9th Annual Chocolate Show

When I was a kid watching the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for the umpteenth time, I had always wondered how it would be like to be surrounded by tons of all-you-can-eat chocolates.
I guess this is the closest feeling that I could get to being inside Wonka's factory.

The annual Chocolate Show was held in Metropolitan Pavilion & Altman Building a couple of weeks ago. The mountains of truffles and chocolate samples occupied 40,000 square feet of the building! Everyone got the chance to take a tour (and sample and/or buy) of chocolate creations and meet the top chocolatiers and pastry chefs from US, Asia, Europe and Africa.

There were a few whimsical and elegant edible art like this pink "KIMONO" (above, left) created by Kiyoko Koizumi for Mary's Chocolate, Japan.

Established in 1950, Mary's Chocolate has specialized in making chocolates (above, left) for the past 56 years in Tokyo, Japan. Mary's was a runner-up to the Grand Prix in the Awards Chocolat at the 8th annual exhibition in Paris. And at last year's exhibition, Mary's was awarded the Special Prize with Honors - the judges unanimously selected Mary's as the world's finest brand.

S wanted to check out the chocolate fountain first. We did find it at Booth 9, which was occupied by Divalicious Chocolate!. Located at Jackie Gordon's, Divalicious Chocolate! Cafe also serves chocolate Slush-alicious, hot chocolate espresso, and lattes. If you can't get enough of your chocolate "fix" there, the chocolate fountains can also be rented out.
This company was voted "Best Party Rental" in New York Magazine.

There was also an area for the little ones called "The Kidzone" which featured cooking classes and games. S participated in one cupcake decorating session during the afternoon. Alas, most kids didn't even have the desire to eat their pretty, sweet creations by this time.

Despite the fact that the cocoa-rush was making me jittery, we couldn't resist buying a box of truffles, a few chocolate bars from Payard and a couple of chocolate lollipops from Michel Cluizel to take home. Francois Payard's Pastry Shop & Bistro is located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Aside from an array of handmade chocolates, they also offer pastries, cakes, petit fours and assorted confections.
Michel Cluizel is based in Normandy and specializes in high content chocolate bars and award-winning 1ers Crus de Plantation.

LINKS:
http://www.chocolateshow.com/
http://www.marychocolatier.com/List.html
http://www.payard.com/home.php
http://www.divaliciouschocolate.com/,
http://www.cluizel.com/