Happy HOT CHOCOLATE Day!….
Chocolate’s such an important global topic/crop/product that’s very significant to Black and Brown cultivating cultures past and present. For now just know that it originated in what is present day Mexico and serving chocolate as a hot drink was started by the Maya as long as 3,000 yrs ago. It later became an essential part of Aztec culinary culture too (circa 1400 AD)…
With THIS YEAR (2026) being America’s big ol birthday and all (250th!), and being the nerdy Drink Historian i am — i did something different for Hot Chocolate Day and designed a drink based on Colonial Era Cacao Tea. that can be consumed hot, warm, or cold. Speaking of Colonial, If you look closely at the can label in one of the pics below you’ll see MARTHA WASHINGTON’s name on it . Wanna know what Martha had to do with chocolate “tea” imported from what is now present day MEXICO? …Well….[see end of post below]
Oh Hey it’s Brussel Sprouts Day too! 😆
Fire-roasted brussel sprouts (w/ toasted almonds, currants, and a lemon-herb vinaigrette). In the “shareables” section of GRANVILLE’s menu in West Hollywood, CA …during a family outing after visiting LACMA to see the Obama Portraits. . It’s a wonder we were able to order them for the whole table— as our Boomer parents seem to have some kind of sustained ‘brussel sprout PTSD having grown up in 1950’s America. Whereas their Gen X & Millenial daughters & beau have an entirely different relationship with these lil veggie darlings we LOVE …
I usually START with “Eat Your Brussel Sprouts Day” which always falls on the same day each year as Nat’l Hot Chocolate Day That’s right, consume our veggie content first before getting to the chocolatey bits, but this year i flipped the script 😋…
As a tracker of food trends, I still find it interesting how brussel sprouts went from being veggies non grata to the culinary stars they now are. I found a few alleged reason(s) why explained in this 46 second Tik Tok vid …
While I’m sure there’s some truth to the whole “genetic modifications made them less bitter / taste better” answer mentioned in the vid (see above)… I believe the real reason’s planted in the part where she says: “bred with higher producing varieties”. Higher producing = lower price and thus cheaper cost for food markets and restaurants, That can then prepare them properly (by chefs with skill sets) to justify marking them up to white table-cloth level prices.
Not to mention that the output and distribution method of brussel sprouts has changed entirely since 1950. Back in the day, the only way to buy brussel sprouts was in a frozen block or a can that turned up on your plate (if they even got that far) as khaki green colored, barely seasoned bitter little mushy balls. Now that they’re being grown and harvested properly and made available to us on fresh stalks at farmers markets (and supermarkets) everywhere, it’s a whole new day for this crunchy, crispy (IF prepped properly) cruciferous celeb.
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