Over the years and throughout time we learn things that are passed down from the people who came before us. We learn things from our parents, or grandparents, and even those who are not part of our family. But in the end it is thanks to those who came before us that we have so much knowledge about things such as technology, clothing, and even food. Chocolate for example is a snack that many people consume daily as well as an ingredient that we see in many foods today, and has become very important for people all around the world. But chocolate is something that has evolved over the years to get to were it is. Today many of the people who consume chocolate might not even consider how chocolate is made or where it comes from or who even had the idea to make something …show more content…
While there are many people who enjoy chocolate there are also others who absolutely do not like it, whether people like chocolate or not it is thanks to the contributions of the Mesoamerican cultures use of chocolate for trade, rituals, and medicinal purposes, that today chocolate has become very important to the world of cuisine. The first records of cacao according to The Journal of Nutrition were first identified by Columbus and his crew, but it wasn’t until Hernando Cortez and Bernal Diaz del Castillo’s expedition in Mesoamerica that the importance of cacao was identified. It was here where Cortez and his men saw the preparation of the chocolate beverage. They then spread this knowledge in Spain, according to The Journal of Nutrition “Chocolate, prepared as a beverage, was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Kekchi Mayan nobles brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip” (Vukovic). Even though the first records of cacao suggest that Mayans and the Aztecs were among the first to use cacao a recent article suggests that the Olmec used cacao as