Fair Trade Chocolate for You!
Fair Trade Chocolate:
Turning your guilty pleasure into the pleasure of helping others
We’ve passed the midpoint of October, and Halloween is just around the corner. That means retailers are double-timing on tempting you to buy chocolate—or more chocolate, for that matter. Sure it could be for those cute kids who ring your doorbell hoping for a hefty handful, but you know you can’t help but treat yourself to a bit of sweetness as well. As you take the first delicious bite out of that chocolate bar, does it every cross your mind who made that taste of heaven? Where they’re from? How they live their lives?
Over 30% of the world’s chocolate comes from Cote D’Ivore (Ivory Coast) in Africa. Many of the cocoa workers here are trafficked children who have been taken from their respective homes and put to work as slaves. In America, especially today, it may be hard to imagine or even believe that such cruelty and inequality still occurs in many places of the world. But it does. These children are as young as ten years old, working in harsh conditions for at least ten hours a day…with not a single cent of pay.
Okay, okay. There is no need to panic or feel guilty. You can still indulge without your conscience screaming at you in the back of your head. Fair trade and socially conscious brands are working together to better serve you, as well as provide cocoa farmers the fairness and pay they deserve.
Chocolate-lovers all over the world, I present to you a list of just a few finger-licking, guilt-free, fair trade chocolates:
Trader Joe’s Fair Trade Chocolate Truffles
Cadbury Fair Trade Chocolate
Wholesalers such as Central Market, Whole Foods Market, and World Market also carry a wide selection of fair trade chocolates.
While fair trade products in general are more expensive, one cannot put a price on the injustice that millions of people face today. Fair trade is here to help those people have better lives.
~Marie
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