Chocolate Wars

September 15, 2010

Cadbury (Space Race: The Battle To Rule the Heavens), a descendant of the Cadbury family, here traces the development--via her famous family and world events, ending with Kraft's 2010 Cadbury acquisition--of the international chocolate industry from its humble beginning with a fatty and gritty drink in the early 1800s to the milk chocolate confections we know today. In addition to providing a history of chocolate, she also stresses the importance of the Cadburys' Quaker religion in their lives and businesses practices. In the Quaker tradition, the Cadbury family was very concerned with social welfare and righting social wrongs, including poverty and slavery. Although written by proud Cadbury kin, the narrative is balanced and fair. VERDICT Overall, this is a well-written and well-researched look at chocolate and the Quaker business tradition that any food or history buff will enjoy.--Lisa A. Ennis, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2010

The tale of the surprisingly cutthroat world of corporate chocolate-making, influenced by religion, science, slavery and globalization.

In early 2010, Kraft Foods acquired Cadbury, the longtime independent British chocolate maker. Deborah Cadbury (Space Race: The Epic Battle Between America and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space, 2006, etc.), a descendant of the family that had run what was once the world's largest confectioner, laments the ownership change, and makes her anti-Kraft bias clear in the opening and closing pages of the book. The narrative isn't solely focused on Cadbury, however, and the author gives ample space to the many firms that have fought to dominate the market since the mid-1800s. At that time, Cadbury was one of a handful of Quaker-owned British confectioners that eschewed advertising and redirected profits to charity. But the firms weren't especially talented at making very good chocolate, and they struggled to produce a tasty and sturdy chocolate bar. As American and Swiss firms like Hershey and Nestl� began to perfect that bar, Cadbury and others hastened to keep up. The author entertainingly captures the spirit of innovation--and occasional lobbying and corporate espionage--that pulled Cadbury from the brink of disaster. The family's influx of profits, along with its do-gooder instincts, prompted it to construct Bournville, a corporate campus for workers away from the Birmingham slums, and to halt the slave-labor practices in São Tom� and Pr�ncipe, where much of its cocoa was grown. Through the 20th century, the British companies were challenged not just by European companies but American juggernauts like Hershey and Mars, and Cadbury has a knack for capturing the driven personalities who launched these empires. Corporate growth has its downside, though, and some of the book's personality is bled from the later chapters, as globalization begins to hold sway and the narrative focuses more heavily on merger negotiations. By the end, a better chocolate bar has been built, but Cadbury's storytelling has faded as much as the company's old Quaker-capitalist morals.

A fine pocket history of corporate confectionery, though there's still room for a less Cadbury-focused entry.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 1, 2010
A descendant of the Cadbury family of chocolatiers, author Cadbury is also an award-winning documentary producer for the BBC and has seven other books to her credit. The history of chocolate, from its origins as an exotic Aztec beverage to the most prized confectionery in the world, is told here through the eyes of the British Quaker family that transformed a gritty, oily brew into one of the most sought-after delectable treats on the planet. In doing so, the Cadbury brothers turned their fathers humble and nearly bankrupt business into a globally dominant corporation in the span of two generations. The path to success was not easy, and Cadbury tells the story of fierce competition from names like Fry, Nestl', Hershey, and Mars, as well as the Dutch and Swiss entrepreneurs who were so crucial in cracking the food chemistry of the cacao bean. Cadbury chronicles 150 years of chocolate wars that only heated up further into a global-merger competition, which saw the venerated Cadbury brand get swallowed up by the food giant Kraft in 2009. This tale of capitalist rivalry mixed with Quaker values makes for a very sweet journey.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)