Chocolate Travel

Chocolate Travel Spots

Some people travel to learn about history. Others look for every opportunity to try regional foods and local cuisines. Ever thought about a chocolate cruise?

A Chocolate Cruise

The cruise starts with a bon voyage party where they passed huge trays of the best chocolates in the world, Godiva, Valrhona, Neuhaus, Hershey kisses, and more. Then there is a chocolate seminar on chocolate sculpturing, chocolate history and chocolate drinks. But the most popular session is actually sex and chocolate where you learn about the aphrodisiac properties of chocolate.

They place boxes of chocolate on the pillows every night. And each meal offered chocolate desserts. Who goes on a chocolate cruise? Since this was sponsored by Chocolatier magazine, there were many pastry professionals and chefs and caterers and cooking school instructors. Interestingly, almost 10% of the guests were doctors. But the overwhelming majority was merely chocoholics.

For more information 800-231-6378 or 212-239-0855.

Martini and Rossi Dessert Month

Another interesting event is the annual Martini and Rossi dessert month. Every October they do something incredible. They have a train ride from Miami to New York, with stops at many cities along the way to sample different desserts. Pastry chefs and students work round the clock.

Other years competition were based on the world's most expensive dessert (won by Neiman Marcus) and the world's most sinful dessert.

Each year, the Great Chocolate Mousse Fest is held in New Brunswick, Canada. This chocolate extravaganza includes a hand-dipping chocolate contest, a great chocolate chip cookie decorating contest and a chocolate treasure hunt. They also name a chocolate lover of the year. They have a hot chocolate line: 506-465-5616.

Norwegian Caribbean lines have a chocoholic buffet every afternoon. They have chocolate pizza, chocolate sushi and even chocolate lilies. Basically, it is chocolate everything. (800-655-2344)

Romance and Chocolate

Can you combine romance and chocolate? Sure, at the chocolate festival held by Pocono Manor Inn and Golf Resort, in Pennsylvania. They invited all chocoholics to come and experience a dream weekend full of entertainment, chocolate demonstrations and lots of chocolate tasting. But I wonder if they fill their famous champagne glass bathtub with chocolate milk?

The Mark Hotel in New York has a chocolate buffet, as does the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver. Unlimited chocolate is a dangerous opportunity, sort of like something that needs a traveler's alert.

The American Club in Wisconsin has an annual chocolate extravaganza. The event is called "In Celebration of Chocolate," and is held on the weekend proceeding Thanksgiving each year (sounds like something to be thankful for to me). Each year, the chefs select a different theme to guide their recipe selection, because one of the rules (self-imposed by the chefs) is that they can never repeat a recipe. The event is now in its 15th year. They begin preparations with recipe selection in summer, then testing recipes through early autumn, and a final menu determined by mid-autumn. They use about 600 pounds of the finest chocolate (domestic and imported) to create dozens of cakes, tortes, pastries, candies (over 2000 hand-made truffles each year!) and specialty items (one year, they served chocolate fettuccine!).

They also purchase several thousand candies from some of America's great chocolatiers (including famous Midwest candy makers). The event is a gala, elegant evening with candlelight and live music. About 400 people reserve to come each year.

If you're live in or are traveling in the Pacific Northwest, you can find the best of everything chocolate in The Chocolate Lover's Guide to the Pacific Northwest by Bobbie Hasselbring (Wordsworth Publishing 1999, $17.95, ISBN 0-9665619-0-2.) This travel guide for chocophiles reviews more than 400 restaurants, bakeries, ice creameries, and chocolate shops that make terrific chocolate in Oregon, Washington, and SW British Columbia. In addition, it offers terrific places to stay and great things to do in each area. The Oregonian calls this travel guide "a mouthwatering, mind-boggling compendium of just about every chocolate treat worth eating from John Day to British Columbia." You can get The Chocolate Lover's Guide from most bookstores or order a personally autographed copy from the author at (877-800-7700) toll-free.

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