chocolate

[ina]

Sadly, the chocolatier closed a few years back.

Does the OH know that yet?

[crystalize]

G and Bs Dark Chocolate with Cherry.
Pure heaven.
But as said, part owned by blooming Cadburys
Better than buying a kit kat though?!
Rosie

[red]

is cadburys evil though? What have they done? I know their creme eggs have battery eggs in the recipe.. but what about regular chocolate?

I don't personally go for the idea that *all* big companies are bad

[Clara]

Well, YES, quite frankly. Slave cocoa finds its way into their products (please read the link I provided or google "cocoa" and "slavery" for more info). Moreover, Cadbury´s and the like (Mars, Nestle, Hersheys et al) are serious contenders, they could put a stop to it if they chose to do so, going further, they could all make all cocoa fairtrade if they chose to do so. Of course that would mean the end of cheap chocolate which is why they don´t do it.

[ocailleagh]

Not necessarily the end of cheap chocolate, why not the end of overinflated profit margins? Oh, right yeah, evil multinationals!

[johnhcrf]

The problems of Africa appear in many guises and cocoa production is another depressing example. Economic necessity forces families to send their children to work in the industry. Worse conditions apply to unparented children here (as everywhere else).
Ivory Coast is the many producer and there are directives to improve the situation. These are not strictly applied.

[crystalize]

I would not mind at all if things like chocolate where not available so cheaply...
Chocolate is/should be a luxury and I am quite happy to pay more for it so that is has the quality and moral ingredients that I want.
We are so used to getting everything cheaply in this society, why not eat less and pay what it's worth. I'm not talking about basics, but chicken for example, if you can't afford to buy a free range or organic chicken, then don't! I would rather have a lovely happy chicken on the table once a month or every two months, than eat sad chicken twice a week!

[Millymollymandy]

Chocolate isn't cheap in France. The price we have to pay for a completely rubbish easter egg (the kind with chocolate flavour as opposed to real chocolate), you'd get about 6 Cadbury's eggs (I heard on another forum how cheap easter eggs were this year in the UK).

A bar of chocolate is quite expensive too, but then I don't know how much they cost in the UK or what other people consider cheap or expensive.

I'm used to people talking about 'cheap' fish in France, I'm sorry but €11 a kilo for anything is horrendously expensive IMO!

[johnhcrf]

[quote="crystalize"]I would not mind at all if things like chocolate where not available so cheaply...
Chocolate is/should be a luxury and I am quite happy to pay more for it so that is has the quality and moral ingredients that I want.
We are so used to getting everything cheaply in this society, why not eat less and pay what it's worth.

Would increasing the price solve the problem? A better way is to buy from good sources. Oxfam was mentioned earlier and may be the consumer's best way to hit the mulitnationals, whose motivation is profit.

[MKG]

But then economic reality intrudes. Cadbury and all companies doing the same thing have a legal requirement to return maximum dividends for their shareholders. It is difficult for any such body to move towards a fairer world because, without exception, that means higher prices, a consequent customer drift and therefore less profit, lower dividends and potential shareholder disgruntlement. They're not in the game they're in to make a nice world - they're in it to make money.

The answers lie not with those companies but with governments (but then they're in it for the money too).

[johnhcrf]

Today I bought a TradeGlobe Dark chocolate bar in Lidl. This was from Ghana where Fairtrade is practised. Buying Fairtrade is a better choice as suppliers receive a fairer share of revenue. The packaging was not ZWP so I will have to look elsewhere for a suitable Fairtrade brand.

[ina]

That's the stuff I'd been thinking of.

http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/product ... ode=CHOBAR

Made in Switzerland, and truly delicious. We actually have a fair trade stall at work (at HQ) once a month, and they sell it, too.

[crystalize]

Generally fairtrade or organic (although organic doesn't always mean fairtrade as well I believe) is more expensive no?
That's what I mean by paying more. At the same time pressure should be put on multi nationals like Cadburys become more fair trade, but not in the way some do, for example Nestle bringing out fairtrade coffee, what a joke! We'll all just forget all the other stuff then shall we and tuck into a nice mug of Nestle coffee!

[johnhcrf]

Fairtrade should be the norm. As usual big companies need a push to join in the sustainable way.

[Clara]

But then economic reality intrudes. Cadbury and all companies doing the same thing have a legal requirement to return maximum dividends for their shareholders. It is difficult for any such body to move towards a fairer world because, without exception, that means higher prices, a consequent customer drift and therefore less profit, lower dividends and potential shareholder disgruntlement. They're not in the game they're in to make a nice world - they're in it to make money.

The answers lie not with those companies but with governments (but then they're in it for the money too).

And this is why we need to bring it all down NOW