Memories, Rituals, Love, and Experiences
“The jingle ‘Love, love, love, love, love makes the world go round’, from a Powerpuff Girls episode has stayed with me till date. And if love keeps the world moving, chocolate perhaps gives it a little extra spin”, says Deepa Natarajan.
Across cultures and continents, chocolate is exchanged as affection. It’s gifted, shared, melted onto fingers, broken into careful squares. It marks celebration and consolation alike: festivals and farewells, victories and apologies, moments when words feel excessive. Wrapped or unwrapped, simple or indulgent, chocolate has become a universal language of care.
There is also something quietly poetic about chocolate itself. Heated, cooled, and gently rewarmed, it transforms through restraint and patience. Stable beta crystals form, giving it structure, sheen, and that unmistakable snap.
Chemistry becomes a metaphor. It’s about chemical bonds. Tempering teaches balance; timing teaches respect. Perhaps that is why chocolate feels so closely tied to bonds of love. It rewards care, punishes haste, and holds its beauty long after the moment passes.
Over the years, working with chocolate, and creating content around it, my relationship with it has been shaped less by products and more by experiences. Chocolate has unfolded for me across cities, climates, and chance encounters, each leaving behind a sweet and distinct imprint.
Zurich: Where Chocolate First Slowed Time
That first cup of hot chocolate at Confiserie Sprüngli, Paradeplatz, on a wintry Zurich morning remains unmatched. Thick, comforting, unapologetically indulgent; all the chocolate adjectives feel insufficient. Paired with their famed Luxemburgerli (tiny French macarons) in a riot of flavours, it felt almost sinful. Switzerland makes chocolate taste effortlessly divine, and it comes as no surprise that it leads the world in per-capita consumption.
Lindor bonbons wrapped in glossy red and gold, packed into miniature milk cans, became perfect gifts to carry home. This was nearly a decade before the Lindt Home of Chocolate opened in Kilchberg in 2022, marking 175 years of Lindt & Sprüngli. We missed factory visits that trip, because time was tight, but the imprint stayed.
The Great Ocean Road: When Chocolate Became Process
Years later, driving back from
Lorne Beach to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road, we stumbled into the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie. Free-flowing tempered chocolate; dark, milk, and white, poured endlessly. Watching callets being moulded behind glass while casually munching on samples was mesmerising.
It was the first time I saw chocolate not as an indulgence, but as a process. That curiosity pushed me deeper into tempering, crystallisation, moulding, eventually leading me to qualify as a Level One Chocolatier from the Chocolate Academy in Mumbai. This was at a time when many Indian consumers still struggled to distinguish couverture from compound chocolate.
Phillip Island: Chocolate, Amplified
Another drive. Another discovery. On our way to watch penguins march at Phillip Island, we found Panny’s Chocolate Factory, where chocolate was amplified into spectacle. Waterfalls, carousels, railroads, even the entry ticket was chocolate. It was excessive, playful, and immersive. Less about refinement, more about wonder. And that mattered just as much.
Belgium: Where Chocolate Becomes Culture
Belgium, often called the chocolate capital of the world, feels steeped in chocolate at every turn. Walking through Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent, the sheer density of chocolatiers is overwhelming; boutiques stacked with pralines, truffles, sculpted eggs, and bars in every imaginable form.
A visit to the Choco-Story, Tracing Chocolate History
The museum near the Grand Place offered context, tracing cocoa from ancient civilisations to Belgian mastery. Belgium’s strength lies not just in quantity, but in commitment: traditional methods, high cocoa content, and an insistence on pure cocoa butter. One visit to Galeries Royales will tell you, chocolate here is not a trend; it is inheritance.
Easter elevates this further. Windows bloom with hand-moulded eggs, bunnies, and bells; ateliers open their doors; craftsmanship turns theatrical. Yet for all its splendour, Belgium reaffirmed something simple for me; that chocolate thrives when it is rooted in culture, not excess explanation.
Chocolate as Experience, Not Object
Chocolate is an indulgence. Chocolate is an experience. Chocolate is an indulgent experience. Perhaps the most indulgent one. Don’t treat chocolate as an object. Indulge in every bit of it in all forms.
Happy World Chocolate Day 2026.
