So Hot Right Now

In Defense of Milk Chocolate

November 11, 2015

Even when we genuinely enjoy them, there are some foods we choose to eat because we know they're the slightly more wholesome (or wholesome-feeling) option—like crunchy peanut butter, unsweetened yogurt, kale, dark chocolate. There's something that feels distinctly mature about picking the option you would never have considered when you were a kid. 

Take milk chocolate: It's the iceberg lettuce and the macaroni and cheese of its kind. It's not the next great superfood, and it's not making anyone look sophisticated.

But we forget that food does not have to work for you all the time. We don't always have to choose kale. Butter lettuce may not be the same nutrient powerhouse that kale is, but it is so darn enjoyable to eat. Foods like that—foods whose strengths are in their ability to please—work for you in ways that more virtuous (define as you will) foods won't.

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Chocolate

Yesterday, the New York Times published an article called "In Ireland, Milk Chocolate Reigns," the title of which suggests surprise at the preference, suggesting a contrast between the Irish and dark chocolate-loving, or at least dark chocolate-heroizing, Americans. 

In Ireland, high-quality ingredients make for milk chocolate that overrides the stigma of milk chocolate in the United States—a stigma almost certainly due, in my mind, to the prevalence of cheap, low-quality chocolate and the fact that milk chocolate doesn't have the merits of dark chocolate's health benefits. The Times writer, fellow milk chocolate-lover Shivani Vora, gets it right:

The news media perpetually extol its [dark chocolate's] health benefits, bars touting high cacao percentages have bombarded specialty and even grocery store shelves, and luxury chocolatiers have dark-dominant collections of delicate-looking pralines and ganaches. Oh, and just try finding a food aficionado, self-proclaimed or real, who doesn’t sniff away the lighter stuff as unworthy. 

Chocolate

Milk chocolate is easy. It wears the unfortunate mantle of "kid food": sweet, creamy, mild, and often uncomplicated, but arguably what you want in a chocolate bar (and in most things) when you're a kid. And though I was a kid who actually preferred dark chocolate, and still prefer dark chocolate a lot of the time, there's nothing as comforting as milk chocolate. 

"Kid foods" are thought of as such because they soothe and warm, but it doesn't mean that they're not good foods. I'll never advocate for specialized kids' menus, but I love simple pastas and tomato soup and soft bread as much as I love their more adult-table counterparts. The same is true for milk chocolate. I might not eat it all the time, but its bad rap is undeserved. Sometimes you just want chocolate to be sweet

Top photo by Teresa Floyd; bottom photo by James Ransom

What do you find nourishing in the creamy-milk-chocolate sort of way? Gush about it in the comments.

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • arcane54
    arcane54
  • Burf
    Burf
  • Smaug
    Smaug
  • HalfPint
    HalfPint
  • Ursula | Lil Vienna
    Ursula | Lil Vienna
Writing and cooking in Brooklyn.

10 Comments

arcane54 June 2, 2016
Finally. I feel vindicated in my love/lust/craving for milk chocolate.
 
Burf November 12, 2015
While I'm a huge fan of the dark chocolate, milk chocolate rules supreme in s'mores. Every time.

I haven't tried Cadbury milk chocolate, but will soon!
 
Smaug November 11, 2015
I will go out on a limb and say that there is no one in the world who worries about nutrition when choosing chocolate.
 
HalfPint November 11, 2015
I've always been a milk chocolate fan and truth be told, I don't really like dark chocolate on it's own.
 
Ursula |. November 11, 2015
Thank you, Caroline!
 
Elizabeth November 11, 2015
I agree, it all comes down to quality, just like so many other ingredients. If you offer me a Hershey's bar, I'll pass without giving it another thought. But I'll have a few pieces of high quality chocolate--milk or dark, plain or not--during a coffee break throughout the week and enjoy every bit of it.
 
Carmen L. November 11, 2015
cadbury milk chocolate > anything
 
HalfPint November 11, 2015
I'm with you on this one! Cadbury's makes the best milk chocolate
 
Sevenmack November 11, 2015
Honestly, in my opinoon, dark chocolate is overrated. It is easy to toss in some other flavor into it, be it oranges or caramel or pepper, and make it seem sophisticated in taste. A high quality, sophisticated, and sweet milk chocolate, on the other hand, takes work. Because it is hard to improve on sweet, simple, and tasty. So I'm all for celebrating milk chocolate.
 
Sevenmack November 11, 2015
Make that "opinion" (when autocorrect doesn't).