CACAO KICKS
Of late I've developed a little chocolate snobbery. I've got such a sweet tooth that previously I'd pretty much indulge in whatever chocolate I could get my hands on. But a couple of recent trips to Peoples Coffee in Newtown have now forced me to place quality over quantity.

To go with their fair trade coffee, Peoples stock fair trade chocolate from Trade Aid. I don't know if it was that particular coffee/choccie taste combo that got me started, but now I just can't get enough of Trade Aid chocolate. Oh, and this seems an opportune moment to mention that its my birthday next week...

Where was I... yes, with Trade Aid chocolate you can of course be sure that the grower has been fairly engaged, and that his/her growing practices are sustainable. If you add that to the foggy headed feeling that wells up just thinking of the taste, you know Trade Aid chocolate is a winner.

Wellington is blessed with being the global HQ of Whittakers (well "Whittakers de Porirua" to be more accurate). For me, Whittakers is not quite as good as the Trade Aid equivalent, but still, it's a pretty fine block. A quick scan through their website reveals a whole raft in onfo you wouldn't usually expect from a choccy purveyor. Their cacao comes from Ghana and cocoa butter from Singapore and Malaysia. No mention of fair trade, but still, good to know the country of origin.

Those chaps down in Dunedin deserve a mention here too. Cadbury chocolate is good. No doubt about it. But as good as Whittakers? No. And as good as Trade Aid? Not even in the same ball park. Cadbury are owned by a British PLC, so their benefits for the NZ economy on a "chocolate bar for chocolate bar" basis are not as good as Whittakers. One feature of the Cadbury range is Milk Tray. Tasty, yes, but these choccies come in Plantic trays made from non-GM corn starch rather than plastic. Now that's gotta be a good thing. The only problem is that Plantic dissolves in water - so the product needs another layer of plastic around it for protection. Counter-productive? Maybe, but it's a good start down the road toward product stewardship.

Slap my butt and call me porky, but as its my birthday next week I'll be having some more chocolate. It'll be Trade Aid chocolate because it's so damn tasty, and it's fair.