Chocolate binge eggzactly what we fancy

By BRIDGET CARTER

New Zealanders are likely to chomp through nearly $15 million of chocolate around Easter - one of the biggest chocolate-eating binges of the year.

Supermarkets sold $95 million worth of chocolate confectionery last year, amounting to around 6.7 million kilograms, figures from researchers ACNielsen show.

In March and April last year, shops sold around $14.8 million of chocolate bars and eggs, $12.8 million of which was Easter confectionery.

That's $4.6 million in hollow chocolate eggs and $3.9 million chocolate-coated marshmallow eggs.

Chocolate enthusiast Chris Nicholson of Ponsonby says she eats plenty of chocolate at Easter time, describing it as "her downfall."

"I love the plain chocolate ones ... no ... I love all of them," she says.

Nancy Menezes says she takes more of a modest approach to Easter egg eating.

She bought her children Easter eggs when they were little, but they were allowed only one each.

But New Zealanders still favour Christmas over Easter as a time for chocolate.

In the weeks around Christmas, supermarkets last year sold $28 million worth of chocolate confectionery.

Our love of chocolate has not stopped one of the world's best-known confectionery companies from shutting its doors here.

The United States company Whitmans, known for its Whitmans Sampler, an assortment of chocolates, is winding down its operation in New Zealand.

Sales manager Helen Carter says the exchange rate means it is no longer viable for the company to operate in Australia or New Zealand.

In the United States, Easter is the second biggest candy-eating feast of the year behind Hallowe'en.

Americans spent nearly $US1.9 billion ($4.9 billion) on Easter candy in 2000. In 1999, 3.2 billion kilograms of candy was eaten.

In the year 2000 Americans spent an estimated $US1.4 billion on candy at Christmas, $US2 billion at Hallowe'en and just over $US1 billion around Valentine's Day.

As to the vexed question of which way to eat chocolate bunnies, United States research has offered some answers.

It found that 74 per cent of American children believe chocolate bunnies should be eaten ears first and 13 per cent think bunnies should be eaten feet first.

Just 10 per cent favoured eating the tail first.

And adults prefer milk chocolate (65 per cent) to dark (27 per cent).

The head of nutrition at Auckland University, Lynn Ferguson, says a small amount of chocolate once a year does not hurt people, but some just "pig out."

"The fat content is so high it is quite dangerous," she says.

The custom of offering Easter eggs, chocolate or hard boiled and coloured, dates well beyond the early years of Christianity to ancient pagan traditions.

Both the hare and the egg were the symbols of the Norse Goddess Ostara, and represented fertility.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Easter comes in spring, a time of new life - hence the idea of eggs.