This day does not evoke passion in me the same way eating fine chocolate does. To me, it is a day of contradictions. You are supposed to, on February 14, celebrate  being in love, and perhaps demonstrate the depth of your affection through a gift. But if your gift, lets say it is chocolate, has a sullied story beneath it’s fancy wrapping, and if the earth was ravaged and people were harmed in the process of producing this token of your affection, then is your gift as delicious, divine or deep as you had intended?

My intent is not to darken the mood around what is a special day for many. It is actually to challenge and suggest that you match the authenticity of your love with a similarly authentic chocolate gift, should you choose to buy one for your partner. Why did chocolate ever become so popular on V-day? Because chocolate, back in the day, when it was revered as gold and consumed as a decadent drink, saved for special occasions and royalty, was truly special. That kind of special does not exist today on most store shelves. But it is out there and it is not hard to find a bar that matches your respect for your partner and the planet, and packs purpose. If you are going to spend the big dollars today for someone, spend it right!

Splurge at New Leaf chocolates to support chocolate made right, that’s unique, special, and delicious. Test out Theo for some truffles, Endangered Species to double up your love for your partner and for migratory birds, or elect Equal Exchange. If you’re really looking to indulge, visit your nearest fine chocolate store and purposefully purchase a Kallari bar, some Askinosie, Amedei, Pacari, or Original Beans, a company that embodies quality, meaning, and sustainability.

Or go the Divine, Shaman or Camino way. Wow your loved ones with your thoughtfulness in selecting a guilt-free, responsible, high quality chocolate. Because they’re worth it.

So, for years advocacy groups have been harping on Hershey to Raise the Bar. Several other large chocolate companies made strides towards sourcing fair trade cocoa or investing in community development initiatives. But mum was the word on Hershey Land. Until now!

My friend Sun sent me the news yesterday but I couldn’t get it out in time – Hershey partnered with the Rainforest Alliance on January 30th to certify Hershey’s Bliss line of chocolate bars, which will only have cocoa sourced from RA certified farms by the end of this year. In addition, they have made some long-term commitments to help support the communities in West Africa and take on some real corporate responsibility.

This is HUGE. It is the first legit commitment Hershey has made to address responsibility in their cocoa supply chain through use of a third-party certifier. In addition, they have declared a 5 year commitment to invest heavily in the cocoa farmers and families in West Africa that they source most of their cocoa from. They will invest $10 million by 2017 to reduce child labor and improve cocoa supply in West Africa. You read that right. With numerous denials to acknowledge child labor prevalence in the farms they source from in the past, they now seem to be more transparent. I give them credit for this, even if what did it may have been ahem, a little push in the form of a SuperBowl ad threat (which the Intl Labor Rights Forum will desist from now airing) to expose the company’s link to child labor. It worked wonders.

What I think is most promising is that in this long-term strategy, cocoa farmers will be given a real chance to sustain themselves. They will receive training to adapt to climate change, and to get more efficient yields, resulting in more revenue. Rainforest Alliance will audit the cocoa farms and use this training to reduce child labor and increase school attendance.

Other existing initiatives the company launched was last year’s CocoaLink, a mobile phone project in Ghana meant to send cocoa farmers relevant news about their crops so they can increase farming practices and deal with pests and bad weather. More exciting is that in this second phase, Rainforest Alliance will partner in to provide messages relating to the importance of conservation and climate change. They are doing more work in Ghana through their new Learn to Grow campaign as well.

The bottom line is this – Hershey is huge, and after years of inaction, they are finally listening, to consumers and advocacy groups. Which I’m in support of – any step in the right direction, for a company that has such a huge impact, is significant. Lets see how this commitment rolls out.

And, for all of you who tend towards the Hershey variety (yes, this may be the first time I promote you buy instead of boycott their bars),  go out and get your Bliss on. Hershey needs to know there is demand for ethical chocolate. They have a presence in West Africa to really improve lives, and more importantly, they have the means. AND, the quest for them to improve has only just begun so keep demanding more. Imagine if they were to extend this throughout their company….

Hershey’s Bliss® chocolates are available to U.S. consumers at more than 35,000 retail outlets. These bars will be 100% RA certified later this year.

With demand growing in places like China, and due to more awareness of the incredible health benefits, there is serious concern that mass market producers will start using “substitutes” to fill up their chocolate bars. This is hardly a viable solution! If an area the size of the Ivory Coast is needed to cultivate more cacao, then what I see is an opportunity to expand across several countries across the Equator that are not yet growing cacao but have the climate to do so. In fact, in the name of promoting shade-grown cacao, perhaps this is just the crop to promote in areas where forests are being cut down to grow a monoculture crop that is decimating the soil. Currently, cocoa is grown in only a handful of countries. If demand grows, my hope is that new farms are cultivated in a sustainable way, maintaining the natural environment.

Also hot off the press….the proliferation of the Fair Trade label is deeming it less credible. Apparently in the UK, fair trade chocolates are so much the norm that the label doesn’t serve to differentiate fair trade bars from others. I’m not sure whether to be happy that fair trade is becoming the norm, or worried that it is causing customers to assume certification doesn’t matter anymore.

And one last update (not as new) – Fair Trade USA will indeed break ties with FairTrade International at the end of this year as they want to expand the certification to larger companies. Traditionally, Fair Trade certification was set up to help small farmer cooperatives. There is concern by FairTrade International that allowing in large companies (where lets face it, auditing and tracing can be much more difficult) will only serve to water down standards. I think this is a legitimate concern and I am more than wary that FT USA is willing to place its seal on items that have just 10% certified fair trade ingredients! The minimum requirement is 20%. I do see opportunity in increasing Fair Trade certified sales through allowing distribution through large corporations in the U.S. (more market reach is a good thing), however, the standards should not be lowered, or Fair Trade in the U.S. will soon become green wash. The dispute is – did FT USA sell out in search of higher profit margins, or, are they simply trying to scale up Fair Trade’s impact by allowing larger farms and companies to participate?

What are your thoughts on this?

Cocoa farming is an excellent example to illustrate this conflicted relationship. On one hand you have your cocoa farmers, who are concerned with getting a regular income and putting food on the table for their family. Then you have acres of rainforest that are being clear-cut, slash and burn style, to make room on large plantations for more monoculture crops. Why? Because demand is through the roof, and when faced with increased demands, the forests tend to lose, and human livelihoods tend to win. This does not have to be an either-or relationship! Conservation of trees and wildlife and sustenance of livelihoods can creatively come together and thrive.

Case in point – Rainforest Alliance co-launched the “Greening the Cocoa Industry” Initiative with UNEP and GEF in February of this year. This program is cross-continental and is working actively to help farmers ”adopt practices that conserve their environment, increase their income, benefit their families and communities, and provide long-term stability for the cocoa industry.”

I encourage you to check out the link above to learn about the potential impacts of such partnerships. It makes so much sense to work with farmers to give them the tools that can enable them to become stewards of their land. Especially in the cocoa industry because the cacao tree is a crop that can grow and thrive in absolute harmony with other native species. The development of shade-grown cocoa can not only preserve the forests, it can improve livelihoods. This should be a mandated practice and  it is my hope and dream that all the large industries adopt this awareness and contribute to a more conscious-laden industry. It is in their best interest to work with the farmers to preserve their forests to ensure a sustained and quality supply of the world’s dreamiest treat. This is where you, the consumer comes in. Demand quality. Demand to know what your beans were sprayed with. Demand full-cycle knowledge and transparency so you can trace your bar back to the farmer and the tree. If you need another push, check out this ode to shade-grown cacao as a powerful way to preserve wildlife.

With RA certification, you know that the cacao in your bar was shade-grown. It was grown alongside other fruit trees, in the forest’s natural habitat. I applaud RA for providing the necessary training to farmers. They are empowering farmers to become more invested in the cacao tree. They are making it possible for the farmers to become more efficient and knowledgeable so they can increase their yield and the quality of their beans. Shade-grown cacao is generally of this higher quality. So the farmer ends up getting paid more for their higher quality yields, while preserving their natural environment, improving their health (no pesticides), and contributing to symbiotic relations between the human and the tree. There is enough deforestation occurring on a global scale already, and to cut down more habitat to grow a crop that actually grows better and tastes better if grown within a diverse habitat is just plain ridiculous.

This is really hard to discern. While you can be certain that fair trade chocolate is not made of beans that come from farms in West Africa that use child slave labor, you cannot always know or be guaranteed that the farmers who are a part of the cooperatives are receiving enough money to send their kids to school. So, in a culture where most children working on family farms is the norm, is boycotting the answer? How can we discern between trafficked children who’ve been taken away from their homes and children who are working with their families?  Fair trade does guarantee an above market price for the farmer for their cocoa beans, setting a floor price that was designed to protect small producers. With cocoa prices fluctuating, this is better than nothing and does make a difference. However, it is discouraging to learn that large companies can fluff up their image by promoting one fair trade bar amongst many non-fair trade ones, as well as using other ingredients in their chocolate bars that have a gritty value chain. Why not aim for fair practices throughout your business model?!

The fact of the matter is, we have to look beyond to the root causes, those of poverty, corruption, and lack of education. These conditions, ever present in the Ivory Coast, allow for exploitative practices to flourish. Some families have no choice but to have their children work on the farms. On top of that, taxes for cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast are extravagantly high, about 40%, and are pocketed by the government.

So what can we do? I think as consumers, all we can do is demand and purchase Fair Trade chocolate, and ask where our chocolate comes from. If we can push the big players to give us transparency, they can in turn put pressure on the governments to demand fairer labor conditions. As for who pays more, I’d say we all pay more, on a consumer level, and on an industry level.

And, it might be working…as seen in yesterday’s announcement that Nestle is now working with Fair Labor Association to investigate whether there is child labor on the farms they source their cocoa from. When I first read about this I thought…hmm, but, you’ve known, for a good 10 years at least, that’s there’s a high likelihood this is the case. Still, I advocate action on any level, and I guess, they’ve addressed the issue more than they did years ago when they were sued by the Intl. Labor Rights Fund on the issue of child trafficking on farms they sourced cocoa from. My concern however is that FLA themselves have been scrutinized for their credibility. According to FLA Watch, the organization was started by large multi-nationals in the Apparel industry and some non-profits to monitor factory conditions and accredit large companies but was not explicit in calling out unethical practices and may still not be.

I’m no expert, but I hope these efforts by Nestle and FLA are more legitimate than simply image boosting. I just don’t think a large company can overturn its practices without raising the price of its chocolate, if indeed it decides to remove itself from most of its current sourcing options. And then, how about using their massive profits to help build roads and pay the farmers more to raise their standard of living in the Ivory Coast? There have to be viable alternatives and incentives to eliminate forced child labor, and to allow farmers the opportunity to give their children a choice in where they work and what they learn.

What are your thoughts on this? If anyone knows more about certification or has ideas on how consumers can impact better business practices in this industry, please send your comments!

As I sit quietly here and let a piece of exquisite Michel Cluizel Grand Noir chocolate melt slowly in my mouth, it’s easy for me to convey why I have such a passion and respect for chocolate. This kind of chocolate, purely made, with no unnecessary additives, honors the terroir where  the cacao bean hailed from.  If you think about it, it’s quite amazing that I can smell berries and bark in a fine chocolate bar and taste such depth of flavor when all that’s in it is cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar (very little), and bourbon vanilla pod. It is this recognition and knowledge (of how a cacao flower bloomed into a colorful pod that bore sweet fruit, and beans that then went through a deliberate process of fermenting, drying, roasting, shelling, milling, conching, tempering, and finally moulding, into the bar that I now am consuming), that elevates the whole act of purchasing and eating a chocolate bar.

Simplicity retains integrity and passionate artistry wields raw ingredients into complex and bold flavors that taste different to every tongue.

I feel honored to be able to taste this chocolate dance around in my mouth as the flavors develop. To me, chocolate is not a sweet kick I search for when I’m feeling low on energy or down in the dumps. It’s something I experience. With intent and appreciation. It provides this calm and pleasure that makes a bad day seem not so bad. It is pure joy when enjoyed properly, and it allows me to develop my palate and to wonder about the land and flavor profiles in each country across the equator. It’s delightful!

So I’m thankful to the chocolate makers’ who believe in showcasing a bean’s purity and in picking quality above all. I’m excited that chocolate is making its way back up to being recognized as a valuable, nuanced treat. Not only was the cocoa bean so valued in the past, as money (that did indeed grow on trees), as a cultural tradition (still today, in places like Panama), today it is slowly being revered as a superfood, and being explored in its purest form to extract unique and subtle new flavors in a way similar to that of grapes for wine-making.

As I take you through the history and origins of cacao and how to taste a bar I hope you too develop a grander appreciation for its existence.

The C10 class at BGI were given an assignment by a faculty member to explore the undercover world of the chocolate industry, and I have chosen some sources from there to share with you.

Learn more:

• Watch this brief video of a BBC undercover story about a young boy who was trafficked to pick cocoa and then returned home.
• Read this BBC story on the conflict cocoa if you currently eat bars that are sourced with cocoa from the Ivory Coast. Read this story to see how consumption of chocolate is outweighing supply and affecting prices. Is chocolate worth its weight in gold? I certainly think so.

Act:

• Letters - I don’t wish to dictate what to write and who to write to, so use your judgment. If you are a Hershey’s fan, go dig into their practices. If you are concerned about something, let them know. I think the point here is to demand accountability and transparency so you have the ability to trace the ‘where’ and ‘how’ this chocolate came from. Traceability with the big companies is extremely difficult, and… lack of measures to trace also leads to a lack of accountability.

Here is contact info for some of the large players. Please keep in mind that all these companies have begun addressing the known issues and, there are other companies that likely could be questioned. This is just the link I came across. I’ll be reporting on these various sustainability initiatives one company at a time in future posts.

• Consumption – What do you look for? Look for certifications, look beyond mass market chocolate. I promise you this is worthwhile. While I don’t expect you to purchase $7-12 bars like I do (although, I hope to pull some of you there), I ask you to consider the true cost of chocolate.
• Understanding certification – these are the current labels you should look for:

FairTrade USA (the only independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. and one of 20 members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO); Rainforest Alliance (RA works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior); USDA Organic; UTZ Certified(one of the largest sustainability certifiers in the world, with a focus on improving and sustaining livelihoods for farmers).

• So, onto guilt-free eating: there are SO many certified, delicious options! All these chocolate bars were on sale at a Safeway in Portland I went to yesterday for a very reasonable $2-$4:

Newman’s Organic, Theo, Endangered Species, Green & Black’s (now owned by Kraft, but they are FT certified), AlterEco (my favorite is their dark chocolate blackout 85%).

Enjoy these bars! And, if your grocery store does not carry these sustainable brands – ask them to. The more people that do, the more chance they will find a way to accommodate you.

I almost forgot, in the midst of a cold and mountains of work, that today is Food Day. While last week was World Food Day, today is America’s Food Day, a time to tell Congress to support sustainable, locally grown food, improve access to healthy, affordable food, cut subsidies for factory farms, and more good stuff.

There are a couple of things you can still do:

1. Tell your representative to support the Eat Real Agenda. You can view the letter here or send your own message.

2. Check out the 6 Food Day Principles to get a sense of the major issues that the Agenda seeks to address.

3. Exercise your right to buy organic, shade-grown chocolate, made of high quality beans and real health benefits and remember…the higher the bean quality, the more money the farmer receives. My recommendation for this week is a chocolate bar that is indeed grown, from pod to bar in this very country! Hawaii is the only part of the U.S. that has the right climate (areas 20 degrees north and south of the equator) to grow cacao. This weekend, I was able to check out the NW Chocolate Festival and taste this delectable little bar from Madre company: – a 70% with real passion fruit. A little on the sweet side but I love passion fruit and the flavor really comes out.

I talked to one of the makers and am glad to report they promote organic, sustainably grown cacao of the highest quality, in addition to working directly with the farmers. You can order through their site and hopefully, as they grow,and with your support, this chocolate will be soon be sold widely across the country.

Stay tuned for the story of chocolate and my series on sustainable chocolate companies. I will divulge what I learned from the Chocolate Fest this week too, including the controversies surrounding Fair Trade certification.

It’s only fitting that I talk about my favorite food on this day – chocolate – what was once known as Food of the Gods, and what today is still considered so by me, but not by everyone. As bustling as the chocolate business is, with millions of customers anxiously tearing open their wrappers to devour that amazing brown stuff that just makes them feel sooo good, there is comparably as much disconnect between the fact that the growers who make it possible for us to access the brown stuff in edible form are not feeling so good.

What am I talking about? Unfair trade. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be eating chocolate associated with exploited labor,  unfair wages, or environmental degradation. With the chocolate industry raking in over $13 billion last year you’d think the farmers harvesting this sacred bean would be adequately compensated. Sadly, this is not the case. With over 70% of the world’s chocolate production originating from beans grown in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, there is simply not enough transparency or standards monitoring the growing process. Large companies are paying for cheap labor, producing cheap, low-quality chocolate, and making huge profits. One way in which to guarantee accountability and know the relative impact of your chocolate is through consuming Fair Trade chocolate.

Fair trade certification basically ensures farmers and laborers are paid a fair wage for what they produce. Because of this direct link between the farmer owned cooperatives and the buyers, producers can avoid cost-cutting practices that sacrifice quality and are destructive to the environment. For example, Fair Trade chocolate is typically organic and shade-grown, meaning it is grown under the canopy of the rainforest rather than in a clear cut field. Under Fair Trade certification, slave labor is prohibited, and environmental and social standards are mandated through audits and the establishment of cooperatives. The WCF says there about 5-6 million cocoa farmers. But the number of people who depend upon cocoa for their livelihoods is 40-50 million people! So, by purchasing fair trade chocolate, you can make a difference by aiding farmers to earn enough to support their families and send their children to school.

TransFair USA certifies U.S. products, and FairTrade International certifies products elsewhere. I want to note that the certification process is costly, and it’s not perfect, but it’s a start in the right direction. I will explore it more in future posts, but for now, if you’re thinking about what bar to get – here are a few Fair Trade and organic options that are available widely:

Divine – benefits cacao growers in Ghana.

Theo – the first U.S. based bean-to-bar producer of organic, fair trade chocolate.

Equal Exchange – I’m a purist, but their caramel crunch bar is pretty delicious.

Alter Eco – with the help of an independent Swiss chocolatier, these bars don’t sacrifice quality. The company sells other non-chocolate products too, pretty cool.

What is your relationship to chocolate? How does it make you feel? What is your favorite bar? For those of you who do not like chocolate, whether it’s because you don’t have a sweet tooth, or you just haven’t been introduced to the right one…I can help. I urge you to keep reading in the hopes that you will, at some point, be compelled to try the good brown stuff.

If I can’t make a chocolate lover out of you, I want to appeal to your passion for the environment, conservation, poverty alleviation, green living,  sustainable agriculture and travel. All those things have connections to the royal cacao tree.

And, if that weren’t enough…climate change is now affecting cacao production. More on that in a future post. Stay tuned for a series on the most sustainable chocolate companies out there. I will be showcasing my favorite bar from each company;)