Book Review: Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury

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It’s so ubiquitous. Chocolates. And a book about their evolution and struggle to reach to the common man in its various forms is what this book brings to the fore. At the epicentre is the Cadbury family and its Quaker values pioneered by George Fox.

The Cadbury’s, the Rowntree’s, the Fry’s, the Lindt’s, the Hershey’s, the Mars, all get a mention in this book. And a bar of Snickers or one of Dairy Milk or the Hershey’s cocoa powder mean very different now to me when I see them in a retail store.

The book offers a vivid view into the Victorian England. Industrialization had just ushered in then and with it a rampant urbanization and unchecked inequality vis-à-vis opportunities. The idealism of the Quakers was the only hope. A hope that manifested itself through the Bourneville Trust.

However, the final chapter ‘Gone. And it was so Easy’ leaves a lasting impression. The two giants Nestle and Kraft have consumed all. The Fry, the Terry, the Rowntree, the Mackintosh and finally the Cadbury. Hedge funds and short-termism led to Cadbury being sold for a 20p profit by its hedge fund owners.