Willy Wonka eat your heart out!: Meet the man paid to scoff 2lb of sweets a day - from cocoa-covered ants to aphrodisiac lollipops

 

 

By Amy Oliver

Last updated at 1:03 PM on 16th November 2010

 

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Every morning, Angus Kennedy sits down at the desk in his cosy office in the Kent countryside and starts to plough his way through a load of chocolate, biscuits, toffee — anything sweet, really.

As he freely admits, he has what many would consider the best job in the world. He edits the confectionery trade’s longest-running and most respected magazine, and it is his duty to review at least 200 products every month.

‘I refuse to write about anything unless I’ve tasted it first,’ he says. ‘After all, people want to know what it’s like to roll a toffee around your tongue.’

 

Sweet tooth: Angus Kennedy and some of the 200 products he reviews every month for his confectionary magazine

 

 

And Angus takes his job very seriously. When visiting a trade show, he can eat 2lb of chocolate in a single day —that’s roughly 20 bars of Dairy Milk or 25 Creme Eggs.

By rights, he should be the size of a house. But annoyingly he’s as thin as a chocolate-covered matchstick — and surprisingly dishy to boot. (Slim, handsome and with unfettered access to chocolate? His wife is a lucky woman.)

But how on earth does he manage so stay in shape? ‘It’s unfair, but I’ve always been thin,’ he says. ‘I go to the gym twice a week and used to row for England, so I know how long it takes to burn calories. Four small chocolate bars is about 20 minutes on the running machine, while a small biscuit can take seven ­minutes of hard rowing.’

He admits some of his staff have acquired much larger girths than when they started. What’s more, some have even left because they’re fed up with eating chocolate.

When people apply for a job, we say: “There’s going to be a lot of chocolate around here, do you mind?” They look at me like I’m mad, but it can take its toll.’

Handful of treats: Angus works his way through numerous products, but is still as thin as a chocolate matchstick

 

Angus may have kept control of his weight, but his poor teeth must take a battering. ‘I had my main molars capped about six years ago so I could munch through everything and not have to worry,’ he says, cracking open a box of Belgian chocolates.

On his desk, which, ironically, is located abovea dental laboratory, there is a strange-looking petri dish of chocolate-covered ants.

‘Ah yes, the ants. Thought we’d give them a go,’ he says, speaking at break-neck speed — no doubt because large quantities of sugar are pulsing through his bloodstream.

The ants are a ‘delicacy’ from Colombia. Every spring a number of poor giant queen leafcutter ants are collected by the Guane Indians, numbed in a freezer and then baked before being shipped to the UK and covered in finest Belgian chocolate.

I put one in my mouth ­reluctantly. It’s not bad, until I get to the body and then it’s rather oozy. The dry, leafy parts are left stuck in my teeth. I’d rather have a jelly bean, or anything for that matter, but Angus says these little critters are proving surprisingly popular; the company sold 40,000 dishes last year.

‘That’s the problem with chocolate tasting — you have to EAT everything,’ says Angus. ‘It’s not like wine, where you can give it a quick swill and then spit it out.’

His monthly magazine is more than 120 years old and is sent to 5,000 subscribers worldwide.

It has been in the family for 40 years. Angus has been involved since he was ten, after his father died from cancer and his mother had to take over the business. The youngster even had his own ­column, called Sweet Spot.

Now, after a few rocky decades that saw him leave school with no qualifications, leave the ­magazine and be declared ­bankrupt, Angus is back at the helm and loving it.

It's no surprise that his children (not to mention all their friends) think their dad has the best job in the world

His four children and 35-year-old wife, Sophie, who also works at the magazine, love it, too. Lorna, 11, Leon, ten, Ruby, eight, and four-year-old George have all become chocolate experts and provide much-needed ­tasting notes.

 

‘They can identify a 70 per cent [cocoa] Ghanaian chocolate from an ordinary one,’ says Angus proudly. The family home near Maidstone is always full of ­chocolate and biscuits, he says, and they’ve got dispensing machines full of jelly beans.

No surprise that his children (not to mention all their friends) think their dad has the best job in the world.

Angus won’t be drawn on a favourite sweet, but if he were cast away on a desert island, he’d plump to take with him an ­endless, assorted supply of ­chocolate ­biscuits, jellies and Turkish delight.

‘Chocolates are like books. I like fresh cream truffles, but I also like Ferrero Rocher. Sophie adores After Eights and, as a nation, we love Cadbury’s because we grew up with it.’

 

But the number of new sweets is incredible, with more than 22,000 different confectionery products launched last year. Among them were the ­Liebeskummerpillen — ­‘lovesickness pills’ — from ­Austria, which are a dose of chocolate in pill form to help people cope with conditions such as ‘stage fright’ or ‘morning grumps’.

Then there are lollipops from South America made from ground mother of pearl, which are sold as a potent aphrodisiac at £3.50 each.

 

Stacking up: Angus takes his job very seriously and can munch his way through 2lbs of chocolate in a single day if he is visiting a trade show - that's 25 Cadbury's Creme Eggs

 

And don’t get him started on what can be found in Japan.

‘They’ve got a sweet designed to put you off sweets. It’s rock-hard and difficult to eat, so the chewing action burns calories in itself. It also contains Konjac, a herbal supplement, which swells up to 200 times its original size inside your stomach, so fills you up.’

The average Briton, though, prefers a Wispa or a Caramel. As a ­country, we have the highest annual chocolate consumption of anywhere in the world — 24lb per person.

And what about the market for premium, expensive brands? According to Angus, the answer lies in the ‘snap’. ‘If something has a high cocoa content, it makes a low, crisp snap when you break it.’

He bites into one of the Belgian chocs, with their 71 per cent Ecuadorian cocoa content, and it makes a satisfying crack. Then he bites into a square of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk which makes a dull, squelching thud because of its relatively high fat content.

Other important things to look for are sharp edges and air ­bubbles. Sharp edges mean the chocolate has not been ­properly ‘conched’ — a process of grinding the cocoa beans until totally smooth to prevent the chocolate being gritty. Similarly, if there are air bubbles in the chocolate it may not have been moulded properly.

‘You can smell the high cocoa content. The cheap stuff smells oily in comparison,’ he says, as he opens another box of chocolates.

‘I don’t feel guilty — although my wife is always on a diet ... until I open the next box of chocolates!’

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1330057/Meet-man-paid-eat-2lb-sweets-day.html#ixzz15eB0r9mm

:stunned:

　　那年，只有7岁的孩子因感冒被送到山东平度市城关街道办事处卫生院红旗路诊所打了一次吊瓶，从此竟成了植物人。本报今年1月17日的A11版曾以《7岁女成植物人，谁之过》为题，对此事进行报道。事发后，平度市人民法院数次开庭，目前终于有了一审结果：红旗路诊所的归属单位平度市城关街道办事处卫生院赔偿受害人、现已9岁的甜甜(化名)58万余元。对于平度市人民法院的一审判决，甜甜的父亲董金光表示不接受判决结果，并将向青岛市中级人民法院提起上诉。

 

　　为孩子建了“家庭ICU”

 

　　2008年10月27日，当时只有7周岁 、在平度市某小学读2年级的甜甜因感冒被母亲宿文芳带到了平度市城关街道办事处卫生院红旗路诊所就诊。

 

　　在该诊所打吊瓶的过程中，孩子突然在床上颤抖起来，宿文芳见状赶忙将孩子送到了平度市人民医院进行抢救。在送往医院期间，孩子还发生了休克。“当时孩子上急救车时已经没有了呼吸”，后来孩子尽管在医院保住了命，但孩子成了植物人。两年多来，甜甜的父母在家中为甜甜建了一个“家庭ICU”(家庭重症监护病房)，在痛苦中监护着孩子。

 

　　案件历经数次审理

 

　　孩子成植物人后，甜甜的父亲董金光和母亲宿文芳将红旗路诊所的负责人――平度市城关街道办事处卫生院副院长逄世浩、当初为孩子打吊瓶的逄世浩妻子田秀芳，以及红旗路诊所的法人代表――平度市城关街道办事处卫生院院长刘志杰告上了法庭。

 

　　平度市人民法院对该起医疗纠纷进行了数次开庭审理，但一直没有判决结果。

 

　　之前，平度市人民法院对该起事件进行审理时，平度市城关街道办事处卫生院曾辩称诊所和医院是两个单位，诊所独立经营，卫生院没有过错，不应承担责任。

 

　　红旗路诊所则认为，诊所医师在为孩子诊治过程中严格按照医疗常规操作，观察仔细，药品来源正规，并无过错，不应该承担任何责任。

 

　　而当时为孩子打吊瓶的田秀芳认为，在孩子出现憋气症状时，医生和她给予了及时处理并转院，在治疗和护理上没有过错。

 

　　针对上述几方在法庭上的辩护，董金光和宿文芳及其代理律师均不予认可。而在该次开庭时，当时参与抢救孩子的平度市人民医院作为第三方出庭。

 

　　家长不接受一审判决

 

　　法庭认为，红旗路诊所的负责人是逄世浩，而诊所的法人代表仍为平度市城关街道办事处卫生院院长刘志杰。

 

　　法庭查明，诊所每年向卫生院交纳管理费1500元，身为卫生院副院长的逄世浩平时在卫生院上班，由卫生院发工资，有时在红旗路诊所为病人看病。

 

　　法院还认为，孩子在诊所诊治期间，红旗路诊所在对孩子诊断、用药及抢救上均存在缺陷和过错，造成孩子现在的状况 ，其缺陷和过错与孩子自身的特异体制有一定的因素，原被告双方应负同等责任，即双方各承担50%责任。

 

　　1月25日，法院判决平度市城关街道办事处卫生院赔偿孩子医疗费、残疾赔偿金、残后护理费等费用共计58万余元。

 

　　对于法院一审判决的“同等责任”，孩子的父亲董金光表示不接受判决结果，并将向青岛市中级人民法院提起上诉。记者 王永端

 

 

Oh of course, of course! yeah, I know

 

 

 

 

 

:rolleyes: