As Canadian kids hunt for chocolate Easter eggs this weekend, West African children will spray pesticides and wield machetes to harvest cocoa beans used to produce chocolate for the world.
Some of them are young slaves who were sold by desperate parents. Alongside them, women and men will also toil long hours in unsafe conditions.
So what's a conscientious Canadian consumer to do about this ugly chocolate fact?
Refusing to indulge isn't a realistic option — we each enjoy about 6.7 kilograms of chocolate annually. And besides, wiping out a major West African economy would devastate the people.
But here are three reasonable things we can all do:
#1: Educate ourselves about global chocolate issues.
#2: Lobby government and chocolate makers for change.
#3: Eat at least some chocolate that's not linked to exploitive work practices.
Save the Children Canada is working hard on the first two points. Knowing consumers are the world's most powerful advocacy group, it is circulating a petition calling for an end to child trafficking and forced child labour in cocoa production, plus asking chocolate manufacturers to start buying cocoa that's free of exploitive forms of child labour.
The goal, says the group's senior analyst Anita Sheth, is "to clear the hazards out of agricultural work" involving kids.
In Ottawa, a company selling certified organic, Fair Trade cocoa, hot chocolate and chocolate bars under the Cocoa Camino label has a different tactic on points 1 through 3.
La Siembra Co-Op believes paying a fair price for cocoa is the way to win ideal working conditions for all. While 70 per cent of the world's cocoa supply comes from West Africa, where 10 million people live on cocoa farms, La Siembra buys from co-operatives of family farms in the Dominican Republic.
The Fair Trade certification tells consumers that farmers receive higher than world market prices. The organic certification means better health for farmers, the environment and consumers. "It's about baby steps," says co-director Jeff de Jong.
According to de Jong, each Canadian eats about five 100-gram chocolate bars a month. "If every chocolate-consuming Canadian was to purchase just one of those five 100-gram bars each month as certified Fair Trade, this would translate into a 20 per cent chocolate market share for Fair Trade."
Eventually, multinational chocolate manufacturers would create similar lines to cash in on the lucrative Fair Trade market.
Hmm, seems like a win-win way out of an intolerable situation. Still, there's much to be said and done on what has been dubbed "the beans of bondage."
Ethical Chocolate Cake
Find Cocoa Camino organic, Fair Trade cocoa and sugar in Loblaws and health food stores. The cocoa comes with this vegan recipe, adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant Book Of Desserts.
1-1/2 cups unbleached white
or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup organic, Fair Trade cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup organic, Fair Trade sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water or coffee
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Sift or stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar in ungreased, 8-inch square baking pan.
In large measuring cup, mix oil, water or coffee and vanilla. Pour into flour mixture, mixing with fork until smooth. Stir in vinegar just until evenly distributed. (As it reacts to the baking soda, it will cause pale swirls in batter.)
Bake in preheated 375F oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly pressed in centre. Cool thoroughly in pan on wire rack.
Makes 9 servings.