Tag: chocolate

Since I began this blog in October 2016, I’ve mentioned my concerns about slavery in the cocoa industry more than once. After I first learned about the issue, I faced a problem: I’m a chocoholic. That means that I can either bury my head in the sand and pretend the problem doesn’t exist — something I’m not comfortable with — or I can try to do something.

One of the ways I decided to take action was to share what I’d learned about slavery through chocolate-tasting parties. I was inspired by Stop the Traffik. They no longer post their chocolate-tasting party plan on their website, but they still offer several resources related to slavery in the cocoa industry, including a suggestion for a fondue party.

My initial plans for the party were based almost entirely on Stop the Traffik’s suggestions. I planned to introduce people to the topic, share a fictionalized account based on a real slave’s story, offer fair-trade chocolate for tasting, and encourage people to write postcards asking grocers to carry fair-trade chocolate and urging chocolate companies to track down and eliminate slavery in their supply chain.

But while I was planning my first party, my child said, “It isn’t a party without games.” So I added a couple of games: a quiz on modern-day slavery and a Price Is Right-style game about the cost of fair-trade chocolate. I also eliminated the postcard writing campaign and handed out a resource sheet instead.

I usually host this party in my home, though I’ve offered it at a couple of churches, too. As I’ve had more practice throwing the parties, I’ve made tweaks. I ended up eliminating the fictionalized account; it slowed the pace of the party down. I considered showing a clip or two from Amazing Grace but rejected that idea for the same reason. (I can see the potential in having some guests over to watch and discuss the movie. If The Chocolate Case is ever available for purchase or rental, it would make another excellent choice.) I also discovered Putumayo’s Music from the Chocolate Lands, which I start playing when the first guests arrive. Sadly, it’s out of print now.

While I am happy to host a chocolate party if someone requests it, I encourage you to host your own party. You can use Stop the Traffik’s fondue party idea, you can use my party format, or you can create your own. I’ve outlined the steps I use to prepare for my party below.

Get Ready

Get an estimated number of attendees. You don’t want to run out of chocolate.

Purchase supplies. You’ll need to go to about three different stores to purchase chocolate for the pricing game. Get a variety of fair-trade chocolate bars. You might also want to purchase some fair-trade hot chocolate mix and baking products. Be sure to buy at least one of the same chocolate bar from different shops, so that people can see the price differences between stores. Endangered Species is a good brand to choose for that, because many stores carry it. Keep your receipts; you’ll need them to set up the game.

You’ll also need five kinds of chocolate bars for the tasting portion. Get bars with different amounts of cocoa content. I like to have at least one milk chocolate bar and several dark chocolate options, including one with some sort of flavor (Green & Black’s Maya Gold Dark Chocolate has been a favorite at the parties). If you will have several children present, keep most of the options lower on the cocoa content scale; most children won’t enjoy the more bitter dark chocolates. You can probably get more tasting portions from a bar than the number of servings per bar. You can save money by using some of the chocolate from the pricing game for the chocolate tasting.

You’ll want a beverage and a healthy snack for people to munch on, as well as napkins, cups, and small plates. I usually just serve water, and I have some fruit available. Crackers and one or two mild cheeses could be another good option.

Get some index cards for the pricing game. Also, consider having a good knife handy if you’ll be cutting up chocolate for the tasting during the party.

Get Set

Set everything up. Pick out background music if you want. Print one quiz and enough resource and tasting sheets for everyone. Set out pencils for all guests. You’ll need one index card per item in the pricing game. On one side, write down the name of the item, where you purchased it, and its cost. On the other side, write a price that is higher than, lower than, or the same as the actual price of the item. Spread the index cards out on a table. The purchase information should be facing down. Put the chocolates on top of their matching cards. If you won’t be using the pricing game chocolate for the tasting portion, you can cut up all of the tasting chocolate ahead of time. Keep the wrappers with their respective bars, so you can tell what’s what! Set out beverages, cups, napkins, plates, and snacks.

Go

Getting started. I treat this party a little like a relaxed meeting; you may choose a different approach. But because the party has a purpose, I try to be somewhat timely in starting it. Late arrivals can jump in whenever they show up. I start the party by talking just a little about my interest in modern-day slavery, but I don’t go into too much detail, because people will start to learn more about slavery through the quiz.

The Modern-Day Slavery Quiz. I really get into the topic of slavery through a short quiz. I conduct it out loud. I read through each question twice. First I ask everyone to just listen to the question and the possible answers. Then I read through the question and responses again, asking people to raise their hands when they think an answer is correct. I let them know at the beginning that a question may have more than one right answer. Every time I prepare for a party, I make sure the quiz is up-to-date. You can download my May 2018 version of the quiz, but be sure to check the answers before you use it. The correct answers have an “x” after them; note that all of the answers for question 2 are correct (and your guests will surely figure that out).

Here are some notes on a few of the questions.

Question 1. Slaves may receive a little reimbursement for their labor, but they have no option to leave. The key to slavery has less to do with reimbursement than with the fact that the person is forced to continue working, even if he or she initially entered into the job freely. Note also that slavery is illegal in every recognized country in the world. (Someone pointed out to me that ISIS allows for slavery, but ISIS is an organization, not a nation.)

Question 2. Make sure that people understand that slavery happens everywhere — including in their own country. Use at least one example that is close to home for your audience.

Question 5. I include this question, because I’ve seen the argument that slavery helps poor families. First, I assume people who make these arguments aren’t aware of the violence and other forms of coercive behavior used against people who are enslaved. Second, slavery primarily benefits the person who is doing the coercing. Families generally do not receive much, if any, of the benefits they may have been promised. Also, it’s important to make it clear that slaves generally do not become enslaved due to their own poor choices. Even if they made poor choices before becoming enslaved, the person or people coercing them made false promises in order to lure them into providing labor. The fault lies not with the enslaved person but with the one who has lied to and coerced them.

Questions 6 and 7. These questions are not meant to make light of the history of legalized slavery in the U.S. The point is that slave labor is cheaper than ever.

I end the quiz by asking if people feel overwhelmed. I then ask them, “How do you eat an elephant?” and of course at least one person will answer, “One bite at a time.” I’ll talk about how modern-day slavery feels like an elephant, and it is only one of the problems in the world. My job is to tell guests about slavery, but they may feel compelled to dedicate themselves to different causes. That’s okay. We have only so much time and energy. The important thing is to tackle whatever cause you are devoted to at a manageable, “bite-sized” rate.

You can also share the resource sheet at this time. This is another item I update before the party. I created my resource sheet for an American audience; if you live in another country, you may want to highlight different companies. I walk everyone through the resources briefly. I encourage people to contact the companies at the top of the page to talk to them about their commitment to eradicating slavery in the cocoa industry. In the case of Nestle, Hershey, and Mars, I encourage people to look into recent changes and commitments each company has made to tackle this issue. They should be thanked for what they have done so far and encouraged to continue to work toward high standards. This will include paying farmers more, which means that we will pay more for our chocolate.

In Godiva’s case, it’s better just to urge them to do something. When I contacted them several years ago, they sent me a very unsatisfactory response about needing to do more research; they made no commitment to change. My online research shows that they say they will have sustainable sourcing for all of their chocolate by 2020, but they haven’t outlined a satisfactory plan.

At the bottom of the page, I list some symbols that can help people find ethically sourced chocolate. Note that some ethical chocolate companies have not pursued these certifications, including Tony’s Chocolonely. Also, the folks behind that company discovered some cases in which fair-trade commitments were not being honored, so a certification is not a 100% guarantee that a company’s supply chain is clean. Check online to learn more about Rainforest Alliance certification, Fairtrade International and Fairtrade USA certifications, UTZ certification, and Fair for Life certification.

The Pricing Game. Next I move into the pricing game. I tell guests that I purchased the chocolates on display from different stores. Each item is paired with a price. The question is: Is that the price of the chocolate, or is the actual price lower or higher than the one listed? I take volunteers one at a time and let them pick an item from the table. I say the item’s name and the listed price so that everyone can hear. Then I ask the player to tell me if the price is correct, or if the actual price is lower or higher. Once they’ve made their guess, I turn the card over and let everyone know the actual price and the place of purchase. If you’re not using the chocolate from this game in the chocolate tasting, you could let winners take the chocolate item they correctly priced.

The reason everyone came: chocolate tasting. Once you’re out of chocolate for the pricing game or everyone who wants to has taken a turn, you can move on to the main event: the chocolate tasting. Make sure everyone has a cup of water, a pencil, and a chocolate tasting sheet. I tell participants to savor each chocolate slowly, taking it in with all of their senses. Before they even put it in their mouths, guests should look at the chocolate and note its appearance. Tell them to smell it and write down anything they notice. Then ask them to note how it feels as they bite into it and as it melts within their mouth. Did they notice any sounds as they bit into it? Finally, ask them to notice the different flavors. Is the chocolate sweet or bitter? Do they detect any fruity or nutty notes?

Start with the chocolate with the least cocoa content and move to higher levels of cocoa content. If you have two bars with the same cocoa content and one is mixed with some sort of flavoring, offer that one after the plain bar.

When the chocolate tasting is over, the party can move into a relaxed gear. Some people may choose to go home, others may wish to linger and talk. You may decide to send some leftover chocolate with your guests as they leave — and you may choose to keep some for yourself!

If you decide to host an anti-slavery chocolate party (or if you’ve already been doing so), I’d love to hear about it!

A few weeks ago my husband sent me an email about a movie showing at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. “I think you’ll be interested,” he wrote. I was.

The movie was The Chocolate Case, a 2016 documentary from the Netherlands. The Chocolate Case tells the story behind  Tony’s Chocolonely, a chocolate company that sprang out of a journalistic prank designed to draw attention to slavery in the cocoa industry.

I was already aware of Tony’s Chocolonely and the story of how reporter Teun van de Keuken took himself to court, more or less, as someone who was complicit in human trafficking due to his consumption of chocolate. I had just begun giving chocolate-tasting parties to raise awareness of slavery in the cocoa industry. I was intrigued by Teun’s story and by claims made by Tony’s Chocolonely that fair-trade chocolate bars could not, in fact. claim to be 100% slave-free. Their product was not available in the United States at that time, so I continued to emphasize the importance of looking for Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance or UTZ certified products when shopping for chocolate.

The Chocolate Case gave me more of the story. I was horrified to see that Fair Trade certification can fail if cooperatives are poorly monitored. When Tony’s Chocolonely tried to verify that the beans they were buying for their bars were truly slave-free, they discovered that farmers participating in their particular cooperative were not getting paid the extra money they were supposed to be making as members, and even if they were receiving payments, membership fees could exceed profits from the cooperative. After this discovery, they worked to establish their own relationships with farmers so that they could verify the farms from which their cocoa beans were coming and the conditions on those farms.

The movie alternates between funny and upsetting. The journalistic team behind the enterprise never intended to launch a chocolate company; they wanted to persuade an existing company to create a slave-free chocolate bar to celebrate the 2005 release of the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When they couldn’t find someone to do it, they took it on themselves. Their chocolate was a roaring success in the Netherlands, and they eventually had to turn the company over to people who had the business experience to continue its growth. Their dedication to making a real difference in the cocoa industry is the sort of thing that resonates with me, so by the end of the movie, I’d turned into a fangirl for the company and for the Dutch journalists who wanted to change the cocoa industry.

The movie doesn’t end on a particularly hopeful note; one speaker cited a study by Tulane University that found conditions weren’t really better than a decade ago. The report focuses on child labor, not slave labor, but regardless of the focus, the picture isn’t pretty. Overall, more children in the cocoa industry in both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are being exposed to hazardous work than five years ago. Approximately a quarter of the children working are between the ages of 5 and 11. The study is disturbing and discouraging, but certainly the appropriate response is not to give up.

What made the viewing I attended particularly rewarding was the presence of Peter Zandee, U.S. sales manager for Tony’s Chocolonely. The company recently established a presence in the United States starting in Portland, Oregon. It has since begun to spread eastward and plans to eventually be available across the country. Peter answered questions after the movie, and I was fortunate enough to be able to ask him my question: Have any improvements occurred in Fair Trade certification since their initial disturbing evidence of problems in at least one cooperative a decade ago? He told me that he thought there had been improvement; Tony’s itself is Fair Trade Certified and sees itself as a “critical member” of the certifying body, working to improve fair trade for all. Given that, I feel comfortable continuing to promote choosing fair-trade chocolate over conventional bars.

There was another surprise added to our evening: samples of Tony’s Chocolonely bars. I received a dark chocolate almond sea salt bar. Because I think nuts usually spoil the experience of eating chocolate, I was a little disappointed; however, the bar was quite good. I would be willing to buy it, nuts and all.

The Chocolate Case is currently doing the film festival circuit. In addition to Minneapolis, it has shown in places like Burlington, Vermont; New York City; and Glasgow. It’s not yet available for purchase or rental, so I advise keeping an eye out for it either at a local film festival or, after some time has passed, on Amazon, on Netflix, or at your library. When you have the chance to view it, ask some friends to join you! In the meantime, start asking co-ops in your area if they are carrying Tony’s Chocolonely or if they plan to do so.