A talk at The Last Tuesday Society, at the Viktor Wynd museum, London, 16th June 2025, 6.30-8.30pm

The processed seeds of Theobroma cacao and their contemporary by-product, chocolate, have been associated with luxury, pleasure and status for thousands of years. But indigenous Mesoamerican lore and the transition of Cacao to the global stage reveals another side to this prized plant, with more ambiguous associations.

More info and tickets here

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.

LINK TO A RECORDING OF THE TALK HERE