This chocolate day we wanted to build a deeper appreciation for chocolate by thinking about what an equitable & ethical supply chain for cacao looks like.

We got together with some wonderful people from the Indian food system to talk all things cacao.

Amrita Amesur shared insights on her research into the chocolate market in India, Mansi Reddy from Mason & Co. talked us through what an ethical cacao production looks like at a farm and factory level and Sarah Edwards shared her thoughts on conscious consumerism and how buying ingredients like cacao responsibly is pivotal to building better food futures.

We started our conversation by asking the question, “What comes to mind, when you think of Indian cacao?” Below are some responses. If you would like to add to this map, click here and tell us!

Reading Resources:

The Bitter Global History Of Chocolate, And How That Is Changing In India: https://www.diasporaco.com/blogs/journal/the-bitter-global-history-of-chocolate-and-how-that-is-changing-in-india

Can U.S. chocolate companies be liable for child labor abuses in the global cocoa supply chain? : https://thecounter.org/supreme-court-chocolate-child-trafficking-nestle-cargill-cocoa/

Sorry Folks, Climate Change Won’t Make Chocolate Taste Better: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/12/19/571966327/sorry-folks-climate-change-wont-make-chocolate-taste-better

Cocoa has a poverty problem. You can help by eating more dark chocolate: https://thecounter.org/chocolate-farmers-ivory-coast-ghana/

Alicia Kennedy: On Chocolate, and its unique role in food-system education: https://www.aliciakennedy.news/p/on-chocolate

Food is power/ Food Empowerment Project website explains the issues: https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/

List of ethical chocolate makers: https://foodispower.org/chocolate-list/

Podcasts:

The Slow Melt: https://theslowmelt.com/

WKND Chocolate: https://wkndchocolate.com/podcast

Ep. 33: Chocolate Shocolate (Naan Curry with Sadaf and Archit): https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TrD06IPLvWIJPbBnsg8aD?si=0ilSotg3SvKDa9c9xtVqHA&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1&nd=1