You’ve probably heard us talk about how cacao goes from bean to the delicious drink in your cup before (If not, check out this blog).

But have you ever wondered how a tree from the Amazon basin grew to be the massive chocolate industry that exists today? What are the pitfalls of that growth? And what can we do about it?

Welcome to the movement of liberating cacao. 

The Discovery of Cacao

Cacao comes from the Amazing rainforest, initially cultivated by the Mayo-Chinchipe people in current-day Ecuador as early as 5,500 years ago. Through traces left behind by earlier civilizations, the conception of the use of cacao through fermentation and drinking began with the Olmecs of Southern Mexico around 1500 B.C.

While the Olmecs did not write their history as we do today, pots and vessels from this region and time period have been shown to contain traces of theobromine cacao. Cacao drinking jars were also found to reach as far into Chaco Canyon in the northwestern part of New Mexico, USA, thousands of miles from where cacao initially emerged from the rainforest.

As we know from the presence of cacao and chocolate in our grocery stores today, cacao spread a lot further than that, but how?

While initial expansion hypotheses speculate that early traders may have carried live cacao tree seedlings in their travels, it is the work of the European colonizers that largely shaped the chocolate industry we know today, where approximately 70% of the world’s cacao now comes from West Africa.  

This is also where the trouble with the chocolate industry began.

When the Spanish came to current-day Mexico, they were captivated by the Aztec’s use of cacao and quickly began exporting cacao to Europe. While they weren’t interested in its healing and spiritual uses, they enjoyed the stimulating effects and aroma.

They innovated the bitter flavor to fit the European palette by adding sugar, milk, and spices commencing the era of the chocolate candy bar. With its growing popularity and demand, in the 19th century, cacao farming was moved from the Americas to the African continent to meet the demand for chocolate in Europe. 

The Modern-Day Slavery Loophole

While there were also cacao plantations in the Americas, after the abolition of slavery, slaves could no longer be imported from Africa. In order to continue to meet the demand for chocolate in the New World and Europe, the industry transitioned to importing chocolate from African colonies, where labor was cheaper. This move was mostly centered in West Africa, beginning in the Portuguese colonies of Sao Tome and Principe.

This consisted of a blend of laborers from small family farms to daily waged labor to illegal labor such as forced labor, slave labor, and illegal child labor. Though it may seem like a cause for celebration to know that some chocolate coming from this region is being compensated for, even today with 70% of the world’s chocolate coming from West Africa, mainly Cote d’Ivoire, they only receive 3% of the profits.

In addition to the unfair labor practices, the process of farming cacao has it’s own challenges. For example, one cacao tree’s fruit yield for a year (two harvests) makes three large bars of chocolate. If the soil is depleted, which is often seen after 30 years, and pests and diseases attack, these yields decrease.

Once these issues emerge, farmers have to decide if they engage in the expensive practice of uprooting, relating, and improving the soil or moving to a fresh forest area. Due to this dilemma, most choose to clear areas in the forests to plant new areas meaning that the area of forest has been more than halved in ten years. 

The Liberation of Cacao

Are you catching the theme here? While we may enjoy more freedoms in the Western world, a majority of the chocolate we enjoy comes at the hands of slave labor, child labor, and earth-harming farming practices put in place to meet our need for consumption.

Is there really this high of a demand for chocolate? How much chocolate are we actually eating? With candy companies releasing the same chocolate wrapped in new colors each holiday, much of what is put on the shelves end up in the trash after the holiday ends.

The level of demand is not meeting the supply, so why continue to contribute to modern-day slavery, deforestation, and irreversible losses of ecosystems and biodiversity?

It is time to divest from colonial chocolate. 

It starts with using your purchasing habits as your power. Only buy chocolate that is sustainably sourced and has been fair-trade certified. If you aren’t sure, reach out to the company to ask. It’s a great opportunity to spread awareness about harmful practices.

In addition, many of the large chocolate companies, such as Lindt and Hershey’s, source their chocolate from child labor. Take the stand to boycott and petition chocolate companies to introduce ethical trade practices and choose alternatives like Tony Chocoloneys, which actively work to reduce child labor and introduce ethical farming practices in the chocolate industry. 

Liberation Checklist

While we’ve spent a large amount of time speaking about chocolate bars, we also want to touch on what we specialize in - ceremonial cacao. Because of the undeniable harmful practices in the chocolate industry, we put a lot of energy into maintaining ethical relationships with both the spirit of cacao and the farmers who cultivate it.

We source our cacao from a family-owned cacao co-op in Mexico that has been cultivating its practices for five generations. We do our best to continue to educate others on how cacao can be used as a healing medicine, for offerings, and to honor celestial passages as it once was before its colonization. 

How to Engage in Cacao Liberation Practices

• Choose & support sustainably sourced & fair trade certified chocolate bars & ceremonial cacao (like ours!)

• Know where your chocolate comes from by questioning your suppliers about their practices

• Boycott chocolate companies that engage in harmful practices like slave labor and deforestation

• Re-indigenize yourself by connecting with your ancestral practices and discovering where cacao fits into your lineage. 

• Learn from cacao elders about their original practices with this medicine (check out our Becoming the Bridge Cacao Facilitator Program! Go deeper with Charlotte James, one of our guest speakers, of Liberation Training).

• Share this information with your friends!

What other tips do you engage in that support the liberation of cacao? Let us know in the comments below!

References: https://www.antislavery.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1_cocoa_report_2004.pdf