I was sitting in a great little tourist trap chocolate store in old town and my wife and I were just simply enjoying each other.  We are both people watchers, so sitting next to each other was not only romantic, but allowed us to watch people walk in to the little shop.

It really is amazing how widespread people are who love chocolate.  Both the well off, and the barely making it people stood side by side, a common love dropping any barriers of race, creed, religion, or status.  Nobody was holding their purses tight or looking at the floor, for here, there was only one purpose; to indulge in the sinful decadence that is in chocolate.

What struck me was the reaction of people when they first opened the doors.  If they hadn't done so already, each patron would expel the contents of their lungs to get the best and deepest breath they could fill their bodies with and exhale with the relaxation you only see in movies when a junkie knows he is about to get his fix.  If we were able to catch people far enough away through the all glass windows and doors; we could see their entire bodies light up, and postures straighten as they realized they were face to face with the cacao place.

What is it about this little bean that the Aztecs enjoyed so many hundreds of years ago?  From processing and blending to conching and tempering, there is no part of the process of making this sinful pleasure that I don't want to see.  I mean I love prime rib, but I don't want to see about 90% of how it is made.  With chocolate however, I want to fly to Africa, who now grows nearly half of the world's ever loving supply, pick the cacao pods, and follow the entire process through to my tongue.  Imagining our lives without chocolate, is like telling children Santa isn't real.

Chocolate lovers are some of the most passionate people in the world.  I know that for both my better half and I, on the rare occasions that we run into someone, no matter how much we enjoy them, if they say they don't like chocolate; our opinion of them drops.  The opposite is just as true as I have found people who were slightly irritating to me, but brought me great chocolate, suddenly found themselves being invited out to wine tasting.

With chocolate, for true lovers of the brown goodness, it isn't simply about taste, there is a level of snobbery that seems to take over.  Yes, the occasional over the counter bar is fine for taking camping and shoving on a graham cracker with a toasted marshmallow. However, when it comes to good quality chocolate that isn't filled with paraffin wax and an untold number of stabilizers, there is a need for the routine that comes with having such a wonderfully decedent treat at our very fingertips.  Our salivary glands go nuts in pure sweet anticipation of what is about to cross our lips.  I honestly can say as a true lover of the precious sweet, that I spend more time savoring a good chocolate truffle than I do a 20 year old glass of wine.  I am not ashamed of this, but rather take a great deal of pride in the very work that I accomplish in paying the due respects that are needed to make every experience even more enjoyable.

So, yes, it's a guilty pleasure, loaded with calories, and yes, it can be an addiction.

So maybe it should be illegal, but I am sure glad it isn't.