Rich, creamy chocolate . . . Can you resist it? If you can, you're one in a million. Most people's appetite for chocolate seems to know no bounds. Consumers can already choose from thousands of chocolate products, and yet new variants -- such as organic chocolate bars and chocolate-flavored soya milk -- are constantly being introduced.

But did you know that today's multimillion-dollar chocolate industry originated more than 2,500 years ago, in the discoveries made by the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica?

Chocolate is made from the cacao bean, the seed of the cacao tree, which grows in the tropical parts of Central and South America. Some theories suggest that it was the Maya who first processed cacao beans to make chocolate. Their empire stretched from southern Mexico to Belize and was the most influential civilization in Mesoamerica from A.D. 250 to 900. Others argue that the Maya inherited their love for the cocoa drink they called xocolatl (pronounced choko-lat-ill) from the older empire of the Olmec, who coined the word "cacao" (and whose civilization around the Gulf of Mexico flourished between 1100 and 800 B.C.).