Sure we all love chocolate, but how much do you actually know about the "food of the gods?" If the answer is "not much aside from the fact that it tastes good," that's about to change. Beth Kimmerle has created a beautiful, informative and fun book about everyone's favorite indulgence. After perusing the pages you'll come away an expert at the history of chocolate, from the Aztecs to Western Europe to the enormous industry chocolate makes up in today's United States. Along the way you'll gaze at nostalgic ads and artwork from recognizable brands still available today and confectionary treasures lost to history.

A beautifully produced coffee table book, there are tons of full color photos and advertising reprints of the stuff we all grew up with and hoarded our allowances in order to buy. There's a chocolate timeline and the text is filled with lots of fascinating chocolate trivia. Although not a cookbook, the author does include a chapter of 17 classic chocolate recipes, along with instructional information about working with chocolate.

You'd be hard pressed to find a better gift for the chocoholics in your life.

Sample Recipe:
See the Related Recipes box below for a sample recipe from this book.