Chennaiites relive childhood memories on World Chocolate Day

CHENNAI: Chocolate has always been one of our favourite treats. As we celebrate World Chocolate Day on July 7, a few Chennaiites share their favourite childhood memories of chocolate

Simple pleasures of childhood

I have two fondest childhood memories tied to chocolate. Easter was always a magical time. As a child, I remember the excitement of searching for hidden Easter eggs in the garden early in the morning with my brother and cousins, the joyful hunt to collect the most eggs.

Another cherished memory is coming home from school and enjoying a long-awaited break with a tartine of bread, butter, and chocolate. Chocolate has always evoked many positive and treasured memories.

—Patricia Thery-Hart, director, Alliance Française of Madras

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‘Mom was crazy about those milk bars’

Between 1968 and 1973, we used to go home once a year from our boarding school in Panchgani, Maharashtra. Our parents were living in Mogadiscio, Somalia at the time, and those two months at home felt like sheer bliss.

Lazy days on the beach, fun trips to Afgoi and Jezeera and always my mother, Supriya Cheriyan’s, fabulous cooking, especially her cakes and her pasta lasagna. I still remember the rich, creamy ice cream from the Russian ice cream factory, and the cartons of Cadbury’s plain milk chocolate. It was my mother’s favourite. My father would buy them by the box from the UN commissary every week. Of course, we never complained! I can still recall the joy of biting into those delicious bars of chocolate.

My mother’s love for Cadbury’s plain milk chocolate never faded. Right up until she was 99, every time I travelled abroad and asked what she wanted, she always had the same answer: “Just bring me a bar of Cadbury’s plain milk chocolate.”

Even now, when I think of chocolate, I think of my mother. She passed away last October, just 25 days short of her 100th birthday. On October 5, when I returned from a holiday in New York, I gave her a bar of her favourite chocolate and she ate it.

—Aysha Rau, founder, The Little Theatre

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Back when chocolate meant friendship

My fondest memory with chocolate takes me straight back to my childhood, feasting on Eclairs, Mr. Pops, and Dairy Milk! Even in college, I remember sneaking bars of Dairy Milk, Crackle, and Fruit & Nut into the classroom, either brought by friends or gifted back and forth almost every other day. It was more than just chocolate; it was a ritual, a comfort, and a shared joy. Just thinking of those days fills me with the sweetest kind of nostalgia.

— Akila, co-founder of AkiMi’s Gourmet

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More than just a chocolate

My dad, who was in Kuwait, used to bring chocolates. I was never fond of them except for Bounty, the coconut-filled ones. When dad retired and the chocolates stopped coming, it wasn’t just the Bounty I missed, it was the memories and the love that came with them. Since then, I haven’t had chocolate again, and the absence of that sweet taste is a reminder of the passing of time and the memories that linger.

—Hafiz Khan, urban forest creator