The human cost of chocolate

The more I look, the more I see, and some things I don't want to see because they are so incredibly unfair and unjust. The chocolate trade is one of those things. Most of the chocolate that we can buy here in the First World comes from West Africa, and it is harvested by children, under terrible working conditions. The word for it is "slavery." These children are bought and sold and subjected to abuse and worse.

I've been hearing more and more about it, which is a good thing for maybe people will stop buying slave chocolate. The big companies to avoid are Nestle, Cadbury, Mars, and Hershey.

The next time you sit down to enjoy a chocolate bar, take a moment to think about where it came from, who produced it and what the real, human cost of it is. Kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

The only chocolate that is going to be making it's way into my mouth is Fair Trade Organic. You can buy Fair Trade Chocolate at any health food store, and if your local grocery store doesn't carry it you can ask them to.