Friday fun: Now you know what chocolates to stock in your office pantry

Forrest Gump famously coined the idiom, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get." But which chocolate would people choose if they did have the choice?

There's research on every imaginable topic out there - this week, we find out that the favourite chocolatiers in Asia Pacific are none other than Cadbury, Ferrero Rocher, Nestlé, Hershey’s, and Lindt.

In a YouGov survey of 9,000 people across Asia Pacific, it was found that we are a nutty bunch, with nuts making up three of the top five most popular fillings for chocolate - almonds (33%), caramel (10%), cashews (10%), peanuts (7%) and raisins (5%).

As for the outside, dark chocolate is the most popular type of chocolate, favoured by 44% of those polled, followed by milk chocolate (35%), white chocolate (14%), then flavoured chocolate (7%).

Brands do make a difference, and if you're wondering what to pick for your team, here are the favourites:

• Cadbury (25%)
• Ferrero Rocher (14%)
• Nestlé (12%)
• Hershey’s (12%)
• Lindt (9%)

 

But tastes differ over which is the best brand of chocolate, sample these stats:

• Godiva is particularly popular in Hong Kong (chosen by 23% locally but just 7% regionally).
• Toblerone is a firm favourite in the Philippines and Indonesia (favoured by 16% and 14%, respectively, against 6% regionally).
• Nestlé is more than three times more popular in Vietnam than it is regionally (chosen by 39% locally but 12% regionally).

What's important though is that while there are many things that divide society, chocolate unites most of us. Across countries, ages and genders just 4% of people say they dislike chocolate. Next time you want to bring people together make sure to have a bar of chocolate on hand.

Photo / 123RFGIF / Giphy