Food of the Gods

It’s one of our FAVOURITE weeks here at the Oakeley Arms Hote in Snowdonia…. Yes, it’s National Chocolate Week, where we can celebrate ALL things chocolatey, yum, yum, yum!

This year, chocolate week runs from the 14th to the 20th of October and in honour of our favourite foodstuffs, we vow to have a chocolatey treat EVERY day this week (oh go on then, if we must!).

The sweet, decadent treat has been enjoyed and devoured since the mid eighteenth century, although it was enjoyed as a luxury drink before then. When the industrial revolution steamrollered into Britain in the 1700s, it brought with it new machinery and production techniques that enabled the bitter cocoa beans to be transformed into smooth and sweet chocolate bars. They were expensive at first, and so a luxury that only rich families could afford, but by the end of the 1800s, several chocolatiers had sprung up across Britain (John Cadbury, JS Fry and Henry Rowntree are the most famous), making chocolate treats affordable for the masses.

Today, according to the latest research, we eat each about 200 grams of chocolate a week, making it one of the country’s most popular sweet treats (although 200 grams doesn’t sound that much to us…. hands up who eats more than that?!). And although chocolate is dense in calories and fat, it’s not all bad news. If you’re looking for a reason to indulge in a little afternoon treat, then look no further, because did you know that……

• Chocolate reduces the risk of a stroke – a study in Sweden found women who ate about 45 grams of chocolate a week were 20% less likely to have a stroke than non-chocolate eaters.
• Chocolate eaters are less likely to have a heart attack – a study found that moderate consumption of chocolate prevents blood clots, and so works to prevent heart attacks.
• Chocolate makes you brainier – the flavonoids in chocolate have been linked to an increased intelligence (particularly in maths and science – and we don’t know about you, but we need all the help we can get!).
• Chocolate could make you live longer – an american lady who lived to the rip old age of 122 years claimed she ate over a kilogram (two and a half pounds) of dark chocolate every week.

So what more of an excuse do you need? Chocolate really is good for you! Come and see us here at the Oakeley Arms, and we may just have a cheeky chocolatey treat on our pudding board or on our fabulous afternoon tea platters.