Tonight! Refuse the Truffle Shuffle

You’re probably already sick of reading about Noise Pop, so let’s talk instead about chocolate: currency, status symbol, and obesity propellent. But even milk chocolate has a dark side, which tonight’s FREE Kitchen Table Talks at Viracocha will spotlight.

Not dignified

It’s hard to maintain one’s dignity while scarfing down Dove Promises, that fabled menstruation medicine of the goddesses, melting all over one’s fingers and the corners of one’s mouth, two days before bleeding profusely from one’s crotch (sorry, XY folks). But this event, called “Chocolate with Dignity,” might help some of us hold our heads high after devouring 1.5 pounds of it from Costco.

It used to be that anyone who didn’t like chocolate was considered a super-weirdo (hi, daughter of my Brownie troop leader!), but its social, economic, and environmental impact is convincing more and more people to think carefully about their choice of aphrodisiac. Cacao, the bean from which chocolate is made, grows mainly in the tropics, where millions of families — even child slaves in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cacao exporter — languish in poverty. Meanwhile, companies like Hershey’s and our own Ghirardelli pull the strings and reap the rewards. But you don’t have to start settling for carob: Options such as fair trade and profit sharing are coming to the fore.

Tonight’s talks include chocolate experts, chocolate activists, chocolate chefs, and chocolate teachers as well as a clip from Slavery: A Global Investigation, which examines the role of slavery in the chocolate industry. As for me, I’ll stick to burritos. THERE’S NO SLAVERY IN BURRITOS.