Cadbury: The Sweet Smell of Success

The Spanish conquistadors sent two presents back to Europe from the New World: syphilis and chocolate. The Aztecs in Mexico enjoyed a cold drink made of ground cocoa beans frothed up with chillies and honey. They called it chocolatl. It tasted perfectly horrible, as you can discover for yourself when Cadbury World opens later this year at Bournville in the suburbs of Birmingham.

This new tourist attraction tells the complete story of chocolate from the Aztecs to the present day, when the British public spends a cool 3.5 pounds billion a year on it. If all the chocolate creme eggs which Cadbury makes in a year were piled up on top of each other, the pile would be ten times the height of Mount Everest: a statistic which may say more about the state of the nation than the usual more solemn indicators.