I believe Switzerland is hugely popular not only for its banking system, watches, electronic or pharmaceutical industry but foremost for its chocolate. Even though this helvetic State in the middle of Europe does not have cocoa plantations nor any close proximity of any land growing cocoa beans, Switzerland has developed to a major chocolate producer and exporter. However, with the resent crisis some markets in the world reduced its turnover, others doubled in revenue.

The high franc, coupled with the steep price of cocoa, has not made it easier to sell a product that is already more expensive than the competition.

Cocoa prices reached a 33-year high in December and the International Cocoa Organization says there may be another “supply deficit” this year, keeping prices inflated.

This gives Swiss chocolate makers little room for price adjustments. “In such difficult economic times, we won’t systematically pass on the increases in production costs to consumers, but only occasionally,”

Lindt, which claims to be Switzerland’s largest producer in the premium segment, intends to combat the slump by investing more money in marketing and expanding its presence in markets like China, Japan and Russia.

But every cloud has a silver lining and in this case, it is the Gulf states, China and Australia.

Sales of Swiss chocolate to Saudi Arabia rose by 75 per cent last year, Schmid said. While this is only a drop in the bucket compared to Germany, Saudi Arabia is ranked 18th out of a total of 140 export markets.

However, the fate of the industry will rise or fall with the mood – and disposable income – of the Swiss consumer. The domestic market accounts for about a third of all Swiss chocolate sales.

Nicole Brändle, head of industry analysis at Credit Suisse, said that people in Switzerland are less willing to buy premium products like chocolate during an economic crisis. And as unemployment is expected to remain relatively high in 2010, Brändle said sales of premium foods are unlikely to improve this year.

Like for the past four years, Art Dubai is showcasing various artists from around the world and the Middle East with their creation of amazing artwork. Cruising through the exibition I wonder where is the limit of human creation.

Open to the public from Thursday, 17 March until Saturday, 20 March, Art Dubai brings together artists, gallerists, curators and collectors from around the world to experience over 80 separate exhibitions presented by leading international galleries and institutions and featuring more than 500 artists, including solo exhibitions, installations, performances, talks and screenings.
Art Dubai’s organizers are anticipating a substantial increase in its 2009 attendance figure of more than 14,000 visitors, reflecting the growing enthusiasm in the arts from all sectors of the local community, as well as a worldwide international following and a programme that is designed to appeal equally to the first time visitor as well as the seasoned art professional.
Highlights of Art Dubai include artworks created by the winners of the 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize. The hotly-anticipated pieces are History of a Myth: The Small Dome of the Rock by artist Kader Attia and curator Laurie Ann Farrell; Myths ‘&’ Legends Room: The Mural by artist Hala Elkoussy and curator Jelle Bouwhuis; and The Feast of the Damned by artist Marwan Sahmarani and curator Mahita El Bacha Urieta.

The event, a subsidiary of the Dubai International Finance Centre, is held in partnership with Abraaj Capital with support from Van Cleef & Arpels and Madinat Jumeirah.

John Martin, director and co-founder of Art Dubai, says: “Despite the tough economic conditions of the last 18 months, the Middle East art market has demonstrated its resilience in general and Dubai has proved its importance as the principle platform for the contemporary art market in the region.

“This year, we have 27 new galleries from diverse places such as Mexico City, Prague, Budapest and Lahore. In this fourth edition of the event, the emphasis is on solo projects rather than [being a] multi-artist [show] that stands to reflect the growing maturity of the regional art market. As collectors here become more focused and experienced in their collection, galleries are able to devote more space to artists preferred by them.

“I am delighted that this year more galleries are presenting solo shows of Arab and international masters such as Adel El Siwi and Chant Avedissian from Egypt and Indian artist M.F. Hussain and also emerging talents from places such as Palestine, Iraq, Beirut, Korea, Chile, Peru, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey and Sudan. This will give established and novice collectors a broader understanding of the artists’ oeuvre and provide greater depth to the visitor experience.

Those Easter Eggs are made of real chocolate ganach in real Egg shells and painted in some funky designs! What a cool idea.

Easter eggs are specially decorated eggs given to celebrate the Easter holiday or springtime.

The egg was a symbol of the rebirth of the earth in Pagan celebrations of spring and was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of the rebirth of Jesus.

The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. These eggs are often hidden, allegedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning. Otherwise, they are generally put in a basket filled with real or artificial straw to resemble a bird’s nest.

The egg is widely used as a symbol of the start of new life, just as new life emerges from an egg when the chick hatches out.

The ancient Zoroastrians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the Spring equinox. The Nawrooz tradition has existed for at least 2,500 years. The decorated eggs are one of the core items to be placed on the Haft Seen, the Zoroastrian New Year display. The sculptures on the walls of Persepolis show people carrying eggs for Nowrooz to the king.

At the Jewish Passover Seder, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water symbolizes the festival sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem.

The pre-Christian Saxons had a spring goddess called Eostre, whose feast was held on the Vernal Equinox, around 21 March. Her animal was the spring hare. Some believe that ?ostre was associated with eggs and hares,[3] and the rebirth of the land in spring was symbolised by the egg. ?ostre is known from the writings of Bede Venerabilis, a seventh-century Benedictine monk. Bede describes the pagan worship of ?ostre among the Anglo-Saxons as having died out before he wrote about it. Bede’s De temporum ratione attributes her name to the festival, but does not mention eggs at all.

Other theories such as Jakob Grimm’s in the 18th century believe in a pagan connection to Easter eggs via a putatively Germanic goddess called Ostara.

The English name for the festival of Easter derives from the Germanic word Eostre. It is only in Germanic languages that a derivation of Eostre marks the holiday. Most European languages use a term derived from the Hebrew pasch meaning Passover. In Spanish, for example, it is Pascua; in French, Pâques; in Dutch, Pasen; in Greek, Russian and the languages of most Eastern Orthodox countries: Pascha. In Middle English, the word was pasche, which is preserved in modern dialect words. Some languages use a term meaning Resurrection, such as Serbian Uskrs.

The egg is seen as symbolic of the grave and life renewed or resurrected by breaking out of it. The red supposedly symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world and human redemption through the blood shed in the sacrifice of the crucifixion. The egg itself is a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.

For Orthodox Christians, the Easter egg is much more than a celebration of the ending of the fast, it is a declaration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Traditionally, Orthodox Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, shed on the Cross, and the hard shell of the egg symbolized the sealed Tomb of Christ—the cracking of which symbolized his resurrection from the dead.

In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are blessed by the priest at the end of the Paschal Vigil, and distributed to the faithful. Each household also brings an Easter basket to church, filled not only with Easter eggs but also with other Paschal foods such as paskha, kulich or Easter breads, and these are blessed by the priest as well.

During Paschaltide, in some traditions the Paschal greeting with the Easter egg is even extended to the deceased. On either the second Monday or Tuesday of Pascha, after a memorial service people bring blessed eggs to the cemetery and bring the joyous paschal greeting, “Christ has risen”, to their beloved departed (see Radonitza).