Chocolate Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Chocolate - Research Paper Example It played an essential role in the Aztec and Maya religious and royal events. Cocoa seeds in native America were used as an offering to deities, as well as serving chocolate drinks in sacred occasions. The American settlers from Europe fattened and sweetened it through the addition of milk and refined sugar, two ingredients that were not known to the Native Americans. In contrast, they did not infuse it into their diet, although, later, it was integrated into their desserts and sweets (Drowne & Patrick 27). It was in the 18th century that John Cadbury came up with the process of emulsification to create solid chocolate, which was the beginning of the modern chocolate bar. While cocoa was, originally from the Americas, West Africa, today, produces more than 65% of the cocoa in the world, half of which is planted in Cote divorce. The chocolate industry in the United States forms part of the largest food and beverage companies. They are in charge of the manufacture of cacao beans, the s ale of raw chocolate, and the manufacture of other chocolate related products (Allen 67). The chocolate industry has undergone numerous changes in both production and market trends over the years, which affect the industry in either a positive and negative manner. Production Based on the cocoa grinding reports released for cocoa traders, which was produced by the NCA in cooperation with the New York Board of trade, the grinding in the first quarter amounted to 119,022 metric tons - a decrease of 4.04 percent (5,006 mt) over 2011. The Unites States market on chocolate or candy stands in a shaky position. In North America, there has been a 2% decrease since quarter 3 in 2011 (124,621 metric tons) (Taylor & Akila 43). There is a rather decreased demand for chocolate in the market currently which means the producers need to correct where the problem lies. Cocoa, which originated in South America, was first planted in the US state of Hawaii by William Hillenbrand, a German physician, in 1850. While cocoa was long considered, as a crop to be grown in the plantations, the biggest challenge in the American market has been making money from it (Taylor & Akila 50). The plant is suited to the climate in Hawaii, although it is tricky to grow, requiring a lot of expertise in chocolate processing. Competition with low-cost producers in South America, Africa, and other countries is not easy because Hawaii has high costs of labor and land. However, Hawaii cocoa has been proven as a gourmet product for which a buyer can pay premium prices. Local cocoa farmers can also gain added value through the creation of farm tours around the popularly romanticized product (Taylor & Akila 50). Currently, dried cocoa seed sales, also referred to as cocoa beans, is estimated at a cost of $200,000 every year based on production per acre estimated for fifty acres, as well as a price of $2.47 dry bean price a pound (Taylor & Akila 52). Much higher sales can be derived by those planters who proc ess their product into chocolate at prices of approximately $40 a pound for retail. Industry growth, in the absence of expansion on a plantation scale, over the last few years, has been from small farms with a few of these farms having processing plants for their cocoa. Advances over the last ten years have increased the economic sense in the processing of chocolate from cocoa on a small scale sans specialized

The New Modern Architecure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The New Modern Architecure - Essay Example Peter Eisenman is an American architect who contributed highly to modernism in architecture. Thus, this paper will examine how Eisenman’s work has influenced the modernism movement in architect not only in the form of the design but also through the graphic representation, which is demonstrated by OMA current work in Point city/South City, Netherlands, 1993.† Peter Eisenman was commonly regarded as a theorist and teacher, but currently he is often called a deconstructionist due to his ability to swirl the controversy with buildings that seem disconnected from their environment, as well as their historical context. For this reason, he highly influenced modernism in architecture. His first public building was the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio, which he designed along with Richard Trott. His designs, as well as writings, represent an attempt to liberate from meaning while shunning external references. In addition, Eisenman’s house designs were meant to be theore tical experiments, which existed in abstraction and developed them without any influence from clients, or any concern for their use; Thus, Eisenman’s modern architectural work was based on the conceptual procedure through which the architecture was produced (Eisenman 54). Eisenman has large-scale housing, innovative facilities for educational establishments, urban design projects and several inventive private houses. Some of his current projects include a large condominium housing block in Italy, and a 6-building City of Culture of Galacia found in Santiago de Compostela (Eisenman 54). Most of Eisenman’s buildings are based on shifted grids that collide with one another; for example, the Wexner Center, which was built in 1983 to 1989. This is a form of modern architectural design because traditional buildings were based on single grids in which all walls were perpendicular and parallel to each other. Therefore, basing the walls of rooms on different grids that are not parallel to one another, Eisenman is able to perplex people who use the building expecting a traditional look. Eisenman broke up the traditional forms of architecture in the Wexner Center building into fragments, which mock the traditional solid feel of the old building. Also, the famous column of the building, which hangs from the ceiling, does not reach the ground, which also mocks the traditional design of how a column should appear (Chou 121). This is an illustration of Wexner Center building (1983-1989) designed by Eisenman (Siegel 1). It is an excellent example of how Eisenman influenced modernism in architecture by breaking down the traditional forms of architecture and incorporating modernist elements. Another example of how Eisenman has influenced modernism movement in architecture can be seen in the point city-south city project, Netherlands. This project is an example of how the OMA used technics similar to Eisenman’s in the representation matter, when it diagramme d, collected data and information and incorporated them in the design process. The ancient themes that were never used before have now become the most widely used formulas used to guide the development of Netherlands. According to Garcia (172), the OMA diagram is enigmatic and paradoxical and is characterized by a series of ironic hybrids of juxtaposed and quixotic contradictory concepts, as well as