Section 1: Chocolate’s Roots
This first section of the exhibit highlights the environmental issues and ancient Mesoamerican history intertwined with chocolate. Highlights include two artifacts made by students at the LCC out of recyclable materials like a pop can, paper bags, and a wire clothes hanger. A Maya drinking vessel depicts chocolate being served in a spiritual ceremony and ancient hieroglyphic imagery, while a replica cacao tree serves to introduce viewers to the plant behind the product. Theobroma cacao is a sensitive tree, which grows best in the complex rainforest ecosystem most threatened by global issues of climate change and deforestation. Integral to the mission of the LCC is to draw out connections between cultural sustainability and environmental sustainability, which is really explored through the themes of this section.