The first chocolate was eaten by people in South America hundreds of years ago. In those days, the people did not really eat chocolate. They used the cocoa bean (可可豆) to make a chocolate drink and they enjoyed it very much. Many years later, the cocoa bean was brought to other countries and people came to love the taste of chocolate.

In 1824, John Cadbury opened a small shop in Britain. One of the things he sold was chocolate drink. In 1831, he opened a factory to make chocolate drink. He wanted to encourage people to drink chocolate instead of other drinks. A few years later, a man called Joseph Fry found a way to make chocolate instead of only drinking it. But at that time chocolate was very expensive and only the rich people could buy it. Later, ad more and more chocolate bars were produced and sold, it became cheaper.

However, a T first only plain chocolate (a kind of chocolate without milk and with very little sugar) was produced. Milk chocolate came later and this was made by adding milk to the chocolate. The first milk chocolate bar was made in Cadbury’s factory in 1897. Their most famous chocolate, Cadbury’s Milk Bar, was made in 1905, It has been the most popular chocolate in Britain and around the world for over 100 years. The Cadbury factory is still in Britain and the chocolate produced there is eaten all over the world. Every year, thousands of visitors visit the factory in order to see how chocolate is made.

Food is life; it gives us the nourishment (营养) we need to stay alive and be healthy. Usually, we eat because we are hungry or need energy. Brian Wansink, a professor at the University of Illinois, says we also eat certain foods because they make us feel good, and remind us of happy memories. 【小题1】 For some people, ice cream is a comfort food. For others, a bowl of noodle soup makes them feel good.

【小题2】 Professor Wansink believes that we connect food with important times, feelings and people in our lives. “When I was a child, my mother made a delicious soup; I loved it. 【小题3】 And it helps me feel better,” says one of Wansink’s coworkers.

Do men and women choose different comfort foods? Wansink’s research at the University of Illinois says “yes”. In his study, the favorite comfort food for both men and women was ice cream. After this, men usually preferred hot, savory (味香的) foods like soup or noodles. 【小题4】 Men and women like to eat comfort foods when they are happy, but women eat these foods more when they are sad or worried.

【小题5】 About 40 percent of the comfort foods in Wansink’s study were healthy main dishes or soups and vegetables. It shows, says Wansink, that a comfort food can taste good and be good for you.

As Chinese New Year approaches and we look to welcome the Year of the Tiger, what better way to celebrate than enjoying a chicken chow mein? I am a huge fan of Chinese food. My only complaint with it is that I often ended up paying more than planned! Thankfully there is a cheaper alternative: a Chinese ready meal in a supermarket. But how reliable are they and do they match up to the taste of an authentic Chinese takeaway?

I had high hopes for Tesco’s chicken chow mein. It came in a plastic pot as most Chinese takeaways do and the noodles looked thick and appetising. However, I was not impressed at all. It was very dry and there wasn’t much chicken. There were more vegetables than noodles, with an especially large amount of carrot. It claimed to be dressed in a “sesame (芝麻) sauce” but I found there was barely any coating (涂层,覆盖层) at all. 3/10

The difference between Waitrose’s chicken chow mein and Tesco’s could not be clearer. Waitrose’s chow mein claims to be a Chinese recipe with “egg noodles, chicken and vegetables in a soy and rice wine sauce.” On first glance, there was a much higher proportion of chicken than Tesco had, and plenty of tender vegetables. It was much moister and the chicken was lovely and tasty. There was lots of flavour and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10

Aldi’s chicken chow mein was the cheapest and tasted that way. I tried a bit of chicken first and it took me a good minute to get through; it looked and tasted completely dry, making it difficult to chew and swallow. It was like cardboard. There wasn’t much, either. The rest of the dish was fairly dull and the noodles were soft. There was also only a small number of vegetables in the dish. I liked that it had chilli in too, which added a hint of spice. But the fact that the spice was the one advantage is a giveaway that this is a pretty poor chicken chow mein. 2/10

Final verdict: Waitrose 9/10, Tesco 3/10, Aldi 2/10