So years ago, I was like many of you. Buying that impulse chocolate bar while standing in line at Wal-mart, or on Halloween going and buying several bags of mini bite chocolates to hand out to the kiddies, in the end only handing them into my mouth. It was Spring of 2006, that all that changed. I was in speech class and we needed to do a speech on something to convince someone of something. I had no idea what I wanted to do my speech on. My professor gave me several ideas, but kept pushing me to do my report on Fair Trade Chocolate. I had never heard of this or had any idea what it was about.

I started doing some research on the subject and found out a lot of interesting things, as well as appalling things. So back when I did the research I found out that America's leading chocolate manufacturers, Mars and Hershey's, did not use Fair Trade. Okay, let me back up a little bit. Fair Trade by definition according to http://www.fairtrade-advocacy.org, Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. So basically, Fair Trade ensures that the farmers, workers, villages that supply the cocoa beans are educated and taught about proper crop rotation, paid a fair wage (based on local averages and such) and that they are treated properly and trained on safety. It also makes sure the slavery, both for adults and kids, is prohibited.

So, anyway, knowingly or not, most of America's top chocolate produces did not use Fair Trade chocolate. I love chocolate and loved paying $.35 a bar, or $.50 a bar, but always wondered how they kept their prices low. Learning that the reason why they could keep their prices so low was because of the use of child slaves, and underpaid farmers and basically keeping them dumb just so they can get cheap chocolate, completely turned me off to eating that type of chocolate. I learned that the companies that take part in Fair Trade used a label on their packaging to show that they treated, paid and educated their farmers and workers.

I started buying this chocolate. One cannot even describe the difference. You would have to just sample it for your self. The taste is amazing, the smoothness is strange and welcome. I never realized just how waxy other chocolates were compared to these ones. You will pay a little more for a bar of Fair Trade chocolate, but I believe it's worth it. Not only in the taste, which you will notice right away, but also in the knowing that you are supporting Human Rights in something that not many people even know is going on.

In more recent news though, Mars has announced that have set up a partnership with Rainforest Alliance to change all their chocolate certified by 2020. Yes, that's a long ways off, but for a huge company like that to even consider making changes like that and think of everything they have to change. The recipes will have to change, the packaging, the public image, everything. That stuff takes time. So kudos to them for trying to make a difference. Also, Cadburry also announced a similar plan. Here's a good article to read and learn about the changes coming: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/mars-bars-background.php.