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Chocolate, food of the gods! That's the Greek meaning of "theobroma cacao," the name of the tree that provides it.
巧克力，又称为“神的食物”！那是可可树的希腊语的意思，也是那棵树的名字。
For a plant which is notoriously difficult to cultivate, its takeover of global tastes is decidedly impressive.
这种植物出了名地难种植，却收服了全球人类的味蕾。
Although not sold in Britain until the 1650s, its history goes back about 2,500 years before that, when it was almost certainly first domesticated in Central and South America.
虽然直到17世纪50年代英国才引入出售，但巧克力其实已经有2500年的历史，中南美洲绝对是原产地。
Chocolate was an important part of early Central and South American culture.
巧克力对早期的中南美洲文化来说可是很重要的。
The classic Mayans and their successors, including the Aztecs, consumed chocolate, usually as a drink, with water and perhaps chilli, or thickened with maize.
传统的玛雅人以及他们的后人，包括阿兹特克人，都会以巧克力作为饮料，加入水或辣椒，甚至是加玉蜀黍使其变稠。
They also used the beans as currency, as well as using them in ceremonies from baptism to burial.
他们除了会用可可豆作货币，亦会用于受洗和葬礼等仪式上。
It was a rich person's beverage, imbued with health and spiritual properties, and inevitably when the Spanish invaded and colonised the areas where it was found, they adopted it for their own use.
这是一种富人的饮料，充满了健康和精神属性，后来在西班牙入侵、殖民中南美洲时期被发现，西班牙人把种植可可树的地收归所有。
At first, it was slow to spread. When one Spanish ship transporting the beans was captured by the British in the 16th Century, they apparently threw the cargo overboard, thinking it was some form of dung.
一开始，传播的速度很慢。在16世纪，当一艘运送可可豆的西班牙船只被英国人截获时，他们以为是动物的粪便就把货物都丢进了水里。
However, as the Spanish, and then the French, and then the Italians, adapted the drink for their own tastes, they replaced the water with milk, and added sugar, and also started drinking it hot.
其后，西班牙人、法国人、意大利人都根据自己的口味对这种饮料进行了改造，他们用牛奶代替了水，再加上糖，并开始做成热饮。
By the time the British cottoned on, it was a rich, thick concoction, both delicious and pleasingly exotic.
当英国人意识到这种饮料的时候，它已经变成了一种浓郁的混合物，既美味又充满异国情调。
It was also healthy -- 17th Century medicine wasn't always certain what the new foods from the Americas would do to a Western disposition, but chocolate mainly got a resolute thumbs up.
它也很健康，17世纪的医学技术无法确定来自美洲的食品会否对西方人造成影响，不过唯独巧克力是大家都可以接受的。
Taken correctly, it was said to: "restore natural heat, generate pure blood, enliven the heart, and conserve the natural faculties."
更准确地说，巧克力可以“修复身体热量、产生纯净的血液、使心脏跳得更有活力以及保护身体机能”。
It was also claimed to be an aphrodisiac, and one author wrote: "Twill make old women young and fresh, create new motions of the flesh, and cause them to long for you know what, if they but taste of chocolate."
更有人称巧克力可作催情剂，曾有一名作家写道，“使老女人变得年轻、亮丽，让肉体充满能量，勾起他的们渴望已久的欲望，那是一尝巧克力的滋味。”
The Marquis de Sade was said to be addicted to it, using it to fuel ferocious orgies. No wonder it was popular!
萨德侯爵曾对此上瘾，用作狂欢派对的助燃剂。难怪会变得如此受欢迎！
At this time, chocolate was a drink.
截止此时，巧克力还只是饮料。
But in the early 19th Century, manufacturers worked out how to remove much of the fat, called cocoa butter, which could then be added back carefully, to improve the texture, making it edible, though still very bitter.
不过在19世纪初期，有生产商研究出了把大部分可可脂从巧克力中去除的方法，而后又可以重新逐点添加回去以改善口感，使它可以食用，尽管味道仍然苦涩。
The defatted chocolate became cocoa powder, which allowed the poor access to their own version of the food of the gods.
脱脂的巧克力会做成可可粉，这样也可以让贫困家庭能享用“神的食物”了。
It was also used for cooking, though we had to wait a few more decades for chocolate cake.
可可粉也被用于烹饪当中，虽然说巧克力蛋糕要再等几十年才出现。
It wasn't until the second half of the 19th Century that developments in milk processing, a sharp reduction in the price of sugar, and fierce competition between confectionery companies resulted in the first really popular eating chocolate—milk chocolate.
直到19世纪下半叶，随着牛奶加工技术的发展、糖价的急剧下降以及糖果厂之间的激烈竞争，第一种受欢迎的巧克力--牛奶巧克力--才成功造出。
Sales exploded, and chocolate quickly came to mean the stuff you ate, not the stuff you drank.
一推出市场即大卖，巧克力瞬间变成食物，而不再是饮料。
Less than 50 years later, chocoholics could choose from an ever-increasing range of bars, boxes and novelty shapes.
之后的50年间，巧克力爱好者可以从越来越多的块状的、盒装的和新奇形状的巧克力当中进行选择。
Today chocolate is polarized, from cheap, milky, sugary stuff, to high-end black bars of joy.
如今，巧克力已经两极分化，从廉价的、奶味重的、甜滋滋的品种，到高端的黑巧克力。
The former, we're told, high in sugar and fat, is leading to an obese nation, but the latter, it's hinted, may actually be beneficial.
前者是我们所知的高糖分及高脂，会导致体重过胖，而后者则据说对健康有益。
Early studies suggest small doses of very dark chocolate, rich in antioxidants, theobromine and caffeine may make us happier, healthier and less stressed.
早期的研究曾指出，一小块的黑巧克力里含有丰富的抗氧化物、可可碱和咖啡因，可使人心情愉悦、更健康、更放松。
Perhaps those 17th Century chocolate lovers were right after all.
也许那些17世纪的巧克力爱好者终究是对的！
