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Chocolate for Life By Sandra Scott |
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The next day, after a leisurely gourmet breakfast at the Artist’s Inn, we headed to Lititz, which quickly became our favorite town and the smell of chocolate in the air had a lot to do with it! The factory responsible for the delicious smell was Wilbur Chocolate where Wilbur Buds were the inspiration for the Hershey Kiss. The factory has a show kitchen where we watched ladies hand-dipping chocolate. The museum displays early chocolate making equipment and an informative video tells about the discovery of the “Food of the Gods” by the Spanish explorers who then spread the love of chocolate across the world.
Selina says, “Chocolate is for Life—for the life of the people who grow it, the life of the rainforests that sustain it, and the life of people who eat the real thing! Between 40 and 50 million people in some of the world’s poorest countries depend on cocoa for their livelihood. Typically, cocoa is grown on a family farm with family members providing the farm labor.” We are well aware of the benefits of eating chocolate but seldom think about the benefits to the people who produce the cocoa. For more information check www.chocolatelititz.com, www.padutchcountry.com, and www.artistinn.com. |
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most
common noise is the clip-clop of the Amish horse and buggies.
Next to Wilbur
Chocolate is the Tourist Information Office where we picked up a
brochure for a walking tour of Main Street, which is lined with 18th
century buildings. Our goal was the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery,
the home of America’s first pretzel bakery. One of the wonderful
things about the factory is that it was founded in 1861 in the same
location and is maintained by the fifth generation of the Sturgis
family. We joined the tour where Carol, our guide, showed us how to
make the pretzels, which symbolize hands at prayer. We left with a
bag of caramel filled chocolate covered pretzels.
On the way back
to the car we could not resist stopping for lunch at Cafe Chocolate.
A wise choice. John had toasted a peanut butter and banana panini
with dark chocolate, while I opted for Chile Con Chocolate, Oaxacan
style. It was a delicious lunch but meeting the owner, Selina Man,
made it more special. Selina is an amazing woman who exudes
happiness and energy. From Hong Kong to Toronto to Princeton to
Lititz, her personal journey is amazing.
Selina is the
founder and chief chocolate officer of Cafe Chocolate, which
specializes in organic, dark, and fairly traded chocolates, food,
and drinks. She came to Lancaster County to be the chief operating
officer of Ten Thousand Villages, a fair-trade business enterprise
of more than a hundred retail gift shops owned by the Mennonite
Central Committee. For ten years before that, she was head of
international operations for a Wall Street firm that rates insurance
companies. Before coming to the US from Canada, Selina had worked as
the chief of finance for a hospital, administered a government
program for Vietnamese refugee women, and started her own vegetarian
bistro business. Selina was born and brought up in Hong Kong and
finished undergraduate studies at York University in Toronto. She
did her doctoral studies in Asian economics at Princeton University
and has lived and worked in Japan, Australia, NZ and UK. An amazing
journey from Hong Kong to Litnitz, PA!