-Brian Mendonça
Chocolates. Can anyone resist them?
At this moment I am
munching into a chocolate bar with Galaxy written in brown chocolaty cursive on
the crimp. It is a 42 gm bar, with the writing ‘Smooth Milk’ to go under the G word.
Each of the bits has ‘g’ on it as if to reinforce the brand. The chocolate is from the Mars stable which
has a plethora of choices. When i went to their website I was informed that I
had just taken a bite of history. It read, ‘Smooth and creamy GALAXY chocolate
is your perfect partner in chocolate indulgence. Since its launch in 1960,
GALAXY has seen strong growth that continues to strengthen year on year. The
GALAXY brand, which includes GALAXY Smooth Milk, MINSTRELS and RIPPLE, stands
for 'me-time' indulgence, femininity and sensuousness.’*
The feminization of chocolate deserves attention. Countless
international brands like Ferrero Rocher, Leonidas and Oreo have women as the
subject of their advertisements. The chocolate is projected as being as desirable as the woman
in the ad – or adding to her desirability. In a blatant appeal to basic
instincts the Vero ad promoting dark chocolate, appeals to its viewers not to
deny their dark side. Exploring race relations, Haagen Dazs, has a submissive
black woman with a white lollipop in her
mouth.
Spurred by a chocolate-making workshop, I felt it would be a
good idea to ride on the crest of the wave.
On the heels of Valentine’s Day, when the young are inundated with
sweetness, this would be the right time to go in for the kill. How could I involve, often apathetic students
in college, in activities which had something to do with chocolate? Considering
the aversion of students to write these days, we invited poems, writings,
experiences, and recipes on chocolate. Where the submissions were not
forthcoming we went into class and solicited them. Interestingly, some of these reluctant
students, after due prodding, walked away with the first place! The synergy saw
a flurry of activity, with even android phones decidedly taking a back seat. It
prodded young adults to emerge out of their comfort zone and gave them
something to talk and write about. As votaries of incidental learning we deployed the cliché
‘Say it with chocolate’ for English language skill development.
On a day dedicated to chocolate on campus, students
marshalled power-point presentations and journeyed across nations to discover
how chocolate was made, its literary influences. They waxed eloquent about the
chocolate-making workshop conducted by Planet J and coordinated seamlessly by
Maria Fernandes. Jovito Lopes spoke
about the health benefits of dark chocolate.
To generate interest he showed several intricate figures – all made in
chocolate. Roxana Singh regaled the
audience with her reading from Como Agua
Para Chocolat [Like Water for Chocolate] written by first-time Mexican novelist Laura
Esquivel in 1989. Curtains came down on the event with a screening of the film Chocolat (2000) starring Juliette
Binochet, Judy Dench and Johnny Depp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*http://www.mars.com/uk/en/index.aspx. Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 26 February 2017
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