Jon Tattrie - Peace by Chocolate: The Hadhad Familys Remarkable Journey from Syria to Canada

The inspiring story of the Hadhad family and the people of Antigonish who welcomed them.

Jon Tattrie expertly weaves the extraordinary story of the Hadhad familys journey from Syria to Canada with a portrayal of the Antigonish community that came together to support them. Peace by Chocolate is a timely tale of triumph, a story about the gift of community and the power of determination, and one familys passion for chocolate. We need more heartwarming stories like this, especially today.

Ayelet Tsabari, author of The Art of Leaving

A beautiful story of adversity, loss, love, and hope. This captivating read shows us the power and potential of vision, drive, and community through the incredible journey of the Hadhad family truly inspiring.

Jana Sobey, Vice President, Merchandising, Sobeys Inc.

An important, compassionate book, which everyone should read. It will change how you think about Syrian refugees. Peace by Chocolate will open your heart and mind and move you to reach out to people in need. This is a book about never losing hope.

Tima Kurdi, author of The Boy on the Beach

I thought I knew about the Hadhad familys journey, yet this book added depth and nuance to an already fascinating story. It encompasses the resilience of the Hadhads and the compassion and action of so many people from the IRCC staff to the Antigonish community members who embraced the whole family.

Marie Chapman, CEO, Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

Also by JON TATTRIE

Non-Fiction

Daniel Paul: Mikmaw Elder

Redemption Songs: How Bob Marleys Nova Scotia Song Lights the Way Past Racism

Day Trips from Halifax

Cornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax

The Hermit of Africville: The Life of Eddie Carvery

Fiction

Limerence

Black Snow: A Love Story Set in the Halifax Explosion

Copyright 2020 by Jon Tattrie.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). To contact Access Copyright, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call 1-800-893-5777.

Edited by Jill Ainsley.

Cover and page design by Julie Scriver.

Cover photography by James Smeaton, www.jamesphotos.ca.

Printed in Canada by Marquis.

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Peace by Chocolate : the Hadhad familys remarkable journey from Syria to Canada / Jon Tattrie.

Names: Tattrie, Jon, author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200216279 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200216287 | ISBN 9781773101897 (softcover) | ISBN 9781773101903 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781773101910 (Kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Hadhad, IsamFamily. | LCSH: Peace by Chocolate (Firm)Biography. | LCSH: Peace by Chocolate (Firm)History. | LCSH: SyriansNova ScotiaAntigonishBiography. | CSH: Syrian CanadiansNova ScotiaAntigonishBiography | LCSH: RefugeesNova ScotiaAntigonishBiography. | LCSH: RefugeesSyriaBiography. | LCSH: ConfectionersNova ScotiaAntigonishBiography. | LCSH: Chocolate industryNova ScotiaAntigonishHistory. | LCSH: Antigonish (N.S.)Biography. | LCGFT: Biographies.

Classification: LCC FC2349.A58 Z7 2020 | DDC 971.6/14dc23

Goose Lane Editions acknowledges the generous support of the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Government of New Brunswick.

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Theobroma cacao is a strange tree. Its slender green leaves drip with water in the humid Amazon rainforest it calls home. It loves moisture. If it gets shade from the sun, and protection from the wind, it can grow as high as ten metres. Some trees grow alone, while others flourish in families. White and pink star-shaped flowers sprout directly from the trunk. When pollinated, they produce a fruit known as a cacao pod. The red or yellow pods grow about thirty centimetres long and ten centimetres wide. Their skin is almost as hard as a coconut shell.

Monkeys, squirrels, rats, and bats were the first creatures to learn the secrets of the chocolate tree, but the gods werent far behind. The animals gnawed open the pods, which never drop from their trees, and harvested the sweet milky pulp inside, tossing aside the brown seeds or beans.

Eventually, people living in the eastern foothills of the Andes observed the animals devouring the cacao pods and tried the pulp themselves. One day, thousands of years ago, a forgotten genius decided to collect the beans from the pulp and roast them. Cacao seeds were mashed to make a crude, bitter-tasting paste, [and] mixed with water, chile peppers, vanilla, and other spices and maize to prepare a revered beverage, zoologist Allen M. Young notes. The taste changed the way the ancient people looked at the tree, a change reflected in the name it was later given: Theobroma cacao, the food of the gods. To prehistoric Mesoamericans, writes Young, the cacao tree was the embodiment of the Earths treasures and spiritually represented a bridge between Earth and the heavens.

People used the pods as money as far back at 1600 BCE, or as a sacrifice to the gods in return for rain and healthy crops. The devout put chocolate beans at the centre of mystical rites. The fat pods were stowed in canoes and transported great distances, where they held high value for those who had no access to the chocolate tree. The fruit of the tree spread to the Olmec people of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The Mayans used chocolate drinks and included images of chocolate trees and cacao pods in their sculptures of warrior priests and nobility. At the ancient city of Chichen Iza, a Mayan lord clutches a chocolate tree with a strong right arm. Cacao pods decorated stone incense burners. Regular people spent chocolate coins, and when the coin was too old to be accepted as money, they melted it into a drink for a sacred sendoff. The Mayan ruler of Tikal in modern Guatemala took on the name Lord Cacao 1,300 years ago to show his wealth. The Mayan dead took chocolate drinks to the grave for sustenance in the afterlife.

The Aztecs forced conquered people to pay tribute in cacao beans and amassed great wealth. In Tenochtitlan, their capital in the Valley of Mexico, warehouses filled with cacao beans. Proto-chocolatiers sun-dried the beans then roasted them and ground them into a paste mixed with water. They added vanilla or maize, patted it into a little cake, and stored it for later use. When the rulers called for chocolate drink, the chocolatiers broke off a piece of the cake and added water and red achiote. It poured out like blood as they tumbled it between vessels to make a frothy drink. Finally, they poured it into a crafted tortoise shell and handed it to the ruler. They called it chocolatl.

The great Montezuma built several large warehouses to store his cacao cakes and protected his wealth like it was gold or silver. When marauding Europeans overran the ancient world five hundred years ago, the conquering Spanish quickly developed a taste for it. Under Spanish rule, a rabbit cost ten beans, a horse fifty, a slave one hundred. Prostitutes charged the conquistadors ten cacao beans. The brutal Hernando Corts once said, He who has drunk one cup can travel a whole day without any further food.