Robert Zemeckis lives in a Thomas Kinkade-style cottage in the wealthy creek-side district of the Uncanny Valley, a neighborhood where everything looks like a Parisian Christmas as reenacted by Precious Moments kids. At least, I imagine that’s where his hate mail goes—notes about the terribleness of matte-eyed, computer-generated movie protagonists with A-list voices, plus maybe a postcard from Disney about how they’re kicking Zemeckis’ production company off the lot. Zemeckis—who made killer stuff like Back to the Future and Forrest Gump before mo-cap disasters The...

All Photos Courtesy of Gabe Zimmer

When I was a child, I found chocolate fascinating: Where did it come from? How was it made? What magic was behind this sweet and creamy goodness?

The truth is I’m not sure I ever found exactly the answers I was looking for. So, as I endeavor to add a bit of learning into this Christmas for my boys, I went straight to a professional — Bryan Graham, the chocolatier who founded Fruition Chocolate (part of the team behind the Chocolate Space Invaders).

“When I was a child, I had no idea where chocolate came from,” Graham told Wired.com. “I certainly never suspected ...