The Chocolate Scandal, Part 1

Oh, isn't ignorance bliss? Wasn't it so nice to dip my hand into a bag of Hershey Chocolate Eggs and munch happily; the soft and growing expanse of my tush the only worry I had to dash aside?

But now I know. And, to paraphrase Oprah, now that I know, I can't pretend that I do not and go on living my life as usual.

I have started reading a book called "Everyday Justice", which will get its own book review shortly. My dear and wise friend Liz gave me the book this last weekend, and when I opened it, I was surprised to see that a book about living justly had devoted an entire chapter to chocolate. Somehow, the fact that an estimated 200,000+ child laborers (many of them modern-day slaves) are cranking out the cocoa used in my peanut butter cups, chocolate syrup, and fancy dark nibs had completely escaped my knowledge.

Maybe all of you already knew that. But I didn't.  I read the Chocolate chapter with rage and sadness. Sure, I had seen the "Organic!" and "Fair Trade!" chocolate bars in Whole Foods, but when I need a quick choco-fix, I usually reach for the low-brow options and old favorites.

But now I know. And that means I have to start making some changes.  Here's some more info about child labor in cocoa production.  Fortune on CNN did a piece as well about the economics of the chocolate trade. Google "Chocolate and Slavery" and you can watch videos, read articles, and see photos. If you don't need that incentive to re-think your sweets, here are some resources to find Slavery Free chocolate...
(Seriously, I can't believe I even just typed that sentence. The idea that there is a designation between "Slavery Free" and, I don't know, Slavery-full chocolate in 2011 just Boggles. My. Mind.)

Slave-Free Chocolate webpage
Equal Exchange
Serrv.org

And, supposedly, Cadbury vowed to go all fair-trade in 2009, but I believe they were recently bought by another company, so I'm going to have to do some more research on that...

In the mean time, I was jubilant to discover that our little divey-looking-but-awesome Morse Market carries Equal Exchange cocoa, which I bought to mix into my coffee at work rather than my usual Nestle stuff:

It cost more than twice what a box of chemically regular hot cocoa mix packets cost, but that actually made me happy. If workers are getting paid fairly for their work, I'm happy to pay more for my chocolate. So happy in fact, that I may have also bought an Equal Exchange dark chocolate bar to taste-test.  But, um, I didn't get a picture of that...

Anyway, when you start down the rabbit trail of trying to make earth-friendlier choices, you are going to discover some things you may wish you didn't know. The Earth and the people who live on it are pretty closely tied. And shouldn't we care at least as much about the people as we do about the planet?

We are so removed from the way the whole world suffers for thoughtless consumption. I know I can't and won't do everything I could do to live justly. But I have to start somewhere, and I have to try. I'm not going to give you a lecture about the slaves that produced your kid's birthday cake frosting (please don't stop inviting me to things!). But I can make some changes. And if chocolate starts costing me more, maybe I'll buy less. Which would be good for my tush as well.