Bread and Chocolate

It is September 1970. I am in Montreal in grade 7. I am 12 years-old at my friend Bernie’s house in his basement working on a school project. It is a Sunday in the middle of the afternoon and although we have been together for a couple of hours, we can’t seem to make progress on our assignment. Suddenly we hear some chatter from upstairs and it is Bernie’s mother calling out to him in French. Bernie is from Tunisia and the native language is French not the Québécois slang French I am accustomed to growing up in Montreal.  Bernie responds and soon his mother descends to the basement and offers us a plate of food for a mid-afternoon snack. The plate consists of fresh pieces of crusty bread and dark chocolate. I immediately reach out for the chocolate when Bernie says try it with bread. It is a common snack in Tunisia. I never heard of such a combination but the taste sensation was incredible. The crusty chewy bread mixed with the smooth, silky sweet chocolate was sensational. Following our snack, we got more motivated and continued on with our project. As I grew older, I developed a strong appreciation for all types of bread, French bread and baguettes, rye bread and challah.  I also acquired a love of chocolate both milk, dark and even white chocolate from the least expensive to the rare spurge on higher end ones. I never experienced the combo mix from the afternoon I spent at Bernie’s until I realized that every Sunday morning I really do. I grab a coffee at my local coffee shop and then a chocolate croissant at my local bakery. As I was savouring my chocolate croissant a few weeks ago with the flaky crust and the chocolate center it dawned on me that I have experienced this sensation before many years before and it brought a smile to my face.