Sexiest Men Alive?

There is a growing culture out there and we're not talking in the bacterial sense here. We're talking about this urban chic nerd foodie tendency that's now being touched by the mainstream cable channels like the aptly named Cooking Channel. We're talking about more than basement beer brewers and eco bake sale extravaganza. We are now returning to the art of making real food. Now that organic snacks are flooding the Costcos of the world, the general public no longer frown upon this once rebellious minority of rooftop chicken coop owners and dill pickle chemists, or sees them as granola people mashing grapes in Birkenstock.

It's been twice this week that I've heard of the Mast Brothers and their New York handmade chocolate operation. With bushy beards and a wildly Amish looking vibe, they expertly go back to the roots of chocolate itself, glorifying its process like the artful science it should be. I think that in our quest for processed foods of all sorts and the simplicity of shoving virtually anything in our trapholes we sometimes forget the quasi eroticism of liquefied luscious chocolate goodness, its history and the incredible journey it had to take to end up here. Appreciation should not only live in the mind of these foodie renegades but within the public eye as well. After all, I'd rather talk about cocoa liquor than Lyndsey Lohan.

Nevertheless, Mast Brothers, I bow to you. Even with your quite alarming quantity of facial hair, anyone who make chocolate look delicious and smart deserves to kick George Clooney off his pedestal. Chocolate IS sexy.

http://www.mastbrotherschocolate.com/