I am a 90’s child. I grew up in an era where life was simpler, less commercialized, and cell phones were kept away at dinner tables. Where Happy Cow cheese was our idea of international Swiss cheese, and where you had to request your neighbor aunty to buy you Toblerone when she returned from the ‘Gulf’. And chocolates in the country were limited to Dairy Milk and the likes. And then there was Fantasie – exquisite, gourmet, specially crafted chocolates – that seemed like such a prized catch back then. And in some ways it still is.
My introduction to Fantasie chocolates happened via an old family friend of ours. This lovely lady, a classmate of my grandmother, would come to visit us every six months. And everytime she visited, without fail, she would bring along a huge box of assorted Fantasie chocolates for the family. My grandmother knew I loved the chocolates so much that no one else was allowed to eat them. It was my first introduction to the world of gourmet chocolates, the first time I may have tried caramel, or praline, or mint in a chocolate. I would guard the box with all my life, and sustain every bit of self control to eat only one piece from the box everyday after dinner. Aah, memories!