Alexander Badenoch

Alexander Badenoch is a cultural historian who researches the movement of ideas and commodities across Europe in the modern era. His book Chocolate follows the cacao bean's astonishing career — from Mesoamerican sacred drink to global industrial pleasure — as a case study in commodity culture and communication.

A scholar based in Germany, Badenoch has written on media, migration and the history of everyday objects. In Chocolate he blends economic history with cultural analysis to show how a single product became intertwined with empire, marketing and desire.