“To be honest I do not know what they make of my beans,” says farmer N’Da Alphonse. “I’ve heard they’re used as flavoring in cooking, but I’ve never seen it. I do not even know if it’s true.” Watch how the Dutch respond to a cocoa bean in return or you can watch our entire episode on chocolate here.

Source: www.youtube.com

What is the geography of chocolate like?  This video was produced in the Netherlands, the global center of the cocoa trade, but the world’s leading producer of cocoa is Côte d’Ivoire.  There is a dark side to chocolate production; the dirty secret is that slavery is commonplace on cocoa plantations in West Africa.  Although the worst of the situation is glossed over in this video, it still hints at the vast economic inequalities that are part and parcel of the global chocolate trade and the plantation roots of the production.  What are some of your reactions to this video?  

 

Tags: chocolate, Ivory Coast, Africa, poverty, development, economic, globalization, industry, labor.

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