A chocolate fair has opened in Paris featuring 400 exhibitors and 140 chocolatiers from around the world.

The 14th edition of the fair features displays and mountains of chocolate, top pastry chefs and sculptures.

One of the organisers Severine Hiard said: "The fair was created in order to bring together producing countries and the countries who eat chocolate.

She added: "Many producing countries are present here, we really want to show as many people as we can what the process is, from the bean to the chocolate bar."

Visitors will be able to sample treats, creamy truffles and steaming cups of hot chocolate.

Ms Hiard added: "The tendencies this year are cosmetology, choco-therapy, we more and more have organic chocolate and fair-trade chocolate exhibitors."

The French have had a long-standing love affair with chocolate since its introduction to the country by Anne of Austria in 1615.

It was presented as a wedding gift upon her marriage to Louis XIII. Anne of Austria only married him on condition that she could bring her own chocolate supplies from Spain.

By the mid-1600s, the chocolate drink had gained widespread popularity in France.

However, the biggest chocolate eaters in the world are the Belgians with over ten kilos of chocolate eaten each year per person, closely followed by the Germans and the Swiss.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.