusyksikkö, EVVK”?