Every few months, a new ingredient comes to prominence, amid claims that it will cure the ills caused by modern living: matcha for sustained energy, protein for appetite control, peptides for hormone regulation, CBD for anxiety, and so on. Yet, what if the most effective all-in-one method for achieving all the above has been under our noses for thousands of years?
That was what María Cobar asked herself after she was introduced to cacao – the raw, minimally processed bean (the same that chocolate comes from) that has been prized since ancient times for its nutritional and mood-enhancing benefits.
‘The scientific name for cacao is Theobroma cacao, literally "Food of God”, because of its ability to generate physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing,’ says Cobar. ‘In Mexico, there are all these legends about how the gods stole the cacao tree because it was only meant for the gods, but it was given as a gift to humans so they could focus on the arts and be fully nourished. Now, a thousand years later, people are finally getting it.’
With her brand, María Cacao, Cobar is hoping to help as many people as possible get it by hand-crafting ceremonial strength cacao blocks and flavoured cacao pods (like chocolate candy but with cacao) in her Mexico City store. Of course, cacao has been popular in certain circles for years, with cacao ceremonies, rooted in the tradition of Aztec and Mayan traditions, practised around the world, and plenty of wellness retailers selling the product, albeit often an over-processed, questionably sourced version of the ingredient.
For Cobar, starting her own cacao business was a way to bring cacao to a wider audience, while respecting its heritage and supporting local businesses, with an all-female team working daily to craft every cacao product by hand. There is also a family of farmers working to care for and harvest the cacao trees in the Mexican state of Tabasco.
‘In Mexico we say it's vigorizante – it pumps your veins,’ says Cobar. ‘When Hernán Cortés came to Mexico, he wrote a letter to Carlos V in Spain saying, “These people drink this very strange seed that they use as currency, and just a single dose of this beverage can sustain a soldier in battle for an entire day because it's so nourishing”. Then it was taken to Europe and transformed into milk chocolate. In Mexico, cacao wasn't accessible to everyone; it was a divine food, always present in ceremonies: weddings, funerals, all kinds of rituals.'
‘[There is] this whole taboo around chocolate, when actually, at its core, it's so healthy; we just changed it into something unhealthy by processing it’
María Cobar
But the beneficial qualities of cacao have largely been lost to time following the Spanish conquest of the Americas. ‘Cacao became a sweet treat that, in modern times, even became something that carried shame – it’ll give you spots, it’ll make you gain weight, it’s bad for you. [There is] this whole taboo around chocolate, when actually, at its core, it's so healthy; we just changed it into something unhealthy by processing it.’
When unprocessed, cacao is one of the most nutritionally dense foods in the world, with more antioxidants than blueberries and containing a compound that can aid weight loss, phenylethylamine (the same molecule your brain releases when you fall in love). It also contains anandamide, which activates the same receptors in the brain that produce cannabinoids for relaxation (it is known as the ‘bliss molecule’).
María Cacao just opened up its first storefront in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighbourhood, where customers can purchase its cacao products and taste a full cacao menu in a candlelit space. The products are also now available to purchase in London thanks to Vickie Biggs, who retails the cacao blocks and flavoured cacao pods from The Dream Of, an east London holistic healing studio that is a Wallpaper* favourite. Together, Biggs and Cobar are working to get cacao retailed in more locations around the UK, and to make ‘people realise that cacao is not only for wellness obsessives’, says Cobar. ‘Hopefully, one day, [it will be] the norm to enter spaces where instead of having wine or coffee, you’re having cacao, and [we’ll see] what conversations arise from this heart-opening medicine.’
At The Dream Of, Biggs has converted many of her clients – who include Yasmin Sewell, founder of Vyrao; make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench; and Alex Brownsell, hairstylist and founder of Bleach London – to replace their morning coffee with cacao. ‘I tried María’s cacao, and I've tried hundreds [of examples], and was immediately blown away; I knew I needed it in the shop,’ says Biggs.
‘As cacao becomes more popular, and I do think it will eventually be the new matcha, there's a real responsibility around how it's sourced and who profits from it. There's been a big influx of white-owned cacao brands. For me, people with platforms must support those who are genuinely connected to where cacao is from. Maria being Mexican, having a fully female Mexican team, working closely with farmers in Tabasco – that matters enormously. The product literally comes from that place of care and connection. You can taste it.’
