It’s been a while since I wrote about food. Shame, really, since so many fine cheeses have come and gone in my kitchen. This might be a good time to talk about how the local has become global and global local, but instead I think I’ll just pop open a couple sole source bars of chocolate (yes, soul is meant to be a pun) and imagine myself transported to a place far, far, away…

The Pacauare River is one of Costa Rica’s wildest rivers, cutting through virgin rainforest gorges that shelter jaguars, ocelots, monkeys and a multitude of bird species.

Mmmm, I can taste the ocelots in every bite. Next, I’m off again to…

The Los Rios region of Ecuador produces exceptional cacao, often referred to as Arriba (up river). The one mighty national strain, Arriba Nacional, is now on the very of extinction.

–insert joke about paddles here–

Close your eyes, taste the chocolate, and dream of lush greenery.

Well, and there you have it. This somewhat reminds me of the heady days in the early 1990s of small batch and single barrel bourbon marketing; when you could get 750ml of Knob Creek for $15 and Bush Pilot Rye was not yet extinct.

Here’s to the little guys to whom you can trust your taste-buds. And just to bring it back to security, if you ever wonder how to explain “input validation” just ask yourself how you avoid putting undesired objects into your mouth at dinner time.

Anyone else think that SQL injection attacks are to databases what global-franchise goods are to your stomach? Ah yes, back to global as local versus local as global…

EDITED to ADD: Dagoba has issued a recall on some of the their chocolate products due to traces of lead. So, while chocolate might taste good, you still have to be careful that the people who make and sell the stuff have preventive and detective controls in place to protect your health. Bourbon, on the other hand, well you’re on your own with that stuff.