RE: MyPictureDay - Chuao, Venezuela.
Okay, had more time to read this properly tonight instead of just gazing at the photos. Thought-provoking article with excellent photos as always, @gabyoraa. You show us not just the what but the why of the place,
Comparing this isolated and "backwards" village to your own modern, civilized, connected and now chaotic city and country puts some things in perspective. I'm glad these people have avoided (presumably intentionally) much of the progress that has been destroying the rest of your nation and eroded the values of so many others around the world. We can't and maybe shouldn't all go back to an uncomplicated life like this but we can at least learn from it. Mostly it's just reassuring to be shown that it still exists, somewhere.
(And it's oddly reassuring to know that there are mosquitoes even in paradise. At least we have that in common.)
Your article leaves me with a question: who was the first person to think "hey, this cacao fruit is pretty tasty, but why don't we leave the fruit out to ferment a few days, roast it, mash it into a powder, heat it up, mix it with sugar, cool it into the shape of a rectangular pancake with grid marks and see how it tastes then?"
Same guy that thought it was a good idea to milk a cow. Wonder what he was thinking. Ha ha ha
Hahahaha! Oh dear.
One of my kids was talking to me about this just a few days ago... while we were out in the wilderness on holidays we found what we now know to be wild native raspberries... when we found them we were intrigued but we didn't dare eat something without an identification to know it was safe. We did however take photos and that's how we later found out.
But that got my son thinking about the first people... all the things they would have done and tired without knowing if it was poisonous or not. I used rhubarb as an example... with some parts of the plant being highly toxic to humans, with other parts not if used and cooked the right way. But who was the guinea pig to find that out? How many trials and errors did it take to know if you boil the stems you can eat it but don't dare eat the leaves?
Also... have you ever watched 'Willie's Chocolate Revolution' documentary? It was a series, a really good series we saw a few years back... it went very much into the history of cocoa and chocolate making.
This is the first episode...
Yes, I've thought the same thing. I have family with chickens, and there's a whole list of things that they can and cannot eat, and I can only wonder how many chickens perished in that pursuit of knowledge? I think humans have been smarter than we give them credit for for a long time, so maybe it didn't take as much trial and death as we imagine, but still, it's easy to take nonpoisonous plants for granted when you can look them up online.
No, I haven't watched that. Looks interesting!
And now I really want chocolate.
How intriguing are these small parts of history that no one really gives a second thought to! : )
It was a great little series... I might end up going back and watching it again now.
Hahahaa... I'm not much of a chocolate girl. I do like a little bit of dark chocolate now and then. But I do enjoy a hot chocolate... one made with cacao powder, not coco! ; )
Oh you haven't tried the dark chocolate with sea salt and pepper from chuao!!!!!
Oh wow that sounds good, I wonder if I can find that around here???
I have had it with sea salt... and it was... yeah... but I don't know about the pepper. I'm not a huge fan of pepper.
Probably most of the profound things that have happened in history were never recorded...
You are probably right!