The eating of fine chocolate is a tradition passed down in my family. I learned it from my father and I passed it down to my children. I have taste-tested almost every type of chocolate from every country over the past 40 years – Belgium is my favorite by the way. Today, my chocolate tastes have turned to raw chocolate.

Raw chocolate, made from raw cacao beans, is always dark and at least 75 percent cacao (pronounced ka-cow), not to be confused with cocoa, the sweetened, cooked form of the cacao bean. My favorite recipe is an organic, raw, vegan super chocolate fudge bar made with raw cacao, raw cacao butter, raw coconut oil, raw agave nectar, organic raw whole vanilla bean, organic raw cayenne, and organic Himalayan crystal salt. The bars are made by Jon-Michael Kerestas, owner of Love Street Living Foods.

The great chocolate debate in the raw food world is whether cacao is truly a nutritious raw food. The arguments range from one end of the spectrum to the other. Dr. David Klein claims in his Living Nutrition Journal that cacao is neither a true raw food nor is it healthy. David Wolfe, however, claims it is a raw super-food. Wolfe experimented with raw cacao extensively, and he even wrote a book dedicated to his cacao-related activities called Naked Chocolate. In The Raw Food Diet Myth, we discuss the chocolate controversy, some specific perspectives on chocolate and raw chocolate alternatives. We will also explore the cacao bean, the source of all chocolate – raw or not.