maybe…and that’s why the British voted for Brexit. Sometimes people take stuffvery seriously.
What about the famous crunchy frog ?
I have a Godiva “Nut Lovers Truffle Flight” in front of me.
It does not say “Belgian chocolate” anywhere on the box.
What it does say is Godiva in large letters. Under that in italics and smaller it says “Belgium 1926.”
There is nothing on the box indicating where the factory is. On the back it has the New York City address of the headquarters.
I don’t eat Belgium Chocolate. I would be surprised but pleased if somebody gave me some “Belgium Chocolate” that didn’t taste or feel like belgium chocolate, because that’s a style of chocolate I don’t like.
In Aus, I would expect any locally produced chocolate that claimed to be “Belgium” would boast about any Australian content, and would be made from imported chocolate from Belgium – because local production costs are high here.
I wouldn’t assume anything about the source of Dutch Cocoa or a French Slice.
We lived in the Netherlands for 3 years in the early 80’s. It took about 5 minutes (IIRC) to get to the Lady Godiva outlet. Toblerone was a special treat even then. Now many European food and beverage products are available in the US, and they are not the same thing. I learned to drink beer there, being close to the Grolsch brewery. I won’t touch any beer in America. European-style chocolates are still better than American, but they just aren’t as good at the real thing.
Of course, the chocolate had to come from somewhere else before Belgium, anyway, since cocoa beans don’t grow in Europe.
And as an aside, I’ve heard that Guinness has two breweries in North America, on in Canada, to serve the US market, and one in the US, to serve the Canadian market. That way, it can still be labeled as “imported”.
What about a German Chocolate Cake. They’re sold everywhere from grocery stores to Wal-Marts. I’ve never seen one made in front of me. I’ve thought they were shipped straight from Germany this whole time. I think I should sue.
And don’t even get me started on Mars Bars…
German chocolate cake is an oddity, in that it wasn’t named after a place at all (not even incorrectly, like French fries). The guy who first made it was an American named German.
But German chocolate cake is definitely a term of art (and named after some guy with the surname “German.”) What makes Belgian chocolate “Belgian,” other than the fact that they are from Belgium? Maybe I don’t eat enough chocolate, but to me, there’s nothing that really distinguishes it from me other than place of origin. Like if you got something called “French wine” and it was made in the US using cabernet sauvignon grapes, wouldn’t you think that’s a bit odd to call it “French”?
Are all bottles labeled Canadian Whisky made in Canada? I know at some are bottled in the US even though they are distilled and aged in Canada.
There is a US Customs ruling about how to place Godiva chocolates for import so at least some of the candy is imported. of course it doesn’t specify where from. there are a few other classifications requests from Godiva for choclates out of Belgium.
“The subject merchandise is described as a box of 36, 1½ inch square, pieces of demitasse chocolates. The box is non-reusable, composed of paperboard and plastic with a clear front that will hold the chocolates in 12 partitioned spaces. The words “Origins of the World”, the “Godiva” name and logo are printed on the clear plastic top to the left of the box. The chocolates are individually foiled wrapped, printed with the names of the three different types of chocolate and the percentages of cocoa they contain. The three flavors are: “Arriba” containing 50 percent cocoa, “Papua New Guinea” containing 70 percent cocoa and “Sao Tome” containing 72 percent cocoa. The demitasse chocolates main ingredients are said to consist of: chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, butter oil, milk, soya lecithin, vanilla and no milk solids.”
For that matter, there are connoisseurs and aficionados who will distinguish between whisky, whiskey, and scotch – plus apparently Japanese made “scotch” is becoming something of a fad lately?
Speaking of Japan, when I was there, the popular chocolates were German and Swiss style. After eating Meiji chocolate almonds and other Japanese chocolate products, I realized how bad American chocolates are and started assuming Belgian or Swiss or German -style referred to different relatively-local recipes – more or less vanilla, such a % of cacao, etc.
But Emperor Meiji sent people out all over the world to bring back samples of cultural artifacts, then they compared and chose what they considered the best of the best to emulate. Maybe attributing a characteristic style to its assumed source-country is just a Japanese thing – Swiss chocolate, British Naval tactics, et cetera.
–G!