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WFAEats
Welcome to WFAEats — a fun adventure where we explore all things tasty and interesting in the Charlotte food scene. We want to share stories, recipes and culinary escapades and hear about yours!

Take Heart

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Just when we think our poor hearts can't take another pounding (we still love you, Panthers), here comes Valentine's Day. 

And like a game where it feels like the whole world is watching, the stakes are high. There’s not much margin for error. A fumble can get you sidelined. A couple of bad plays and you could forfeit the game entirely. Worst of all, the penalties can continue to accumulate even after the players have left the field.

At times like this, it's wise to take comfort where we can. So let’s turn to CHOCOLATE. Here are some tasty facts to nibble on:

Chocolate will melt between 86 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, lower than your body temperature. That’s why M&Ms candy with the hard-shell coating can boast they “melt in your mouth, not in your hand.”

International Chocolate Day is held each year on September 13, the birthday of Milton S. Hershey. The “S” is for Snavely.

There is also a World Chocolate Day celebrated on July 7. 

According to Fortune magazine, you should be celebrating on October 28 instead.

There is a Laboratory of Chocolate Science at MIT.

You can buy chocolate-covered insects online. Our favorite review from amazon.com: “Similar taste and consistency to pretzels.”

The Mars candy company and the American Heart Association co-funded a study of chocolate’s health benefits.

Chocolate can be good for you because it contains antioxidants called flavanols, which can be linked to a decrease in blood pressure. Experts haven't set a therapeutic dose just yet, so “experiment” in moderation.

Other research showed that certain people who regularly ate candy had lower body mass index (BMI) measurements than people who abstain.

In 2014, Time magazine reported cocoa farmers are fighting a fungal disease called “frosty pod” and warned this could lead to a global shortage. All the more reason we should partake as often as we can.

Of course, no amount of sweet indulgence can really soothe the disappointment of a letdown, not in sports and not in romance. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, a dreary post-game Monday, or any other day, the best we can do is take heart from believing that the next time around we’ll get another chance to play. 

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Amy Rogers is the author of Hungry for Home: Stories of Food from Across the Carolinas and Red Pepper Fudge and Blue Ribbon Biscuits. Her writing has also been featured in Cornbread Nation 1: The Best of Southern Food Writing, the Oxford American, and the Charlotte Observer. She is founding publisher of the award-winning Novello Festival Press. She received a Creative Artist Fellowship from the Arts and Science Council, and was the first person to receive the award for non-fiction writing. Her reporting has also won multiple awards from the N.C. Working Press Association. She has been Writer in Residence at the Wildacres Center, and a program presenter at dozens of events, festivals, arts centers, schools, and other venues. Amy Rogers considers herself “Southern by choice,” and is a food and culture commentator for NPR station WFAE.