Hershey, PA

i was in manheim, PA a couple of weeks ago. facilitating a meeting for a bunch of new and immigrant farmers. a nation-wide initiative. all in all a good week.

much to my delight, the sign next to my hotel signaled that hershey, PA was a mere 14 miles west of town. it had been an intense week, so i decided that on friday, after my work obligations were over, i would swing by the chocolate factory before heading home.

i'm not sure what i expected as i neared Chocolate World (truly the name of the 'how chocolate is made' attraction). i half expected to see little oompa loompas running around.

not the case.

hershey built a giant amusement part...six flags caliber. however, my destination was the smallish type of building just behind all of the exciting rides and vast expanses of parking lots. but i tell you, watching the vacation-weary parents step out of their minivans with their broods was no less exciting than the Chocolate Spiral just down the road.

so, i made my way into the gates of Chocolate World. followed the signs to the beginning of the Chocolate Tour. i told the attendant at the gate of the motorized tour that i was alone. he was taken aback slightly, as Chocolate World is a family friendly joint and NO ONE would savor the joys of chocolate alone. pobresita. i must have been a sad looking sod the way he mooned over me with his piteous eyes. he found a lone bus driver from a tour group in south carolina to double up with me.....

and we were off! through the world of chocolate! a motorized belt whisked me and about 50 other strangers through the story of chocolate manufacturing!...lush rainforests (robotic toucans watching us curiously as we rode through)!...cocoa beans harvested by hand in costa rica and ghana (illuminated maps blinking the locations in case we had forgotten from our geography classes)!....to the shipping docks (now sea gulls were watching)!....beans inspected, collected, and washed (i'd wash my beans, too, if they had been surrounded by so many birds and boats)!...chopped, sliced, diced, roasted to perfection (as our carts were pulled through a tunnel, we were 'roasted' by little heat wires on the ceiling--my personal favorite)!......powdered and mixed with fresh milk from PA dairies (the motorized cows mooed hello as we rode past)!...cooked!...molded!...wrapped!...counted!...shipped!.....and enjoyed by millions all over the world (at this point we passed thorugh a hall of chocolate with happy singing children from all over the world!.....strangely reminiscent of the 'it's a small world' exhibits found at most disney locations-- only difference was that this exhibit piped in the smell of chocolate....not bad. not bad, indeed.).

oh, glorious chocolate! how can i name the ways of your wonder!?

we were ushered out in an expedient manner. on our way out of the door, we were all handed a fresh piece of candy from a hershey's employee. this particular one was a down's kid. not strange in and of itself....it was just the intensity with which he counted and allotted the candies that blew my mind.

all in all a very informative time. as one would expect from an educational exhibit.

it was all so artificial and strange. have we come to a point in our lives that we no longer no where food comes from? beyond that, are we so far removed (as americans, maybe, or just as humans) from learning and knowing that we have to have action figures (life sized hershey's kisses), music, moving parts, and a light show to hold our attention long enough to teach us a tiny crumb of knowledge (or trivia, whatever the case may be)?

as i pondered our nation's food (in)security and learning styles, i popped in my newly acquired piece of chocolate, smoothed some chocolate flavored lip balm on my lips, adjusted the mirrors of my rental car, turned on the radio, and hit the road.

6.5 hours later, i was home.