Candy Freak

A man in my book club recommended this Candy Freak: A Journey Through The Chocolate Underbelly of America with a warning. He said after reading this book by Steve Almond he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  The man was 61 years old and it's not typical to get juvenile diabetes at that age.  Instead of scaring me off, I was intrigued.  Could a book induce a chronic disease?  I don't think so but time will tell.  Steve Almond is a joy to read (get it?  Almond Joy?)  His humor is infectious.  His sarcasm very thick.  His descriptions of the sensations of eating chocolate are almost pornographic.  This man really enjoys his candy. I like candy too but not like this guy.  He has pounds of various candies stashed around his house.  He got all upset when Caravelle candy bar was not available in stores anymore and he wouldn't stop talking about it.  His friends, no doubt sick of hearing about Caravelles, encouraged him to write a book.  So he did write a book.  Certain regions of the country have their own candy bars.  We have Nut Goodie and Salted Nut Roll here in Minnesota.  Some candy bars are too delicate to be shipped in planes or by truck.  This authors travels to small candy manufacturers and tours their plants and listens to the history of each business.  I really enjoyed this book.  Here is a quote from it:    “Every now and then, I'll run into someone who claims not to like chocolate, and while we live in a country where everyone has the right to eat what they want, I want to say for the record that I don't trust these people, that I think something is wrong with them, and that they're probably - and this must be said - total duds in bed.”