Most people think of chocolate as a sweet treat, but there is a growing movement of “Cacao ceremonies” and “Cacao parties”, using Cacao as a psychoactive and ritual centrepiece.  The tree Theobroma cacao, the source of the cocoa bean, has an ancient and venerable place in Mesoamerican mythology, and Cacao may have been used ritually to commune with the souls of the dead, attract good fortune, and seal contracts with the gods; and it was explicitly consumed with Psilocybe mushrooms at major celebrations. 

In this online talk Marcos Patchett investigates the historical authenticity of the “Cacao ceremony”, the pharmacology of Cacao and its interactions with other psychoactive plants, and finally considers the popular classification of chocolate as a comfort food.