Lisbon Chocolate Festival attracts large crowds of visitors

The four-day Campo Pequeno Chocolate Festival 2016, which concluded on Sunday in Portuguese capital Lisbon, has attracted large crowds of visitors.

80 exhibitors with more than 200 of the world's most prestigious chocolate brands took part in the event, with Peru being the honor guest country.

For four days chocolatiers showed their chocolates coming from more than a dozen of countries including Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain, England, Italy, Sao Tome and Principe, Mexico, Vietnam, Portugal and, the guest country, Peru, among others.

It is estimated that about 30,000 visitors have attended the event. Filipe Frazo, a member from the festival's organizers, said that there were no shortage of chocolates. "We have around 6 tons of chocolate available at the booths of the 80 exhibitors."

There were chocolate bars, pralines, truffles, hot chocolate, crepes and just about anything you could imagine eating or cooking with chocolate even black chocolate spaghetti.

There were also workshops about chocolate, showed cooking sessions with chocolate - the "Choco Cooking" - and even jewelry and several replicas of Incan pieces of pottery, all made of chocolate and being reproduced live at the festival.

The main attraction is the statue of an Inca king that is being sculpted on the spot at the festival by the master chocolatier Paulo Santos in honor of the guest country. The statue was 1.7 meters high and was made of 180 kg of chocolate. Behind the statue, a panel with 3 meters high by 2.5 meters wide, representing Machu Pichu, was made of 120 kg of chocolate.

"Our goal at this festival was to publicize our country and the quality of our cocoa to the Portuguese," said Juan Luis Kuyeng, economic and commercial attache of the Peruvian Embassy in Portugal.

Visitors were also able to try one of the most exclusive cocoas in the world, brought by the master chocolatier Giovanna Maggiolo. "It's a unique and very exclusive cocoa with an annual production of only 50 kg per year," added Luis Kuyeng.

As the guest country, Peru was the main star of the event. Despite not being known particularly for its chocolate, the country is responsible for 36 percent of the world's annual cocoa production and supplies this commodity to some of the most prestigious chocolate-producing countries.

Last October, in London, Peru was the Grand Winner of the "Chocolate Awards 2015".

Luis Kuyeng explained that Peru's cocoa was "a native product, a fine cocoa with a strong and exquisite aroma" whose cultivation dated back to the Incas. Thanks to these qualities, the Peruvian cocoa is becoming increasingly recognized and is considered one of the world's best. Endit