African cocoa farmers taste chocolate for the first time(twentytwowords.com)
twentytwowords.com
African cocoa farmers taste chocolate for the first time
http://twentytwowords.com/african-cocoa-farmers-taste-chocolate-for-the-first-time-now-they-understand-white-people/
2 comments
?? I enjoyed the video, but…
Basic chocolate is very easy to make (albeit time-consuming to make in quantity). They already have dried fermented beans. The remaining steps are merely to roast the beans (this can be done in a metal pan over an open flame), to hull and grind the beans (this can be done by hand with two rocks), and to add something sweet (I see two suitable items in the film, bananas and the pulp of the cacao pod itself).
The conclusion I am forced to draw is that these farmers do not eat chocolate not because it is expensive (which it is – to import); but because they do not know how to prepare it (or, it seems, know that it exists). I bet you could get similar reactions from American farmhands on a farm that grows chickpeas destined for hummus.
Am I missing something?
Basic chocolate is very easy to make (albeit time-consuming to make in quantity). They already have dried fermented beans. The remaining steps are merely to roast the beans (this can be done in a metal pan over an open flame), to hull and grind the beans (this can be done by hand with two rocks), and to add something sweet (I see two suitable items in the film, bananas and the pulp of the cacao pod itself).
The conclusion I am forced to draw is that these farmers do not eat chocolate not because it is expensive (which it is – to import); but because they do not know how to prepare it (or, it seems, know that it exists). I bet you could get similar reactions from American farmhands on a farm that grows chickpeas destined for hummus.
Am I missing something?
1. People aren't idiots. We get the idea that poor people tend to be dumb in the US because, in many cases, it's true. If you have intelligence, work ethic, and grit, in the US, you'll get out of poverty. If you lack those, you'll get into poverty. As you move into the developing world, everyone from some settings is poor. The number of smart, ambitious, curious, hard-working people is quite high.
2. Chocolate in Africa is not 2 EU. Food there is cheap. That includes chocolate.
Background: I spent a lot of time in the developing world, including several ECOWAS countries (same part of the world).