In San Francisco in June I thought I would bring back some of this lovely, delicious chocolate in varieties unavailable in Seattle as gifts for colleagues. My friend Nora and I were together, and I collected a stack of bars. She mentioned how Scharffen Berger had just been bought by Nestle. Which factoid I did not know. And which just bummed me out far more than it should have. I put the bars back on the shelf. No way.
But, like, good for them. Isn't that the sort of goal for all entrepeneurial ventures? The big company comes along, likes what it sees, and buys you out so you're relieved of the tedium of producing the thing anymore. That's a good thing. Right?
But isn't Nestle the company we're all supposed to ban for life since they carried out some cruddy plot having to do with selling nutritionally deficient baby formula in third world nations to poor women who would serve it to their babies and watch their babies starve? Ach. So sad.
So now what do I do? Have you ever tasted Scharffen Berger milk chocolate? It's, like, insanely delicious. You would love it. You would desire it. Even if you were a dark chocolate only type person, you would find yourself wanting it when you wanted chocolate. I suppose it's been a long time since Nestle stopped selling bad formula, and the company has probably repented and even implemented great social action programs. It's really more that the chocolate isn't a good souvenir anymore.
But why not? It's not like the little good luck turtles I settled on, purchased from one of the mainline shops in Chinatown, were made right there in the back room of the shop in Chinatown. It's not like you can't find little good luck turtles in every giftique in every Chinatown in every big city. I don't know. There was just something nice about thinking of this successful SF boutique chocolate shop. Nice to imagine proud owners watching their baby grow.
