We Don’t Know Where Chocolate Comes From

Chocolate being one of the world’s most delicious foods, you’d think we would know everything about it. /Somebody/ domesticated wild cacao. It’s just… nobody really knows who, or when… or where. But if we want chocolate for the long haul, it’s in our best interests to find out.

Hosted by: Niba @NotesbyNiba (she/her)
----------
Support us for $8/month on Patreon and keep SciShow going!
Join our SciShow email list to get the latest news and highlights:
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: J.V. Rosenbalm, Jaap Westera, Jeffrey Mckishen, David Johnston, Gizmo, Friso, Wesus, Jeremy Mattern, Alan Wong, Matt Curls, Bethany Matthews, Blood Doctor Kelly, Spilmann Reed, Lyndsay Brown, Toyas Dhake, Kaitlyn O'Callaghan, Garrett Galloway, kickinwasabi, Martin Osorio, DrakoEsper , Eric Jensen, Cye Stoner, Chris Curry, Jp Lynch, Chris Peters, Alex Hackman, Piya Shedden, Joseph Ruf, Jason A Saslow, Kevin Knupp, Kevin Bealer, Chris Mackey, Steve Gums, Adam Brainard
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?

#SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly
----------

[paulm]

4:11 So ancient South American cultures were cultivating and trading cacao over a wide geographical area at least _5, 000_ years ago... It's amazing how archeological research keeps revealing deeper and older evidence of organized, purposeful human cultures across the entire world. Fascinating stuff.

[derrickthewhite]

A note on why they mention worries about the chocolate supply: we just passed the 12 month mark on a chocolate shortage caused by The El nino weather effect and disease in West Africa. That's why off brand chocolate has changed it's taste. That's why brand name chocolate had gone up in price. So that's one reason we're particularly interested right now

EDIT: I thought it was a drought, it appears to be a more complex series of weather interactions related to disease and the El nino. Thanks to the people who made me look twice.

[eastweast]

Queen of matching the fit/accessories to the topic

[yourilepp]

Story on urine…yellow outfit.
Story on chocolate…brown outfit.
Coincidence? I think not.
Thanks for putting yourself into your work

[KokoHekmatyarr]

Damn the color coordination between hosts dress, accessories and the topic of the vid was just *chefs kiss*. :D

[ihcfn]

Loving this Niba marathon. Love her voice and presenting style and also just her style. Long my it continue!

[boh]

Imagine all the science, culture and medicine we could learn if we could all just get along.

[kelvinr]

As a chocolate maker in Hawaii this definitely caught my attention.

[Shakads]

I may not know where chocolate is from but I sure know where it goes! 😮🍫

[CourtneySchwartz]

Nobody’s outfit has ever made me crave cocoa so hard.

[edwartexe]

i found it funny that "criollo" just means "local" in hispanic slangs so it's just "the local breed of cacao", which means nothing when you dont know what "local" is

[mackenzieallen]

LOVE the background! Reminds me of the old PBS ZOOM set design. I'm old, nobody remembers Zoom

[TylerDane]

Chocolate has to be one of the top ten, if not top five, of human inventions in all of history.

[joshberkus]

I am absolutely loving the color-coordinated outfits for the shows. Way to go, Niba!

[DragoniteSpam]

This is mostly unrelated but I absolutely love that "northwest south america" is a thing that you can say in a serious context.

Guys ffs I didn't say it's "wrong, " I said it's FUNNY. Jesus, some of you just go around looking for things to argue about.

[_Dio_Brando_]

It spawns naturally in every grandma's pantry

[doreenbierens]

Just started on a well deserved piece of chocolate. Best part of the day. ❤

[burnte]

The seeds don’t have to travel well, they could have moved tiny sprouts in dirtballs in leather sacks. Then replant it and you get lots of seeds!

[wswanberg]

It's also important to breed cacao trees for more temperate environments, just in case some moron comes along and slaps tariffs on everything.

[Hati]

I'm atheist, but I'm pretty sure it's from heaven.