Chocolate is often the product of child slavery and unsafe working conditions, but what can I even do about that?
The world is full of corruption, and it seeps into everything. In a country that focuses on the cheapest prices with the largest profits, it is easy to see how everything we love can be secretly evil. Your favorite pair of jeans? Made in a sweatshop. Your pet and best friend? The product of a puppy mill.
Your beloved chocolate bar that you got at King Soopers? Might be a product of child slavery.
To give this issue some background. Western Africa are the biggest producers of cocoa, shouldering 70 percent of the world’s chocolate supplied between Ivory Coast and Ghana alone (FoodisPower). With that much chocolate being produced, there is no question on how the conditions got as bad as they did. Because large companies tend to buy what is cheapest, cocoa growers had to find a way to be competitive. By hiring children and reducing their wages, farmers can lower prices of their cocoa.
Former childhood worker, Drissa, says “When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh” (FoodisPower). Most of the people do not get paid enough to live, so they are forced into a circle of poverty. The farm owners and those working on them are not the ones earning the large profits. Commonly they are all vastly underpaid for their crops (TheGuardian).
Despite major chocolate companies pumping over $500 million into programs and building schools, the problem is still far from over. Many of the companies have slowed their efforts before the problem was solved and now it is being dimissed (Fortune). There needs to be pressure coming from local government as opposed to the occasional visit (InTheseTimes). The problem is the cocoa industry is a large part of the economies in this area, and there is fear that if prices rise companies will look elsewhere.
The further down the rabbit hole you go the the worse it gets. Before too long, we can see how awful this thing we love is. Chocolate is the symbol of love. It makes us happy after a long day, but the people who are responsible for the widely enjoyed treat cannot even afford to buy it.
What is a budget chocoholic like me supposed to do? So much chocolate comes from one source that it is really only the artisan small batch chocolate shops that can make promises about the ethical nature of their chocolate. Am I supposed to feel guilty every time I eat a chocolate cake? Am I supposed to make all my own chocolate desserts with ethically sourced chocolate? Am I supposed to turn my back on one of my favorite things?
Just the thinking about homeless people in Fort Collins stresses me out let alone the thousands of people making less then a dollar a day in Africa. The term guilt free is often applied to things that are low in calories or fat, but maybe there is a different way to use the term.
I pretend that I couldn’t care less about the children in Africa, but the truth is I find that the more I know the more helpless I feel. If $500 million of the chocolate companies can’t solve the problem, how am I supposed to?
In the society we live in, most people can not afford to buy the ethical stuff, but it helps when we are aware that maybe we shouldn’t by as much. Buying less M&Ms and less Snickers bars sends a message to the companies that they are not done yet. Consumers vote with their wallets, so limiting the amount will send a clear message to those with the money. In Fort Collins we have the unique opportunity to possibly enjoy some truly guilt free chocolate.
Nuance Chocolate in Fort Collins sells ethically sourced small batch chocolates. Even before jumping down this rabbit hole, I loved their chocolate, it is a unique experience with tons of variety. I am not a humanitarian, and I have no intentions of saving the world. I am still going to buy M&M’s sometimes, but when I give my $8 to Nuance instead of Hershey, maybe I can make a slight difference. I can enjoy my chocolate with out the bitterness of the guilt for enjoying it.
