happiness

“It comes from cocoa, a leafy-green plant; … chocolate is salad!” Why do so many of us love chocolate despite its non-saladesque qualities? Wonderfest joins St. Helena’s Cameo Cinema for the Science On Screen® presentation of Wonka, portraying the wondrous backstory of Earth’s greatest magician, inventor, and chocolate-maker. Q&A with UC Berkeley happiness expert Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas will follow the special screening. Ticket purchase includes a small-size popcorn and chocolate treats from the Master Chocolatier at Yountville’s Kollar Chocolates.

Our interviewee, Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, is Science Director at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She is a leading researcher on the neuroscience and psychology of prosocial skills that bolster human happiness. Disclaimer: Dr. Simon-Thomas may not suggest that eating chocolate is a prosocial skill, or that chocolate is salad, but she does attribute her life-long love of chocolate to Willy Wonka (and, perhaps, to a biological affinity for theobromine).

Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas