A comparison of pre-Columbian archaeological evidence from Central America with colonial archaeological and historical evidence in the Americas and in Europe shows that chocolate was increasingly characterized as a woman’s drink, food, and flavor. Examples from three kinds of chocolatey evidence (recipes, archaeological material culture, and depictions) offer insight into the broader context of labor, gender, and social regimes from the late pre-Columbian period to the eighteenth century, when chocolate moved from being a sporadic curiosity to a daily necessity not just across the Americas, but also across the Atlantic.

Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:

This article is an interesting discussion of gendered food preferences:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/10/chocolate-craving-pms-men-vegetables_n_6102714.html

This book is an anthropological view of women in the chocolate industry:

Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate. By Susan J. Terrio. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press

This book also examines the connections of gender and producing chocolate in England:

Chocolate, Women and Empire: a Social and Cultural History. By Emma Robertson

Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2009