Could it be possible that slavery is linked to one of my sweetest luxuries, chocolate? Yep, it is true and yep, it is a big bummer. But don’t take my word for it, check out the documentary film, The Dark Side of Chocolate – http://www.thedarksideofchocolate.org/.
Then read attached articles: http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/main.html
http://www1.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm
Or just take my word for it and read on to what we can do about it.
Last night my fellow Abolitionist Mamas hosted a screening of this film at the amazing wine and cheese bar in my home town of San Clemente, California – The Cellar. If you haven’t been to The Cellar, it is a must do when in San Clemente. We opened the night with the film, followed by chocolate and wine pairing led by fellow friend and abolitionist mama, Dawn Mednick, one of the owners of The Cellar. While our guest tasted some incredible fair trade chocolates, they were given some questions to discuss regarding the film with those at their tables.
Our goals for the evening were to both educate on the realities of how slavery is linked to a majority of chocolate that is consumed in the United States as well as to introduce people to chocolate that is not tainted by the misery of another human being. The good chocolate is Fair Trade certified chocolate and there is a number of companies and products that meet this standard.
As the evening concluded we had a number products from Theo chocolate (http://www.theochocolate.com/) and Divine chocolate (http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/default.aspx) to purchase, from a variety of bars, chocolate Easter bunnies, hot chocolate, baking chips, and even chocolate and wine/beer pairing kits.
I know I am biased, but last night was a wild success – people are talking and changes are being made.
So what can you do?
1) Begin to buy Fair Trade chocolates where you can find them.
2) Ask your grocery store to begin to carry Fair Trade products.
3) Watch the documentary film the Dark Side of Chocolate.
4) Be willing to be inconvenienced a bit. Change takes time and it takes people to be faithful and determined.