Welcome to the most chocolatey corner of the internet! This where you can find & listen to two different chocolate podcasts for free: Chocolate On The Road & Chocolate Habit.
Chocolate On The Road is a narrative documentary-style show focusing on different hot topics in chocolate and cacao, with new full-length episodes every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month.
Chocolate Habit is a chocolate review show with new episodes every Sunday, The shows are brought to you by me, host Max Gandy, a long-time chocolate reviewer and writer with a passion for people & their fascinating stories.
This is my website you're on, so feel free to click here to learn more about my origin story.
Chocolate On The Road: discovering people & stories through chocolate
Chocolate On The Road is part-interview and part-documentary, telling the tales of fine chocolate & cacao from a chocoholic raised with the radio.
Since I can remember, I've listened to public radio shows. I grew up listening to NPR during breakfast, and still tune in to programs like This American Life and Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! But after I moved abroad in 2016, I had to listen to all these shows online. For convenience's sake, I turned to podcasts.
It was through this medium which I quickly began to listen to shows in a variety of genres, from comedy and interviews to news shows and human interest pieces. But as I worked my way through older episodes of my favorite programs, I realized that I had settled into a couple of very specific types of storytelling shows.
I searched & searched for a show which combined my favorite topics of chocolate and travel into such a program, but I just couldn't find one. So, I decided to start it myself. For years I'd already been telling some of these stories on my website, so why not share even more?
Twice a month we explored a hot topic or destination for chocolate, weaving together history, culture, and lived experiences to make a storytelling podcast that's part interview and part documentary. Together we'll learn more about what it means to be a chocolate lover in the modern age, the questions plaguing the industry, and the stories behind every bar & bean & human being that bring us so much joy.
The purpose of Chocolate On The Road is to provide captivating stories that answer questions you didn't even know you had. For example, what makes us buy craft chocolate? Or how has the internet grown up alongside specialty chocolate? Or even, how is craft chocolate itself a Millennial?
There are thousands of people around the world working right now to change the chocolate industry. We're working to make it more sustainable and transparent, and having a whole lot of fun along the way. So Chocolate On The Road was my contribution to that movement.
I made the show I wish was out there, because I know that chocolate and cacao are rich & global industries with interesting, intersectional stories of education, struggle, and most of all, hope.
Chocolate Habit
On Chocolate Habit you'll enjoy 30+ reviews of ethical chocolates for every chocoholic out there, from the craft foodie to the organic eater looking for their next favorite bar. In short bursts of 4 to 7 minutes, you can learn whether a bar is worth investing your time & money in, or better to just leave on the shelf.
In a world with so many great chocolate options, I believe that some bars are bad, many are good, and very few are great. Allow me to sort through the selection with you.
During the series, I reviewed bars such as Dandelion's 70% Maya Mountain, cloudforest's Bruno Coffee Bar, and Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé's 73% Paprika. In the Chocolate On The Road podcast I talk to some of the makers behind these bars, and other interesting chocolate industry folks. The series is over as of 2019 due to extensive travel plans, but thank you all so much for listening!
Watch video versions of each review here.
To browse written craft chocolate bar reviews, click here.