‘Puckish, witty, casually erudite… delivers acute and sharply observed portraits of both people and places’ Times Literary Supplement
INDULGENCE: ONE MAN’S SELFLESS SEARCH
FOR THE BEST CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD (2003) (Little, Brown, UK).
Translated into Italian as I PIACERI DEL CIOCCOLATO (Garzanti)
Winner of Guild of Food Writers (UK) Book of the Year 2004.
Everyone loves chocolate. From Willy Wonka to Ferrero Rocher, the Cadbury’s flake girl to the man from Milk Tray, it is embedded in our culture as perhaps no other foodstuff. Depending on who you listen to, it either clogs up your arteries or reduces the risks of cancer; it is the bringer of acne or the ‘Prozac of Candy’; it produces the same chemicals in your brain as when you fall in love.
Paul Richardson has had a sweet tooth every since his grandmother fed him Lindt milk chocolate animals as a boy. In this fascinating book he satisfies a lifelong craving by travelling the world to find out the history of this most popular of foods.
Part travelogue, part cultural history, part literary gastronomy, Indulgence is full of the hilarious, the delicious and the downright bizarre.
‘If knowledge is the key to pleasure, this is a downright enjoyable way to gain it… Guilt does not stalk this pages. Their aim is to instruct and, by instruction, to release the endorphins of pleasure that will make the next bar even better. For me, the book scored as high as Valrhona up against a Galaxy’ The Guardian
‘This whimsical account of his pig-out pilgrimage is required reading for anyone who would rather not share their Kit-Kat’ Evening Standard, UK
‘Calling all chocoholics, this is one history lesson you will relish’ Daily Express, UK
‘The range is astonishing and all the little impertinent details a delight… Willy Wonka himself would be enthralled’ Glasgow Herald
‘The story of chocolate has never been better told’ Condé Nast Traveller
