How the bitterness of slavery taints this sweet holiday.
I was in my early twenties when I paid $50 for a small box of handcrafted chocolates from La Maison Du Chocolat (update below). This was the pinnacle of chocolate perfection to be squirreled away and savored bit by bit. If I had known then the possible dark origins of the contents of that beautiful box, each bite would have turned to bile in my mouth.
It’s February and that can mean only one thing. Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us. While Valentine’s Day is full of hope, love and romance, for many it comes with heartbreak. Not the heartbreak that comes from loneliness and unrequited love, but the heartbreak of human suffering and exploitation.
Millions spend Valentine’s Day anxiously waiting by their mailboxes or lockers for that special card or box of candy from their sweetheart. Others spend Valentine’s Day and everyday, hoping to be freed from the brutal conditions of forced labor on cocoa plantations across Africa’s Ivory Coast. It is a supreme paradox that people are still outraged by and protesting over the transatlantic slave trade that ended nearly 200 years ago, but are completely silent about the Africans (and many other people around the globe) still enslaved in the supply chain today.
Valentine’s Day and also White Day (in March in Japan) are chocolate centric holidays. They are holidays devoted to showing love and appreciation to the people we care about. This is extremely ironic, considering that the same chocolate that is used to symbolize love and caring around the world is also the source of untold pain, abuse and even murder for many other forgotten people and children. Forty percent of the world’s chocolate is produced using slave labor and human trafficking; including young children who are trafficked, beaten and even killed in an effort to squeeze every last dime out of this difficult to cultivate crop.
A Uniquely Cruel Crop
Chocolate is unique. No other food approximates the dozens of chemical compounds that produce its sought after flavor. However, despite it uniqueness and difficulty to cultivate, farmers are paid shockingly little for their irreplaceable contribution to a product that can fetch hundreds of dollars per pound at the best chocolate shops in the United States and Europe. Chocolate is indeed a heartless and cruel crop. It is often associated with love and romance, but it is more like an abusive partner: who crafts the perfect romantic image in public while secretly exacting a cruel price behind closed doors.
The Big Price of Cheap Luxuries
As you celebrate your love this Valentine’s season, consider the chocolate you buy and what it actually cost. Does your sweet treat have to come at the price of someone else’s sorrow? If you must buy chocolate, skip the cheap heart-shaped assortments lining every store shelf and instead choose ethically sourced or “Fair Trade” chocolate. Show your love to a trafficked child and refuse to use your money to add another link to their chains. Choose companies that are truly doing their best to end chocolate slavery and exploitation. Take action with your dollars and do not reward slave traders and those that value money over human life and dignity. It may seem like too little, but if it’s the only thing you can do to resist this horrific injustice, then it is well worth doing. This is because the collective pressure from consumers on companies to improve their practices is what has led to progress in improving the lives cocoa farmers and laborers today. Currently, La Maison Du Chocolat sources all of their chocolate through Valrhona—a chocolate supplier that is working directly with farmers to eliminate child labor and to improve conditions and pay for cocoa farmers, as well as educational opportunities in the most at risk communities on Africa’s Ivory Coast. These changes happen when enough consumers use the power of their dollars to support responsible companies and demand change. There is still a long way to go to eliminate the scourge of slavery, but every little step forward counts.
Be a Real Sweet Heart
After Valentine’s Day passes, do not let your heart grow cold to the continued suffering that is taking place as chocolate is consumed and utilized as part of many people’s everyday lives. Chocolate is used in many everyday and sometimes unexpected products. Cocoa Butter is used in beauty and hair products. Cocoa powder is often added to cinnamon or spice flavored products in order to enhance their spicy flavor. Highly processed protein powders, bars and sugar-free foods are doused in chocolate in order to cover their own horrible flavor. Be vigilant. Read your labels. If a product contains cocoa butter, cocoa powder or chocolate liquor but does not explicitly state that it is “ethically sourced” or “Fair trade”—do not buy it. If a product claims to be “Fair Trade” but in small print states that it uses “mass balance” (a practice in which slave chocolate is mixed with slavery-free chocolate in an empty gesture ultimately to cut their own production costs), don’t buy it. There is no reason our happiness has to be bought with the misery and suffering of others. If you look, there is always a way to get your chocolate fix ethically. Ethical chocolate is more expensive, but that just makes it more of a special treat. You could also forgo chocolate and buy or make fruit-based or caramel treats or cookies for your sweetheart instead. If you are looking for chocolate, some of the ethical brands I recommend include: (not sponsored)
So whether you are alone or sharing Valentine’s Day with someone special, make it a happier Valentine’s Day for yourself—but also for a voiceless child across the globe—by only purchasing slavery-free, ethically sourced chocolate!
