Week 10 - The Dark Side (of Chocolate)

For this journal entry I decided to watch the video about Chocolate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD85fPzLUjo&playnext=1&list=PLOA_8QHMLBOFAQ8K





I love chocolate.  I enjoy everything from Hershey's Chocolate, Kit Kat Bars, Chocolate Cake, to Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.  I was curious as to what the consequences of my delight was, and was shocked to say the least.

I had absolutely no idea about the situation within the cocoa fields.  I had no idea about child labor, unsafe conditions, abductions, and all the other darker sides to such a seemingly innocent food.  Before I watched the video, I had heard stories, such as that Hershey's do not actually use as much cocoa anymore and instead substitute it with wax and other choice ingredients.  As I watched the video, it really broke my heart to see children taken from their families to work in a different country, unpaid and unable to get an education, ostracized within a new society.

However, I'm not sure if I will completely change my behavior in terms of eating chocolate.  It is my hope, and probably my own denial, that not every cocoa farm / plantation / factory is like this.  It is my hope that there still exists fair trade within the third world.  After watching this documentary though, it makes sense as to just how companies can afford to market their chocolate so cheaply.  However, I definitely will think three times before buying from Nestle again.  This is a real shame, as kit kat bars are one of my favorite chocolates.  I don't think my little sacrifice will make too much of an impact, but it will give me peace of mind knowing that I am not supporting a terrible terrible practice.

The question remains, how do we address this?  How do we deal with child exploitation?  My initial reaction is to say "It is difficult, and that we can't fully deal with the issue".  Most of us Americans and Europeans don't really think about where their food comes from.  Often times, we're too busy to think about it, and even  if we're not, we don't want to.  There's that scary feeling in the back of our heads that whisper about things that we don't want to focus on - and mostly, they are right.  I guess this is just another case and point example of that.

The solution to this epidemic can only be found through education and awareness.  Sadly, this is something that is hard to spread.  The first step could be as simple as sharing this video, hosting conferences on college campuses, and bringing companies into the political limelight.  Things like this have been done before, as we saw with the Hark and Engel protocol that was legislated in D.C.  These first initiatives have brought attention to the issue, and in the future, new incentives will help close the issue.  That is my hope, but one must work both at the top and the bottom levels to instigate change.