Today is Chocolate Monday.
Maybe only closer friends of mine will know what I’m talking about, but it’s time the world be let in on the secret.
College roommate and best friend Zach with gluten-free chocolate covered deep fried bananas.
It all began circa 2008 in Rexburg, Idaho. I realized I was devouring likely unhealthy amounts of theobromine, on a nearly daily basis. Now that I look back, I’m pretty sure the intense chocolate cravings were a sign of Magnesium deficiency… but that’s another topic.
I wanted to find a way to control this inner chocolate monster (after all, Mormons are the suppression experts), so I decided to allow myself one day a week to eat it. This would not only give my liver a break, but make the indulgence more meaningful as a “special occasion”.
And it worked. I suppose Chocolate Monday became a meme; or maybe an inside joke. But whether or not a more public perspective would lend credibility to this extreme-semi-annual holiday, its celebration always provided a good time.
There were no rules. If it involved the consumption of theobroma cacao in any shape or form, it fit regulation. Sometimes you’d create your own elaborate chocolate desserts, and sometimes you just ran to the nearest open gas station for a Skor bar. But the underlying principle was that chocolate is delicious. And Monday sounded like a good day for it.
Now that I’m no longer in college, I don’t have the same social network to relish in the tradition. But occasionally I’ll get a text or an email from someone from the founding days of chocolatedom with a greeting and reverent reminder, which is always a nostalgic surprise. I can’t tell you how many people still celebrate ChocMo, but it will never melt from the palm of my heart.
So to those of you who remember, and to the new recruits everywhere else -
Happy Chocolate Monday!
p.s.
If you’re concerned about the quality of your chocolate, NAP has the best! Click here.