Some of the information offered by the forum members is very useful, especially on sources. If possible, I would prefer to have updated pinned articles on where to find chocolate since searching could result in quite many hits.

In concrete I would like to know where I can go to buy quality chocolate in various cities. For example, it would have been great to have listed in one pinned article the shops in London who are selling ‘our’ stuff. Name and address of shops, brands in stock and prices would have been great to know. Personally I did some search in the forum for shops in London, but it would have been more convenient if it was easier to trace this information. One (you? ;-))has to make sure such pinned articles are updated, but in general it shouldn’t be a problem as people report changes here quite frequently anyway. I don’t mind providing information about where to get chocolate in my own hometown and other places I visit often, and I doubt other forum members will either. I know other forums make use of pinned articles. I can give you some examples if you like.

I have noticed the Pod-section and I don’t mind if this information is available there. The idea was to collect it in a non-messy way. To me it is essential that it is reasonably updated, especially which brands stocked by each shop. Prices, location, services, web pages are also useful information.

The reason why I suggested pinned articles here is that I find the forum members’ judgment of the various shops useful. Of course it would be great to read the shops own presentations too. I also think it is easier to keep the information updated if it is linked to the forum as I doubt anyone else than the posting members will bother keeping track of what is going on. Of course someone (I guess you …) can move such information over to the Pod regularly.

I see what you mean … perhaps this can work both ways, with links to the forum from the pod, and to the page for each shop from here.

I think it needs a new forum area for this, dedicated to shops, I’ll make one very soon …

Any thoughts how we should structure this? A topic for each shop? By country? Please everyone let me know your thoughts.

Martin Christy
Editor
http://www.seventypercent.com

i’d break it down to country (maybe shops). are there that many shops per city worth noting otherwise?
just came back from a relatively small city in france and they alone had around 5 to 6 chocolatiers. they had their own chocolates from different regions, but it all seemed a bit bandwagonish to me. i only bought one bar, hand-labeled venezuela and didn’t like it at all. their truffles were nice though :-)

(and i found a good fair-trade organic in a supermarché from a company called cemoi (www.cemoi.com or .fr). well worth it’s price of 1.09 eur.)

in munich i only know of two good shops, and imo that doesn’t necessarily justify breaking it down to cities though the shops are worth a mention.

Oh yes, I think Cemoi is one of the better organics – shame we can’t get it in the UK anymore, Waitrose used to carry it. Keep meaning to get hold of some.

Martin Christy
Editor
http://www.seventypercent.com