Overview
Disneyland might have called dibs on being the happiest place on earth, but New York is certainly one of the tastiest. The city's culinary spread has long drawn visitors from far and wide, and it's now amassing a hefty collection of food museums. First came the Museum of Food and Drink. Then, the Museum of Ice Cream joined the mix. The only thing that could come close to topping that is a place dedicated to chocolate, right?
French-born, US-based chocolatier Jacques Torres certainly thinks so, expanding his chocolate-making empire to include New York's first museum dedicated to everyone's favourite sweet treat. The 5000-square-foot Lower Manhattan establishment takes visitors through the entire choc experience. Yes, that involves learning about its history — and, it also includes eating the tasty, tasty substance in question.
On the educational side of things, Choco-Story New York: The Chocolate Museum and Experience with Jacques Torres details the origins of all things chocolate dating back to Mayan and Aztec civilisations, and explains the method behind turning cacao beans into the delectable morsels we know and love. As for snacking — aka the reason everyone wants to stop by — nine premium tastings, other samples, hand-ground hot chocolate, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate truffles and chocolate-making workshops are all on offer.
This isn't the world's first-ever chocolate museum, however. Among the array of weird and wonderful odes to edible delights (yes, a currywurst museum really exists), plenty of others have done the same thing. Basically, Homer Simpson's dream of a land of chocolate is slowly becoming a reality, with other choc havens found in Canada, London, Bruges, Hamburg, Vienna, Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand and even Tasmania. Unsurprisingly, it's a long list.