Chocolate lover’s paradises around the world

By Joe Yogerst

updated 2:55 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2008

It’s just like any other addiction. You start slowly, gradually acquire a taste for the stuff and then ramp things up into a full-blown habit. But you can’t help yourself—you love the subtle buzz, the lingering aftertaste, the euphoric feeling that seems to follow every delicious encounter, to the point where you can no longer live without your daily dose. That’s when you know you’re a full-blown chocoholic.

But who offers the best chocolate high? That depends on what sort of chocolate you crave and how far you’re willing to travel for your buzz.

With more than a dozen factories and some 2,000 chocolate shops, Belgium is the undisputed kingpin of the chocolate world. From nut-filled nougats and pralines to truffles and white chocolate seashells, the little European nation produces more than 170,000 tons of chocolate each year—an amount equivalent to the weight of 850 Boeing 747s.

“Chocolate has a profound effect on people on many levels," says Pamela Hinckley of Theo Chocolate in Seattle, another chocolate lover’s paradise. “The aroma, flavor and sensual way it melts is just the beginning. Many of the sensations are similar to those we experience when we are falling in love." John Sharffenberger, co-founder of Sharffen Berger Chocolate in Berkeley, the little Belgium of California, agrees: “Chocolate satisfies on three levels—body, mind and soul."

Europe's love affair with chocolate desserts began in Belgium as a result of the country's colonial involvement in the Congo. Along with a huge swath of African jungle, the Belgians suddenly found themselves with a huge supply of cacao, the basic raw ingredient of chocolate. The invention of the praline in Brussels in 1912 kicked off the world’s first chocolate candy craze and established chocolate as one of the country’s key industries.

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Although there are many famous Belgian chocolate makers—Neuhaus, Leonidas, Sukerbuyc and Daskalidés—one of the oldest and most celebrated is Godiva, which has been around for more than 80 years. Seeking a name that combined beauty and sensuality, founder Joseph Draps named his confections after the lady who once rode naked through Coventry. His original chocolate shop on the Grande Place in Brussels still exists today. There are 15 other boutiques in Belgium, while the original Godiva factory churns out hundreds of thousands of boxes per year.

Theo Chocolate Theo Chocolates specializes in organic, fair trade, gourmet confectionaries. Tours of the factory in north Seattle's Fremont district are offered four times per day ($6).

“It’s really not surprising that Godiva originated in Belgium," says Jim Goldman, the company’s worldwide president. From art and architecture to lace and crystal, Belgium has as long tradition of perfectionism. “In keeping with this tradition—and with a remarkable eye for detail—Draps set forth the standard at Godiva for elegant, shell-molded designs and beautiful packaging."

On the other side of the Atlantic, another charismatic individual was responsible for launching the chocolate craze in the United States. After failing at the candy business in a handful of cities, Milton Hershey returned to his roots in rural Pennsylvania in 1883 and established a factory to produce caramels. Convinced that the future belonged to chocolate (rather than caramels) Hershey spent years of trial and error perfecting the milk chocolate formula that would lead to the first Hershey bar.

Today, Hershey is Chocolate Town U.S.A.—home to the factories where they make Hershey’s iconic brands, from Kisse to Kit Kat, and a sprawling interactive experience called Chocolate World that combines theme-park rides, simulated factory tours, 3-D films and private tastings of Hershey’s new gourmet chocolates.

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