Rich, decadent and addictive, chocolate has got to be one of the most delicious and seductive foods on earth. Even if you don't need another reason to indulge in its dark sweetness, a trip to "Chocolate: the Exhibition" will give you one and many more.

Union Station in Kansas City is hosting the exhibit, developed by Chicago's Field Museum, through Jan. 3, and we couldn't resist checking it out.

The enticement begins when you walk through the long corridor to the exhibit's entrance. The music from the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" fills the air. And if the subliminal coaxing isn't enough, you're hit with the aroma of chocolate as you approach the entrance, which looks like a big candy store ready and waiting for you to dive in.

Once inside, you learn what chocolate really is before it's molded, wrapped and melts in your mouth.

"Most adults have never seen even a replica of a cacao tree," Bob Schroeder, a Union Station volunteer, tells us as we look at the unusual but realistic replica with pods growing from the trunk. The seeds of the pod are where chocolate comes from, but they are far from sweet.

"Pure chocolate is bitter," Mr. Schroeder says. "Even the animals won't eat it and spit out the seed."

As you walk through the winding path of the exhibit, you learn how the ancient Mayans (A.D. 200-900), learned to turn the bitter seeds into a spicy drink. They fermented, dried and roasted the seeds, then removed the shells and crushed the seeds into a paste. The process isn't too far removed from how it's done today. The Mayans then mixed the paste with water, added cornmeal, honey and chili peppers, and poured the concoction back and forth between two vessels to make it frothy. Not Nestle's hot cocoa yet, but it was a start.

You'll learn that chocolate is called the food of the gods because the plant's botanical name, Theobroma cacao, literally means "food of the gods." But you can credit the Aztecs for elevating chocolate's stature to that point. Between the 13th and 16th centuries, they valued the cacao seeds like money. To them, chocolate was a luxury, a drink for warriors and nobility, used in rituals and ceremonies. You could buy a tamale for just one cacao seed. So it looks like gold wasn't the great discovery in 1512 by Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador. It was chocolate.

But it was chocolate houses that we found the most fascinating.

After Cortez brought chocolate to Europe and before coffee houses, there were chocolate houses, where mainly wealthy men drank their chocolate out of special cups - truly a chocoholic's dream come true. By 1700, there were nearly 2,000 chocolate houses in London alone. Some of the cups are now on display at the exhibit.

As you make your way through the rest of the tour, you'll see the incredible chocolate molds used in the late 1800s and the photo of a 5-foot chocolate rabbit made in 1890. You'll sit on giant chocolate candy cushions to watch more about chocolate on the wall-sized candy box TV. And you'll be craving chocolate, even if you never have before. Which is why we recommend you go on the weekends, when they offer chocolate samples. (See unionstation.org for schedule.)

You'll also want to head over to the Union Station Chocolate Store, which is at the end of the tour. As the name implies, it has everything chocolate.

Nicholas Perez, a Union Station employee, says it's one of the few places in town you can buy 100 percent dark chocolate from Ecuador or a Belgian chocolate bar called Chilies and Cherries, their bestseller.

You'll also find chocolate pasta - yes noodles - for topping with raspberries, chocolate and cream for dessert or for making Savory Chicken Mole (a recipe is on the package). And there are chocolate-covered spoon stirrers (for adding more chocolate to your hot chocolate or coffee) in all kinds of decadent flavors, such as Kona Coffee, Amaretto, Angel Delight and Creme De Menthe. Just like the smell? They sell chocolate bubble bath, body truffles, chocolate candles and chocolate lip gloss.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory also happens to have a store in Union Station, so we had to stop there, too, and check out the chocolate-dipped Twinkies, chocolate-covered fortune cookies, German-chocolate-dipped apples and all the other shelves of chocolate yumminess.

Then, if you really want to satisfy your chocolate cravings, head down the street a few blocks to Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolate shop at 18th and McGee. The store is known for elaborate bonbons that look like works of art. And it is maybe the only place in the area where you can indulge in liquid chocolate, says employee Rachel Plante. It's like a thick, European hot chocolate and comes in 15 varieties ranging from spicy, such as Venezuelan Spice, to fruity, such as dark chocolate raspberry.

Watching her pour the thick, rich chocolate into cups made our mouths literally water with anticipation.

"They taste even better then they look," she says. "That's the best part."

For a chocoholic, this is heaven on earth.

Lifestyles reporter Sylvia Anderson can be reached at sylviaanderson@npgco.com.