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A riddle with a happy surprise

My favourite food comes in a variety of forms, and has a role to play on various special occasions.

At Easter it's an egg, at Lunar New Year a coin, and it has a central role to play on Valentine's Day. It can be liquid and it can be solid, when it is usually rectangular in shape.

For anyone that is working under pressure, or perhaps feeling mildly down - depressed even - this magic food is the perfect gift. A nibble is enough to banish pressures and depression, bringing happiness and smiles.

I love it so much!

It's not hard to find - in fact you can find it anywhere. It is made from a variety of bean, and it can be white, brown or black. With its sweet taste and nice smell, everybody enjoys it, and it's even better with ice-cream, cakes, strawberries and other good things.

I'm sure you've already guessed my favourite food.

Yes, it's chocolate.

Lai Hoi-yip

From the Editor

Thank you, Hoi-yip, for your innovative letter. We all love chocolate!

Did you know the cocoa tree, from which chocolate is made, is thought to have first grown in the Amazon jungle about 4,000 years ago? The mighty Mayans were the first to discover the wonders of chocolate, but they didn't have any sugar. They made cocoa into a drink they called xocoatl, or bitter water.

The Aztecs also had a liking for cocoa. When they conquered tribes they demanded tribute in cocoa beans. They believed cocoa was the food of the gods.

When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain from America, he brought chocolate with him. But no one thought much about it. It was Hernando Cortez - fascinated by the Aztecs using cocoa beans for money - who first thought of mixing sugar with the bitter drink. Chocolate as we know it today was born as a drink in Spain in 1528. It was only in 1830 that solid chocolate was developed in Britain.

Susan, Editor

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