THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS OF BELGIUM’S CHOCOLATE AND ENGLAND’S POTATO CULTURE


Permission for publication was granted on July 13, 2022.

Author: Haruki

A first-year student at the University of Tsukuba


In the class, we learned that the English tea culture and the American coffee culture are shaped by their imperialism and created by invasions. I was surprised at the fact that those traditional cultures were established a few centuries ago and based on many people’s harsh experiences. From this, I thought that other traditional food cultures might have unique historical backgrounds. I searched about it and found two interesting cases. 


The first case is Belgian chocolate. Today, many chocolate brands such as Godiva, Leonidas, and Mary are very famous (“Top Belgian Chocolate Brands” 2021). However, cocoa beans, which are the material of chocolates, are not cultivated in Belgium. They were brought to Belgium after the discovery of the South American continent and after sugar cultivation started in the Caribbean islands, where chefs in Belgium came to make delicious chocolates by mixing cacao beans and sugar. In addition, Belgian king Leopold Ⅱ declared Congo as his personal region in 1885, and it enabled Belgium to get a lot of cacao beans from there. His domination made chocolate production in Belgium flourish, but in Congo, many local farmers were forced to work in a terrible environment; violence was inflicted on many of them by Belgian officials (“Dark Side of Belgian Chocolate” 2019). This dark history is still a big theme between Belgium and Congo.


The second case is the potato culture in the U.K.. British people like not only tea but also potatoes. For example, fish and chips and french fries are both popular British potato dishes. However, potatoes are one of the vegetables that were imported from the American continent in the 16th century. Why did British people come to like potatoes? The answer was that potatoes were suitable to be grown in the U.K., especially in Ireland. In Autumn, Ireland is cool but does not have frost, which is a comfortable climate for potatoes to grow. For that reason, potatoes became the main food in Ireland and England. Also, they were rich in nutrition, so the population in those areas increased in the 18th century. However, the great potato famine occurred from 1845 to 1849 in Ireland (Ortiz, 2020). As a result, many Irish people emigrated to the U.S., and they became the main labor that supported the development of the U.S.. For example, they became the main labor force to construct the transcontinental railroad, and they made the U.S. lively after the gold rush started in 1848. There is no exaggeration to say that the development of the U.S. was partly carried out by Irish immigrants.


From these two examples, I learned that today’s food cultures have various roots and connections in the memories of pain and prosperity each country experienced. The answer to the main theme of this essay is the background that is deeply involved in shaping today’s modern society. I noticed that food and beverage cultures did not only be influenced by historical incidents but also affected society at that time and caused historical events.  In addition, those events led to not only bad things like invasions or massacres but also good and glorious things like population growth or countries’ prosperity. I look forward to finding out how today’s food culture will have relationships with the modern world in the future. 

(525 words)


Works Cited: