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IN THE 18th CENTURY, cocoa was making its way into the kitchens and onto the tables of the wealthiest families of the American South. Cocoa had come to the continent in the 1700s, on the same ships that transported rum and sugar from the Caribbean and South America. The harvesting and shipment of cocoa, like other plantation crops, was an integral part of the transatlantic trade and was heavily reliant on the labour of enslaved Africans.
In Virginia, cocoa was so popular that it is estimated that approximately one-third of the colony's elites were consuming cocoa in some form or another. The art of chocolate-making – roasting beans, grinding pods onto a stone over a small flame – was labour-intensive: An enslaved cook would roast the cocoa beans on the open hearth, shell them by hand, grind the nibs on a heated chocolate stone, and then scrape the raw cocoa, add milk or water, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, and serve it piping hot.
ENTER CAESAR
One of the first chocolatiers in the Colonies was an enslaved cook in Virginia, named Caesar. Born in 1732, Caesar was the chef at Stratford Hall, the home of the Lees, and in his kitchen sat one of only three chocolate stones in the Colony. (The other two were located at the governor’s palace and at the Carter estate, belonging to one of the wealthiest families in Virginia.)
Caesar was responsible for cooking multiple meals a day for the Lees and any free person who came to visit. He was talented, cooking elaborate and refined meals for Virginia’s gentry. He also learned the art of making chocolate. It is unknown where or how he learned this. His predecessor, an indentured Englishman named Richard Mynatt who cooked for the Lees during the 1750s, may have learned chocolate-making from other cooks in Virginia and passed it on to Caesar. Or perhaps the Lees, with their obsession with culinary arts, took Caesar to observe at one of the coffeehouses in Williamsburg, or even at the governor’s palace.
Chocolate and Christmas had a unique relationship to enslaved cooks throughout the Colonies. While the special treat sweetened the season for the white families, the enslaved communities living and labouring in field quarters had a very different experience on Christmas.
The work was oppressive in the plantation kitchens at Christmas time. The field labourers were typically given the day off, while those assigned to the big house's kitchen and as domestic staff were expected to work around the clock to ensure a perfect holiday for the white family. The biggest task at hand was to cook and serve Christmas dinner, and chocolate was a favourite addition to the three-course, formal affair.
Caesar would have had to direct the execution of such a feast. Oyster stew, meat pies, roasted pheasant, puddings, roasted suckling pig and Virginia ham are some of the many dishes that would be served in just one course. The night would finish with the sipping of chocolate: toasted, ground and spiced by Caesar, and served in sipping cups made specifically for drinking chocolate.
BITTERSWEET ARC
As one of the Colony’s earliest chocolatiers, Caesar’s status as an enslaved African American puts his story on the map of American culinary history. Decades before the two well-known enslaved chefs, Monticello’s James Hemings and George Washington’s Chef Hercules, became known for their culinary skills, Caesar was running one of the Colonies’ most prestigious kitchens inside of Stratford Hall, and making chocolate for the Lees and their guests.
Caesar disappeared from the records by the end of the 18th century. The world he lived in, was one fuelled by the Columbian Exchange, built from enslaved labour and rich with culinary delights: pineapples, Madeira wine, port, champagne, coffee, sugar and cocoa beans. These items travelled from plantation to dining room via the Atlantic trade, and were central to securing the reputation of Virginia’s plantation elite. The more exotic and delicious the food, the more domestic fame one would reap.
Having cocoa delivered directly to your home, and having a chocolatier in the kitchen, were exceptional. It was through Caesar’s culinary arts that Stratford Hall became well-known throughout Colonial Virginia as a culinary destination.
Kelley Fanto Deetz is a historian who works at Stratford Hall as director of education, programming and visitor engagement. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence.
