Chocolate- Dark Outside, Darker Inside.

Who doesn't love chocolates?
The World immensely does!

History of Chocolate

Chocolate actually came about, in 1500BCE. Mesoamericans started preparing a drink with cocoa in it. Cocoa is what makes chocolates. It further spread when Spanish arrived, and took the recipe with them. Then it became a delicacy for the Royals. And in the modern era, it is a delicacy enjoyed by all.

Europeans alone consume 40% chocolate of which 80% comes from Africa.

Your favourite Nutella or Dairy milk has cocoa in it. Costlier the chocolate, more the cocoa in it. And cocoa beans majorly come from Africa.

And most of it from Ivory Coast, the chocolate capital of the world.
Even Nestle and Cadbury get their cocoa from Ivory Coast.
In the western part of Africa, lies this country, Cote d'Ivoire, French for Ivory Coast. It has a French name because once it was a colony of the French.

A part of Ivory Coast Sanwi, is where Michael Jackson once came and was named the king. Yes MJ is the king of a region in Ivory Coast!

Ivory Coast and Chocolate

But the story of Ivory coast is far from joyful. It is actaully a very poor country.

The chocolate you eat is not just dark on the outside.

Because of no labor cost, children work as slaves in the cocoa plantations. Boys and girls of 10-15 years are often smuggled from surrounding regions like Mali to Ivory Coast. Being poor, families send their children to the plantations, in the prospect of earning money. But sometimes, the parents are not even negotiated with. Some fine day in the daily market, their children go missing. Plantation owners kidnap childen and force them to work.

Most children never get paid and work there indefinitely.
They never see the school, they never really learn their own language.
Many of them try to escape, are chased and beaten for their behaviour.

Estimates show 2 million children affected.

This is against the International Labor law.

But it is still promient in Ivory Coast.

So yes, your chocolate does have the flavor of child labor as well. A thought to ponder upon.

Later!