What Makes Chocolate Patriotic?



As the nation I was born, raised, and still live is marks its 245th birthday, I wanted to ask all of our readers on The Chocolate Cult, what you think would make for a patriotic chocolate.

Can chocolate be patriotic?

What criteria would you use to decide if chocolate product was patriotic or not?

This would apply to any nation.

I want to see your thoughts first in the comments and then I'll chime in with my own.

Comments

WriterLisaKaye said…
These are difficult questions for me as my own criteria for being patriotic; for having the characteristics of a patriot, have been evolving recently. And it's hard to say that a food that is not native to this country could be considered so. But if we go with the definition of patriot as being someone who loves and supports his/her country, then in the USA I would say the most patriotic chocolate is that which is made by independent chocolatiers.

Now, I'm not disparaging big national brands, or even smaller commercial operations as have been reviewed here so many times. But it's the independent shops, the Mom & Pop stores who support their local community. They sponsor little league teams. They donate product to fundraisers. By strengthening their local communities, they also support the country. Yes, I am limiting my answer to the USA because if I went international, I'd be writing for another hour or so.

So support your local chocolate shops if you want to follow my definition of "patriotic"
Those are valid points, WriterLisKaye, thank you for sharing them.

I will take the opportunity to remind folks that cocoa trees are grown in Hawaii, so you could apply the criteria of ground in a country to the USA, but your options for finding chocolate made from those beans will be limited.