Chocolate: Facts and History
The word “cacao” derives from “kakawa,” likely from the Olmec language—an ancient Mesoamerican precursor to Maya. And “chocolate” is said to come from the word “xocolatl,” or “bitter water,” in reference to the bitter sipping chocolate revered during the golden age of the Maya people in Belize. Even the scientific name for the cacao tree honors this ancient fervor for all things chocolate: Theobroma cacao means, roughly, “food of the gods.”