Salon du Chocolat 2015

by Jane Rosenstein

(Paris, France) – The Salon du Chocolat was created by two people who fell in love: Sylvie Douce who directed an event-planning agency and François Jeantet, an architect. The first Salon du Chocolat opened in 1995 in Paris with only 30 exhibitors;  Now the Salon du Chocolate is in 31 cities worldwide on 4 continents   with 7.4 million visitors and 900 participants.  This year the Salon du Chocolat in Paris had 100,000 attendees and 220 exhibitors.

The 21st Salon du Chocolat was held  from October 28-  November 1, 2015 at the Porte de Versailles Convention Center in Paris, France.  Mark W. Suits, our photographer and Socorro Ayllon, a nutritionist based in Paris  and I had the opportunity to go to the pre-opening soirée on October 27.

We enjoyed  watching the chocolate fashion show with  dresses designed by chocolate producers and fashion designers based on the theme “ The classics reinvented chocolate.”  This year Franck Provost www.franckprovost.com  was the official hairdresser, Make Up Forever www.makeupforever.com provided the make up artists, and Quint Elle had 5 lovely ladies “Ba Rock” Russian virtuosos  www.quintelle.ru  playing harps. The  models wearing the dresses  were Miss France and  actresses from Paris. Each evening  at 5 p.m. there  were fashion shows which the public could enjoy.

We enjoyed seeing chocolate sculptures especially a work, called “Image” created by Jean-Luc Decluzeau, who carved the statue with a knife. It is made of Belgian chocolate cocoa and  represents a female mannequin whose body was carved in a block of 500 kg of chocolate, with black chocolate bars..  The head, faceless, was  wearing a big hat that ave very elegant look to the silhouette. The work , 4.20 meters in height  stood on a base of 40 cm.

For both the general public and professionals there were chocolate producers on two levels in an area of 20,000 square meters.  On Level 1  Cocoa Expression  there were chocolate producers from  Europe, South America and Southeast Asia. Mark met the assistant to the ambassador from Ghana and the group representing their chocolate. Level 2 featured Chocolate Innovations with new chocolates and the hottest chocolate and pastry foods.

This year the Salon du Chocolat had the world’s biggest official competition, the World Chocolate Masters organized by Cocoa Barry .Twenty of the world’s best chocolate makers competed. This year  Vincent Vallé won the competition  He was the first French chocolate maker to win.

There were also demonstrations from top international chefs rom the Cocao Barry brand  based on the theme “The Innovation of Plants.”

Not only was the Salon de Chocolat delicious because people could sample and buy  chocolate in various varieties but could also meet producers from various countries and see demonstrations of chefs showing the use of chocolate in cooking including pastries.

Jane Rosenstein

Jane Rosenstein is a U.S. citizen living in Paris, France. She is a professional translator/interpreter. She is the owner of The International Connection which does international marketing consultation including sales of wine, interpretation, and translation.

She enjoys the cultural life that living in Paris offers and has talents in organizing events. She speaks English, French, and Spanish. She has a B.S. degree in mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.B.A. degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA.