Subject: Not even ruby, for that matter.
Author:
Posted on: 2017-09-14 18:32:00 UTC
I've seen a documentary about growing and harvesting the cocoa seeds. People over there, working for decades never in their life have tasted chocolate.
Ah, found it. [CLICK]
So... Barry Callebaut, a Swiss company, has recently unveiled that they've discovered a new natural colour of chocolate - pink...
About 80 years after Nestle introduced white chocolate as third kind, after dark and milk, and since then the cocoa manufacturers were silent.
Now, we can give a warm welcome to Ruby chocolate, created from a specific cocoa tree giving it the unique pink hue and the unique fruity taste.
Yeah, I am waay to excited about this. A started talking about it in class. And then the person two seats to the left said that it wasn't *really* a new type of chocolate, just new to white people, instead of expressing enthusiasm about the new chocolate.
...And then I remembered why I don't like school.
There's two questions here, really:
Is it actually 'a new type of chocolate'?
That depends entirely on how you define 'chocolate'. If you're referring specifically to the bars (and their derivatives), then yes, it is: until the Ruby Chocolate project began 13 years ago, this stuff had never been made into chocolate bars.*
*Actually even this isn't strictly true. The Guardian reports that the beans are grown in Brazil, Ecuador, and Côte d'Ivoire - the latter being in Africa, meaning these trees have probably been in use in the chocolate industry for a while. But they weren't used exclusively, as it were.
But is that a fair use of the word? 'Chocolate' derives from the Nahuatl (Aztec/Maya) word xocolātl, and if you allow the native drink to be included as 'chocolate', then the first 'Ruby chocolate' probably pre-dates the European discovery of the Americas.
So, like so many things, the question ultimately comes down to semantics.
Does it matter?
Sadly, yes. There is a long, long history of white people Europeans more technologically-advanced/richer nations exploiting the product of poorer ones. Sometimes, those poorer nations/peoples were even deliberately constructed - the tobacco and cotton industries, for instance, were built on the backs of African slaves in North America and the Caribbean. Other times, they were just taken over, politically and economically.
Nor has the problem gone away. Vast swathes of Africa are short of food because farmers can make more money growing bananas for Europe and America than they can growing their own crops. They're not being forced to do it (any more)... but the economic structure the First World set up is meticulously designed to keep them doing it.
So, ultimately, the point your friend should have been making is: will this give any benefit to the Brazilians, Ecuadorians, and Ivorians who actually grow the stuff? Or will it just product more incentive for European and American corporations to keep them growing cash crops that leave their country in ruins?
One thing's for sure: there's no chance the people growing the cocoa trees will ever get to taste Ruby chocolate.
hS
(The third question, which doesn't need discussing but which might be worth thinking about, is 'why didn't you like that?'. Had to say it; consider it dropped. ~hS)
Yes, I am aware, more or less. I understand. And it is terrible.
The reason I don't like it is that, judging by context, the person who raised it didn't do so to make a point or start an intersting conversation about colonialism and European exploitation, which, while uncomfortable, could be interesting. They did it, so far as I can tell, to be a flippant buzzkill towards my genuine enthusiasm about there being a new type of chocolate. And frankly, "new in bar form" is new enough for me.
Yes, I know that the world sucks. But can I at least have this one thing, just for a little while?
Okay, there is another reason, too. I hate feeling guilty for things that I have no control over. When people talk about how some horrible thing is done "by white people," I feel implicitly implicated in something I never did, or was even involved in. And I hate it. So that's another reason.
Although I do love chocolate. So I suppose I'll shoulder some blame for the demand for the stuff.
Always a difficult subject.
I don't want to get too deep into this, mostly because I'm not really very well-versed in the topic, but what I've heard from various quarters is this: you don't have to feel guilty for the things you didn't do. However, we do exist in a system that is set up to unfairly benefit some people more than others, and as such we have a responsibility to challenge that system rather than passively sitting back and enjoying it. How you choose to bring a challenge is up to you and your individual ability, whether it's active campaigning or making educated decisions about how to spend your money or voting for progressive policies or just trying to be decent to people, but it always starts at home, by challenging your own assumptions about how the world works and how it should work.
For instance, that "one little thing" you want. You've got the ability to be upset by that because (I presume) you're not currently worrying about food, clean water, shelter, physical safety, and other basic necessities. Can you have that little thing? Yeah, you can. That's the essence of privilege. That doesn't mean it's not cool, and you can enjoy it, but be grateful, don't take it for granted, and make sure you buy it from a fair trade source.
It sounds like you probably know that really, and that you're on the right track. It gets easier to recognize these things, if not nicer, the more you work at it.
And it doesn't excuse people being jerks just to be jerks, either. Justice should never be smug.
~Neshomeh
Yeah, I agree with all of that. There are a lot places where systems break down, or are unfair, and we should examine and question those systems to see if they can be improved. I'm a programmer - or at least, I want to be. This is the sort of thing that I might do as a job someday, although in a very different context.
Everyone who has covered this previously has been smug, incomprehensible, seemingly focused on making me feel guilty, or all three.
So congratulations, Nesh. You win the Thoth Award For Remarkably Lucid Explanation Of A Poorly Explained Yet Uncomplicated Topic (TAFRLEOAPEYUT).
And yes, I often buy Fair Trade chocolate when I have the choice. I don't often buy my own chocolate, though...
I've seen a documentary about growing and harvesting the cocoa seeds. People over there, working for decades never in their life have tasted chocolate.
Ah, found it. [CLICK]
aaaaaaat?
So, uh... when you say 'a specific cocoa tree', do you mean a specific breed, or, like... one tree?
What I'm getting at, is this going to be another sea silk thing, where the closest you'll ever come to it is that there might be an example somewhere three countries over? Or is this something we might actually be able to buy (and for less than the price of a space shuttle)?
hS
"Ruby chocolate: it's made from the Ruby cocoa bean. It's said to be neither milky, nor bitter - it's reportedly very light, fruity, and Angus Kennedy from confection outlet Kennedy's Confection even stated that it even acted as a palate cleanser, as it left the palate feeling "refreshed"."
AND
"Ruby chocolate has been tested and validated through extensive consumer research run by independent global research agencies Haystack and Ipsos in the UK, US, China and Japan.
As part of these studies, Ruby’s consumer appeal and purchase intent have been tested, indicating consumers would buy Ruby chocolate at different price points."
I AM A SUCKER FOR CHOCOLATE (THE DARKER THE BETTER IMO) AND THIS IS AMAZING AND I WANT WHEELBARROWS FULL OF IT
I showed this to a guy in my drama class and he stared at it for ages and then told me "it looks like soap".
Thanks, drama guy.
Oh wow, that sounds AMAZING! Wonder what brought this around? Eh, no matter, can't wait to see what people do with this bold new discovery!
Any allegations about the existence of the heresy named 'white chocolate' will be, as usual, handled with fatal prejudice.
Oh that sounds so amazing. I wonder what-all has to happen to make this?