“Want to taste? Come on! It’s a bit like the sushi of chocolate,” calls out raw chocolate maker Frederic Marr, beckoning the curious to his stall at Paris’s annual chocolate extravaganza, the Salon du Chocolat.
Touted as a “super food” by some, raw chocolate is the latest trend in the world of chocolate.
Proponents say it has health benefits because the cocoa beans used to make it are heated to much lower temperatures than for standard chocolate.
As a result, they say, raw chocolate has more nutrients such as iron, zinc, magnesium and copper as well as higher levels of antioxidants.
According to Marr, who is based at Montreuil, near Paris, recent refinements in the raw chocolate making process mean that in addition to being a good health option, it also tastes good.
“Historically raw chocolate was not very good. It was consumed for nutritional reasons, so there was less care taken in its manufacture,” he said.
“But quality raw chocolate is now starting to be successful in countries that also care about taste, including France,” he added.
Lauren Bandy, nutrition analyst at consumer market researchers Euromonitor International, said raw chocolate was still a niche product but had seen a steady rise in popularity over the past few years.
Sales of standard dark chocolate have risen by $1.4 billion globally over the past five years, with an annual growth rate of seven percent, she said.
- ‘ Lot of promise’ -
“Many consumers buy raw chocolate for the same reasons they buy dark chocolate (so) if dark chocolate sales are to be used as an indicator for raw chocolate’s potential, then raw chocolate has a lot of promise.”
More expensive than other types of chocolate, raw chocolate costs around five euros ($6.30) for a 45-gramme bar.
But Kris McGowan, of the UK-based Raw Chocolate Company, said consumers were willing to pay extra for food if they had confidence in how it was made and what had gone into it.
“Probably over the last 10 years there’s been a real shift amongst consumers; they are taking much more care of what they buy,” he said.
“They want to know more about where things come from and after various food scandals people no longer trust the big companies to do things cleanly,” he added.
For Nefeli Bouzalas, of import company Hacienda del Cacao, the emergence of raw chocolate highlights a trend for chocolate that is less sweet.
“There have always been some people who love dark chocolate but now more and more people who before would have chosen a milky chocolate are chosing dark chocolate.
“Now people are even asking us for 100 percent cocoa — which is really bitter,” she said.
Whatever the claims made for raw chocolate, French nutrition consultant Laurent Chevallier, warned against relying on it as a source of nutrients.
“The nutritional benefits of chocolate are only worth anything in very large quantities,” he said adding that from a health point of view levels of antioxidants in chocolate were “infinitesimal”.
“Chocolate does not have nutritional value when you consume it in reasonable quantities and if you eat it in unreasonable quantities you will get fat,” he said.
The Salon du Chocolat runs until Sunday in Paris.
AK president, Isaiah Kiplagat, said Friday they were yet to receive word from world governing body, IAAF or the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) followings claims that surfaced online on RunBlogRun.com that Jeptoo’s urine sample from the test conducted in September had tested positive for banned substances.
Jeptoo went on to clock 2:24:35 on October 12 for victory in Chicago to wrap up a fourth successive World Marathon Majors (WMM) victory and in the process, clinch a share of the 2013/14 series jackpot worth USD500,000 (Sh44,699,969.3).
“I’m aware of the online reports about Jeptoo but until IAAF and WADA inform us officially, we cannot comment on the matter since it is a very serious issue. We don’t want to pre-empt anything and once we receive official communication, we shall address the issue,” Kiplagat said.
Jeptoo was at AK’s Riadha House headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday at a time she was supposed to have travelled to New York for the award ceremony of the WMM following Sunday’s marathon at the Big Apple.
“She could have been here for other things. What I know she is supposed to attend the Marathon Majors presentation in New York,” the President responded on Jeptoo’s citing at Riadha House.
According to the RunBlogRun.com reports, the positive bust would throw WMM into a spin but for a country that has vigorously defended her top athletes of never ending accusations of systematic doping; a positive bust of an athlete of Jeptoo’s standing would be disastrous.
WMM rules require a B-sample to test positive before taking further action besides official sanctions against the athlete from IAAF or national federation to strip any confirmed cheat of the jackpot and titles won in the period under review.
Jeptoo’s management, Rosa Associati, ran by Federico Rosa was yet to respond to email requests for confirmation by the time of penning this article.
Their former runner, Mathew Kisorio who has since served a two-year international ban for steroid use and resumed competition, was the highest profile Kenyan runner caught in the doping web when both of his samples failed in 2012.
Kisorio who captained Kenya to the 2011 World Cross in Punta Umbria was promptly ditched by Rosa Associati after his ban.
A recent Government Anti-Doping Task Force report accused AK of taking the issue of doping lightly with Kiplagat coming under scathing criticism and he is yet to respond to allegation contained in the findings.
According to them, 32 Kenyan athletes have tested positive with 17 failing drug tests in the period between 2012 and 13 in a huge rise that invited WADA to threaten to ban Kenya from international competitions last year if the Government did not investigate the cases.
Whilst most positive tests were deemed to be as a result of non-declaration of medication used by affected runners owing to the lack of sensitisation, a damning report by German TV ARD alleged systematic drug use in the top tier of the country sports.
In his terse response, Kiplagat slammed the reports saying no high ranking Kenyan runners had failed drug tests with the few cheats clustered in a group of mediocre athletes aiming to have a shortcut to fame.
Any confirmation of a failed test on Jeptoo will quickly reverse that assertion and the next few days will be nervous for AK and the country at large.
Michael Jackson cloned his DNA before his death, it has been claimed.
The King of Pop passed away in June 2009 from acute Propofol intoxication but in the years leading up to his demise he paid millions of dollars to European scientists engaged in cutting edge genetic research to create replicas of himself.
Michael’s wish was that the replicas would be able to carry on his legacy after his passing and he made “safe deposits” of his sperm in three different medical facilities across the world to be used if he died.
Director of the New York Center for Extraterrestrial Research
Michael C. Luckman has made the claim, revealing the information was given to him by late celebrity fashion designer Andre Van Pier – who designed stage costumes for Michael and his sister Janet Jackson, and was friends with their sibling La Toya Jackson.
Luckman said: “Van Pier first learned of the futuristic cloning experiments and the secret sperm deposits from a close associate at a longevity centre based in Panama. Michael’s enthusiasm for cloning began with the successful cloning of Dolly the Sheep and escalated following false claims by the Raelians, a UFO cult group with headquarters in Canada, that they had cloned the first human baby.”
The alien expert claims samples of Michael’s sperm were recently moved from a Los Angeles fertility clinic to England by the Jackson family for safekeeping.
Luckman – who has just completed his book ‘The Battle for Michael Jackson’s Soul’, which documents the ‘Thriller’ singer’s fascination with human cloning – believes the work could be being carried out now.
He said: “Michael wanted this happen, and spent time and money trying to achieve his goal. We could see many dead stars resurrected with science. Canadian dentist Dr. Michael Zuk purchased one of John Lennon’s teeth at auction and has announced plans to use the DNA from the tooth to create a perfect double of the former Beatle.”
Keshi, who steered the Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations glory in 2013 and the knock-out stage of this year’s World Cup finals, was sacked on October 16 after a string of poor performances.
But several senior officials at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have revealed that Jonathan had ordered Keshi be reinstated and given a contract.
Should that happen, he would be on the bench for Nigeria’s next Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Congo and South Africa in November.
Keshi, who was in talks on Thursday with sports minister Tammy Danagogo, said he was unaware of any presidential intervention.
But he added: “If the president of my country asked me to return, who am I to refuse?”
The 52-year-old coach had earlier refused to comment on speculation that he could be reinstated, with a power struggle for leadership of the NFF rumbling on.
New NFF boss Amaju Pinnick sacked Keshi and his coaching staff soon after his appointment last month, adding that the hunt was on for a foreign coach.
Jonathan is said to have met Pinnick and Chris Giwa, who briefly led the NFF in August, at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja, on Wednesday night.
“Keshi is back as Nigeria coach and he will be the one to lead the Super Eagles against Congo and South Africa next month,” said one senior official.
In a separate NFF statement released on Thursday, caretaker coach Shuaibu Amodu said Keshi should be allowed to take charge for the last two AFCON qualifiers.
He said the executive committee should reconsider as he did not have enough time to prepare for the games.
“The timeframe is too short to start tinkering with the fabric of the team or attempt to build a new team altogether,” he wrote in an open letter to NFF bosses.
Nigeria play Congo-Brazzaville in Pointe Noire on November 15 and South Africa in Uyo, southeast Nigeria, four days later.
They need to not only win both matches but beat Congo by a margin of two away goals to stand any chance of automatic qualification for the finals in Morocco next year.
Raul, 37, who remains the top Champions League scorer with 71, will join the Cosmos for next year’s North American Soccer League campaign, one level below Major League Soccer, and serve as technical advisor for the team’s youth academy.
Cosmos, whose former stars include Pele and Franz Beckenbauer in the club’s all-star heyday in the 1970s, had gone out of business but the club was revived in the hopes of a return to glory.
“Everyone throughout the soccer world knows the Cosmos name and the legacy of the players that played for this team previously,” Raul said.
“They helped establish soccer in America and I’m honored to follow in their footsteps. I believe in this club’s vision and I’m excited to be a part of that.”
Signing Raul will help Cosmos compete with the MLS New York Red Bulls and FC New York City, a new MLS rival owned by English Premier League side Manchester City and baseball’s New York Yankees.
The new club will boast Spanish World Cup striker David Villa and former Chelsea star Frank Lampard when it debuts in March at iconic Yankee Stadium.
Raul joined Real Madrid in 1994 at the age of 17 and spent 16 seasons with Los Blancos, scoring 323 goals and collecting six La Liga titles, four Spanish Super Cups and three Champions League crowns.
He left Real in 2010 for Germany’s Schalke 04, where he netted 40 goals in 98 matches and spurred them on to the 2011 Champions League semi-finals before departing for Qatari side Al-Sadd in 2012.
“We’re obviously thrilled to add a player of his quality,” Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese said.
“Raul’s skill and ability is world-renowned. He’s a world-class player and he adds a whole new dimension to our attack.
“He also brings immense passion and knowledge that he can share with our team and with the next generation of Cosmos players in our youth academy.”
Raul, whose 71 Champions League goals came in 144 appearances, also scored 44 goals in 102 games over a decade with the Spanish national squad.
As the sporting world remembers Muhammad Ali’s epic showdown with George Foreman the search is on for the ring which the two boxers climbed into at dawn on October 30, 1974.
The ring “was stolen a few years ago,” Barthelemy Bosongo, manager of the Tata Raphael stadium which staged the fight, told AFP.
“We don’t know where it’s gone, but it’s no longer in Kinshasa,” he added. “We’re in the process of setting up a judicial investigation.”
A leading sports official in the Democratic Republic of Congo who wished to remain anonymous believes the bulky piece of sporting memorabilia “is in South Africa”.
According to Bosongo, “there are no signs left now of the fight, apart from the two dressing rooms” which Ali and Foreman used to change before stepping out for the fight, and into boxing folklore.
He added: “I would have liked for the stadium to become a place of history, where you’d find the dressing rooms, photos, gloves…but there’s nothing to remind you of the fight.”
It may be making headlines around the world but Thursday’s 40th anniversary was passing off virtually unobserved in Kinshasa itself.
At the Tata Raphael stadium it was just like any other day.
Youngsters were knocking a ball around outside while inside Yvonne, 47, when asked about the importance of the day, replied: “What happened 40 years ago?
“1974……..was it the fight between Ali and Foreman?”
“I know the year of the bout, but not the day itself,” she admitted.
Pierre, 64, remembers as a student having to watch the bout on television as he couldn’t afford a ringside seat.
“We’ve forgotten about the fight, the government should have mande an announcement about it,” he said.
“It was after all the fight of the century, which we staged here…”
“The Rumble in the Jungle” anniversary barely got a mention in the local press.
And Ali’s famous eighth round KO was similarly being ignored out on the streets of the capital, aside from a handful of posters advertising a low-key national competition to mark the occasion on Friday.
The stadium itself looks as though it has lost a few rounds against Ali in the intervening years.
The terraces, which were packed with 100,000 people on the night, are falling apart. Water leaks into the gyms where Ali and Foreman trained.
Bosongo revealed that a long awaited makeover was on the cards.
“The government’s ordered the stadium, including the dressing rooms, to be renovated by a Chinese company.”