(Aug 27, 2025 02:05 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: "When chocolate first reached Switzerland in the 17th century, it was not the sweet comfort food we know today. It was exotic, dark, and suspicious. Priests even warned parishioners that drinking too much of this bitter brew could tempt the soul just like wine or lust. In certain folktales, chocolate was whispered about as a devil’s bargain, something that stirred passions and weakened restraint.
Yet at the same time, merchants claimed it was powerful medicine. They boasted that it gave strength, sharpened the mind, and even improved virility. The push and pull between indulgence and morality played out in village squares and pulpits alike, giving chocolate an almost mythical aura.
What fascinates me is how quickly the story flipped. By the 19th century, pioneers like Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlé transformed chocolate into something entirely new by creating milk chocolate. What was once branded as a sinful temptation became a source of national pride. Switzerland went from warning its people against chocolate to becoming the global symbol of it.
To me, that transformation is remarkable. It feels like Switzerland made peace with its “devilish” indulgence and then turned it into its sweetest identity. Whenever I bite into a square of Swiss chocolate, I can’t help but think about that history. Something once feared as dangerous is now celebrated as the very heart of Swiss culture."
I can't remember the last time I ate something that contained real chocolate. Everything these days seems to be topped with, filled with, or even wholly constituted of that ersatz stuff (almond bark).
"In 1922, a team of scientists arrived at the Toronto General Hospital, where wards were filled with children suffering from advanced diabetes. Many of the young patients were in diabetic comas, teetering on the edge of death from ketoacidosis. Others were barely surviving on starvation diets—then the only known way to slow the disease. Parents sat helplessly by their children's bedsides, waiting for the inevitable.
Then something extraordinary happened. The scientists went from bed to bed, injecting each child with a new purified extract called insulin. As they reached the last child, still unconscious, the very first child they had treated began to stir. One by one, the children awoke, emerging from their comas. What had been a ward filled with grief and despair transformed into a room overflowing with relief and joy.
This groundbreaking moment was the result of tireless work by Frederick Banting and Charles Best, under the guidance of John Macleod at the University of Toronto. With James Collip’s help, they refined and purified insulin, making it viable for widespread medical use. Rather than profit from their discovery, Banting, Best, and Collip sold the patent to the University of Toronto for just one dollar, believing it belonged to the world. In 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of their life-saving breakthrough."
It was everywhere we went. It was awful. Even the cars had lighters and ashtrays. So why did so many people smoke back then? Big tobacco brainwashed us all. Smoking was constantly presented in ads and in movies to look cool and sophisticated. All the tough guys and gals did it. And growing up back then who didn't want to look tough? For decades all the evidence of smoking's harmful effects was suppressed by the tobacco industry and rich corporate lobbies. And so we ended up a society of hacking, leather-skinned, smelly nicotine junkies. Fortunately my parents never did smoke, for which I remain forever grateful. But even today all is not well. My apt bans all smoking from the apts and only allows it to happen 50 ft away. So all the smokers now stand around in the parking lot every hour or so spreading their carcinogens into the outdoor breeze. I always get a good whiff or two going to my car and back. The noxious legacy of Big Tobacco lingers on.
Thank you science! Thank you for all the vaccines and medications and health/dietary advice and surgeries not to mention warm houses in winter and clean running water and soap and insecticides and agriculture and homogenized milk and textiles and cars to get around easily and quickly in and appliances and ambulance rides and debit cards and online shopping and all this spare time that I have now that I don't know what the hell to do with. lol
Aug 27, 2025 03:03 AM
![[Image: K78ybsa.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/K78ybsa.jpeg)
![[Image: 6TXmEM4.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/6TXmEM4.jpeg)