Chocolate Gift Shop for Visitors

When signing up for my next cultural class, I decided to stray away from yoga, and look towards chocolate making at the Cusco ChocoMuseo. I jumped at the opportunity to take this class at the first given date, and was particularly excited about going to a class that was something I viewed as “uniquely Cusco” or “uniquely Peruvian,” especially due to the fact that it involved the creation of food. However, as all good businesses do, they know how to bring in the tourist, which is exactly what they did. I left the Hotel Arcangel expecting to walk into a full museum, detailing the history of chocolate making in South America, with the end being slightly interactive. However, it was more of a chocolate themed gift shop than a museum. The theme of chocolate and its creation in South America seemed to overwhelm, to a point that I would almost compare the gift shop to a LEGO store at LEGOLAND. One could buy chocolate products for all members of the family, ranging from clothing to health products to food and beverage, among other trinket items.

Moving on to the actual class, this small cooking style table was crowded by tourists, many being students, with a few other visitors sprinkled in. From the Chocolate making process painting that was listed in three languages, to the history boards in English, to the class being largely taught in English, it was very clear right off the bat that the class is something that a true Peruvian would likely not attend. The teacher/chef made for a very entertaining and engaging class, and I was very glad I went to the class and made my own chocolate creations, despite it lasting two full hours. The chef spoke a mix of English and Spanish, catering to the room of English speaking tourists, while donning a Peru logo on his chef’s jacket and a chef's hat. Every other person in the room wore a ChocoMuseo apron, some brave enough to wear chef’s hats as well, in an attempt to assimilate into the “uniquely Peruvian” activity. Such involvement in the class appeared ironic, as one could not appear as more of a foreigner than through attending that class. While I learned the process of making chocolate and learned of its origins in South America, I also left the class feeling as if I contributed to a booming tourism industry, and not with a better cultural understanding of the history of the Andean diet.