Roma chocolate festival to celebrate how life used to be

A taste of 1700s chocolate and lifestyle will be served up this weekend at the Roma Heritage Chocolate Festival in eastern P.E.I.

The Roma at Three Rivers national historic site, east of Montague, P.E.I., celebrates how life used to be in the 18th century.

The site has held other festivals before, but this will be the first dedicated to chocolate.

"Chocolate was part of life for few in the 1730s in the French imperial world and at Roma," said Gordon Cobb, festival chair and historic site board member.

Chocolate was only for the aristocrats

In 1732, French merchant Jean Pierre Roma established the first international trading post on Isle Saint-Jean, as the Island was known under French control.

Upper-class types like Roma got to enjoy the chocolate, but it wasn't shared with common folk.

"There was quite a class division among people. A few elites got to enjoy pretty well everything, and other people worked hard and only enjoyed very little of life," Cobb said.

We show all the pioneer dimensions of survival, and frankly, the kids love that.— Gordon Cobb, festival chair

Site manager Adam Beck says there are records of Roma's letters to France.

"He would sell his salted cod to the West Indies, which would be sold to plantations down there. In return, he would bring things such as sugar, molasses, rum and chocolate."

Kids love 'pioneer dimensions of survival'

There will be a meal Friday night, with chocolate-infused food. Saturday will see a large variety of chocolate experiences for the family, as well as displays on blacksmithing, cod flaking and starting a fire from scratch.

It's different because it's the old way of doing chocolate.— Adam Beck, site manager

There will also be a demonstration by Eric Gilbert of Island Chocolates in Victoria, P.E.I.

"We show all the pioneer dimensions of survival, and frankly, the kids love that," Cobb said.

'The old way of doing chocolate'

The historic site offers daily interactive experiences with interpreters who present life as it was three centuries ago.

And this is not 2018 chocolate, Beck said.

"It's different because it's the old way of doing chocolate," he said. "It is thick, it is filling and it has a bit of a kick to it."

For more information, visit the historic site's website.

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