Hundreds of people are packed into a bumping basement
club in downtown Berlin, dancing for hours on end in a free-wheeling rave. The
substance of choice hails from the exotic tropics. It’s said to impart a
brain-boosting rush and tons of energy, enough to transform its users into
raging Energizer bunnies. This drug can be ingested, drunk and even snorted.
You’re probably familiar with its common name: cacao.
Aztec and Mayan civilizations used cacao for centuries in all kind of rituals
and as an incredibly important medicine. Modern researches give you numerous
reasons to consume this magic food. Cacao gives you more energy, it improves
your libido, it boosts brain levels of serotonin, it keeps you looking and
feeling younger, it helps you shed fat and because of its high level of
magnesium it also protects against osteoporosis, assists in stabilizing blood
glucose and lowers blood pressure. All of these benefits are increased by the
vitamins and minerals contained in cacao.
In recent months, cacao has transcended its already lofty
status as a superfood and vaulted into the realm of party drugs. In this latest
incarnation, cacao powder is taking the place of alcohol and illicit substances
like Molly and ecstasy in parts of Western Europe. Lucid, a monthly
cacao-fueled dance party in Berlin, fixes bitter Balinese cacao into
partygoers’ drinks. Morning Gloryville, a rise-and-shine rave company that
organizes dance parties from London to New York, stocks its bar with cacao
drinks and cacao pills. And in perhaps the strangest form, Belgian chocolatier
Dominique Persoone invented a special $50 snorting device so you can huff your
chocolate in powdered form, much like cocaine.
A great cacao party feels like a rave must have felt in 1988, back in
the day when everyone would drop an ecstasy pill from the same batch always at
the same time
Never mind that this is the same raw powder you can find
at the corner Vitamin Shoppe or processed in your favorite candy bar — or that
cacao is perfectly legal in all the jurisdictions we found. Proponents say that
raw, virgin cacao is far more potent than you ever imagined. First comes a
surge of endorphins into your bloodstream, which increases acuity and fuels you
with feelings of euphoria. Then there’s the flood of magnesium, which relaxes
your muscles and de-tenses your body. Raw cacao is also chock-full of flavanols
that increase blood circulation and stimulate brain power, according to a
recent study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The basics: cacao is extremely high in magnesium, the ‘relaxer
mineral’; Sulphur, the ‘beauty mineral’; iron and chromium. Antioxidants:
off-the-scale. It’s one of the most powerful superfoods around.
And, of course, cacao can be downright delicious. Lucid’s
pixie-like party organizer, Ruby May, isn’t a purist when it comes to the
stuff: She spikes the 18 pounds of cacao per party with sweet hints of honey,
agave syrup and cinnamon, and the celebrations go on for six hours. “It’s like
a smooth, sensual hug in a cup,” says the 36-year old. And as far as the
sniffing chocolate goes, Persoone mixes the powder with ginger, raspberry and
mint for his patrons in Belgium. Chili pepper was tried, he says, but was “not
a good idea.” Color us surprised.
The Kuna Indians who live on the San Blas Islands off Panama drink an
average of five cups of high-flavanol cocoa daily. The island population is
also remarkable for extremely low rates of hypertension, unlike the Kuna on the
mainland, who consume processed cocoa mix low in flavanols. Researchers,
suspecting the island Kuna's staggering cocoa consumption might account for
their superior health, began investigating the health effects of cocoa's raw
compounds. This investigation led to the finding that (-)-epicatechin, one
particularly abundant cocoa compound, supports circulation.
To be clear, cacao is not going to distort your reality.
Under the beats of house, hip-hop, funk and electronic music, cacao “amplifies”
the experience, rather than dims it with alcohol or drugs, says May. In fact,
she doesn’t allow booze inside. The mood-boosting effects of cacao are
“subtle,” she says, and it’s not like tripping on acid. Even pure cacao is not
actually a drug. While it does contain certain mood-enhancing compounds such as
anandamide and phenylethylamine, the bitter reality is that the amount is much
too low to have any direct influence on mood, says Dr. Catherine Kwik-Uribe,
the director of research and development for Mars Symbioscience, a scientific
division of Mars, Incorporated. Which is to say that all of this alleged
chocoholism is probably a placebo effect.
Ingested, it triggers a cascade of amino acids and neurotransmitters
including monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors, which allow serotonin and other neurotransmitters
to circulate in the brain; theobromine, which stimulates feelings of euphoria
and contentment; and phenethylamine, the chemical we produce when we fall in
love.
If it sounds like G-rated fun, well, it is; these are
parties where virtue handily wins over vice.
All of these concoctions come courtesy of the “conscious
dance movement,” which evolved from an underground movement into morning raves
and lunchtime dance parties, often attended by millennial office workers. It
seeks to create a positive — and healthy — environment, in which participants
can unhinge themselves from negative thoughts and social inhibitions. Alcohol
is usually a no-no, as are illegal drugs. Self-actualization, communal bonding and
calorie-burning are key. If it sounds like G-rated fun, well, it is; these are
parties where virtue handily wins over vice.
Note the sense of moderation. The best way to consume it is
thoughtfully, setting aside time and space to be completely present because the
more intention you put into it, the deeper your experience is going to be.
The use of cacao was pioneered in millennia past by
Mesoamerican civilizations. As early as 1900 B.C., archaeologists believe, the
Mokaya people in what is now Mexico were fermenting cacao beans into liquid
chocolate. The Aztecs, it seems, valued cacao so highly they would trade the
beans as a form of currency. Today, the very ethically conscious may have a
beef with chocolate, protesting that appropriating cacao from its Mexican
origins for Eurotrash-like dance parties rings a wee bit colonial.
Skepticism aside, cacao can act as a “catalyst for having
more life,” says May, rather than “numbing ourselves with beer.” And “in all my
years in research, I have never seen a person not smile when enjoying a piece
of chocolate,” adds Kwik-Uribe. Admittedly, she has a vested interest — but on
the other hand, we can’t imagine a party that can’t be improved by chocolate.
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