The first step in building a successful and elegant strategy is to see the systems that are part of our lives.
October is a fine month to take a moment to look closely at one: the system that brings us cheap chocolate.
Like most systems, it’s largely invisible. The people in it don’t mean to do harm, they’re simply making choices that feel like their best option. And most of all, the system works to defend itself, to create culture that defends the status quo.
Cocoa beans should become a commodity, as the huge chocolate manufacturers want. They just want to buy cheap cacao that is indistinguishable from anything else, so they don’t care about origin or yield. In fact, the buyers at these companies feel like they have no choice but to push for mediocre beans at cut rate prices, regardless of the human cost.
As a result, trees are bred not for flavor or resilience, but for yield. Farming methods ignore regeneration and are maximized for short-term output. Worst of all, workers, particularly children, are exploited and suffer. The farmer, feeling powerless, feels as though they have no choice but to make what the buyer wants.
The cheap beans are made into reliable, cheap chocolate. Chocolate that does not melt in your hands or in the store. Chocolate that isn’t delicious but is sweet. But cheap. The shopkeeper who is filling the shelves has the impression that there is not much of a choice because they buy the standard product, which is popular and inexpensive. And this convenient, prevalent chocolate becomes the normal kind. the usual variety. The kind that kids get in bulk for Halloween. It’s easier, sometimes, to just go with the system.
We’re not stuck in traffic, we are traffic. If we see a system, we can work to change it. Our strategy can use elements of the system to alter it.
The chocolate we buy at the supermarket furthers the goals of the system, and directly harms the lives of the impoverished farmers who grow the cacao.
My friend Shawn Askinosie has written about this eloquently, and I’m thrilled to be working with him and his daughter to create a collectible chocolate bar. The specifics are provided here. Alternately, think about the French Broad chocolate. The hurricane in North Carolina severely damaged them, but their warehouse survived. A few bars purchased from them make an impact.
The folks at Original Beans make a Porcelana bar that is, in all honesty, way too good to share with your friends and definitely too extravagant for trick-or-treaters. There’s an adorable store in New York that can ship you ethical and delicious bars from all over the world… proof that the system can change.
The team at Tony’s have figured out how to make an honest, fair trade bar that’s also in your local market at a good price.
And consider Chocolate Rebellion, a group of Caribbean and African producers coordinated by Gillian Goddard of Sun Eater.
The system takes action. Don’t buy cheap chocolate. If we look for the system, we can see it. PS I’m going live with Lawren and Shawn at 10:15 ET this morning. We will answer your questions about systems and chocolate, and the recording will be saved. Here’s the link.
