What does it take to preserve the intangible heritage of cacao and chocolate? Two architects who built two of the world’s most ambitious chocolate museums join host Jose Lopez Ganem: Ana Rita García Lascuráin, founder of MUCHO – Museo del Chocolate in Mexico City, and Eugenio Guarducci, founder of Eurochocolate and the Città del Cioccolato in Perugia, Italy. Together they discuss how a restored 1909 house and Perugia’s historic Mercato Coperto became cultural engines for their cities, the business of museums you can eat, La Cacaotera, a new regional cacao museum in Villahermosa, Tabasco, plans for a chocolate factory and museum in Côte d’Ivoire, the widening gap between farmgate and retail prices, and a proposal born live on air: an international association of cacao and chocolate museums.
Our two guests show that architects may be the unlikely guardians of chocolate’s story.
Ana Rita García Lascuráin is a Mexico City architect with more than three decades of work in art and architecture, and the founder of MUCHO – Museo del Chocolate (https://mucho.org.mx). The museum occupies a restored 1909 house at Milán 45 in Colonia Juárez, and every new exhibition there inspires its own line of chocolates, currently including huitlacoche bonbons. Ana Rita also helped shape La Cacaotera, the regional cacao museum in Villahermosa, Tabasco, together with a group of colleagues that included the Institute for Cacao and Chocolate Research, which helped locate and repatriate archaeological pieces for its permanent exhibition (https://www.chocolateinstitute.org/post/repatriation-of-cacao-related-archeological-pieces-to-us-southwest-and-mesoamerica).
Eugenio Guarducci is an architect, the founder of Eurochocolate (https://www.eurochocolate.com), and the creator of the Choc Hotel, the Costruttori di Dolcezze chocolate brand, and the Città del Cioccolato (cittadelcioccolato.it). The museum gave new life to Perugia’s historic Mercato Coperto and is now home to the Cacao of Excellence lab. Heading to Italy this month? Eurochocolate returns to Perugia’s historic center November 13–22 for its 32nd edition, under the theme “Fate Dolci.” Strolling the festival is free, and the Città del Cioccolato is open daily just steps away.
Heading to Italy this month? Eurochocolate 2026 runs from Friday, November 13 to Sunday, November 22 in Perugia’s historic center. It is the festival’s 32nd edition, with the theme “Fate Dolci.” Strolling the streets and stalls is free, and the Città del Cioccolato is open daily, so you can pair the two. Full program at eurochocolate.com.