OH MY GOD I ALSO HAVE A SOY ALLERGY AND IT IS SO EXPENSIVE. I will say that the coconut amino sauce isn’t a perfect substitute but five years into a soy allergy it tastes pretty good (way better than it did when I had eaten real soy sauce very recently).

“But to my taste, artisan chocolate is more like a chocolate-tasting type of small brick than a lovely melting treat.” — this might be literally the saddest advice I’ve ever given anyone, but I find that eating that type of chocolate with a hot cup of tea really helps. It physically warms your mouth and makes the chocolate meltier.