Life is a box of chocolates for expert Joanna

Joanna has always loved eating and cooking with Chocolate. Five years ago she was coaxed by her love of the cocoa bean to take her passion one step further by becoming a chocolate expert.

The Education Administrator for the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden has carried out extensive research into the history of chocolate, specialising on a broad range of topics, including the current debate on chocolate as a junk food.

“I realised when I started my research that many children knew hardly anything about chocolate - some did not know that it came from a plant at all.

“Doing this work I also found out a lot more about the darker side of chocolate, interesting facts suitable for a more adult audience, so I offered a talk on chocolate to the Cambridge Food Festival,” she said.

Joanna was teamed up with the on-line chocolate shop, seventypercent.com, who sent a representative to the talks to offer tastings of unusual bars. Since then she has worked for them on a team of chocolate reviewers – something that she describes as perk of the job.

“Of course chocolate is extremely interesting because you get to eat the object of your research,” she said. “Who isn't interested in Chocolate?

“Chocolate is seen as ‘naughty but nice' and except for Yorkie Bars, primarily aimed at women – we are encouraged to eat it, then encouraged to feel guilty for having done so.”

“The amazing thing about chocolate is the span of history it covers and the way that it has become a part of our childhood and our society - we would be a completely different nation without it,” said Joanna.

So what is Joanna's choice of Easter egg for 2007?

“The most important thing is that the chocolate is fairtrade,” she said. “Making sure that I can enjoy my Easter egg with a clear conscience is definitely my top priority.”