Chocolate Uplift

03/07/2023

An excellent new documentary about child slave labor in cacao is out: *The Chocolate War* by Miki Mistrati features my friend Terry Collingsworth, the human rights lawyer fighting Nestle and Cargill on behalf of child slaves in cacao. Onward and upward!

Hi there! I hope you are well and eating great craft chocolate! An excellent new documentary about child slave labor in cacao is out. It’s called The Chocolate War, and it features my friend …

01/19/2022

Hi! Happy 2022! I am excited to have been invited to present a virtual chocolate talk and tasting for two of my alumni clubs together, the Harvard Club of Chicago, and Harvard Alumni for Global Women's Empowerment (Harvard GlobalWE)! Here are my presentation materials and links: The Joy of Chocolate - From "Bean" to Bar ~ Preview -- Welcome!...

Hi! Happy 2022! I am excited to have been invited to present a virtual chocolate talk and tasting for two of my alumni clubs together, the Harvard Club of Chicago, and Harvard Alumni for Global Wom…

09/11/2021

Welcome to Chocolate Uplift craft chocolate brokering, consulting, and wholesale distribution! New -- How to Work with a Distributor -- webinar as part of the CocoaTown series: Join Valerie Beck, Founder of Chocolate Uplift, called the Chocolate Auntie, as she takes us through the ins and outs of finding the right distributor and building a relationship that works for you and your business....

Welcome to Chocolate Uplift craft chocolate brokering, consulting, and wholesale distribution! New — How to Work with a Distributor — webinar as part of the CocoaTown series: Join Valer…

09/06/2021

In the rainforest: OBOLO Chocolate visits a Pangoa, Peru, cacao harvest Hello! Isn't it nice to find authenticity? Authentic chocolate, made from authentic cacao, traded authentically, nourishing people and planet. OBOLO Chocolate founder Mark Gerrits is originally from Milwaukee and is a long-time resident of South America, where he has focused on environmentalism and most recently cacao and chocolate. He and his family live in Santiago, Chile, and he visited the Pangoa cacao collective in Peru this summer, which is where he buys the cacao from which he and his team make their award-winning chocolate in Chile....

In the rainforest: OBOLO Chocolate visits a Pangoa, Peru, cacao harvest Hello! Isn’t it nice to find authenticity? Authentic chocolate, made from authentic cacao, traded authentically, nouris…

10/31/2018

07/17/2018

https://chocolateuplift.com/2018/07/17/culinary-historians-podcast-yours-truly-talks-chocolate/

Hello! Need a lift? The awesome group Culinary Historians of Chicago just uploaded the podcast of the upbeat chocolate- and giggle-filled talk I gave for them in September 2017, and here it is! It&…

06/17/2018

Social justice Sunday / sustainability Sunday! Reports show 2.1 million children work on cacao farms in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, so shelves in the US and Europe and elsewhere can stay stocked with cheap chocolate from big brands.
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The Cacao Barometer 2018 report has been released, and reminds us that the cause of child labor is poverty. The authors emphasize that "not a single company or government is anywhere near reaching the sector-wide objective of the elimination of child labour, and not even near their commitments of a 70% reduction of child labour by 2020." You can see the report on my blog at www.chocolateuplift.com.
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Do you agree we can vote with our $, €, voices, and ethics? Companies will act when we demand it. We are empowered:
We can tell Hershey/Nestle/Mars/Mondelez/Ferrero(Nutella)/Callebaut and other big brands - and the retailers who carry them - that we want farmers to be paid a living wage instead of 50 cents per day, and that we want the brands to use cacao and let kids go to school.
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As I highlight in my talks, we can also buy craft chocolate and can read labels to make sure we see:
1. the cacao country of origin, just as a bottle of wine tells you where the grapes are from; if a brand has no transparency on who grew the cacao, ask what they're hiding,
2. a small-batch brand that cares about human rights and sustainability in cacao, which also leads to better flavor through better agricultural practices and fair payments, and
3. a soy-free brand / clean ingredients, as chemical additives often go with low-quality cacao from non-sustainable sources in industrial processing.
You can also check out C.R.E.E.R, a nonprofit children’s rescue center in Ivory Coast, which helps kids who escaped from cacao slavery or other trafficking and which I support by donating meals to the kids at the center, as a way to make a difference.
🌟Empathy ends poverty.
That's my ; join me!
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06/13/2018

Out the door: last box.
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06/11/2018

Chocolate world: My recent European trip of reflection, connection, and inspiration was just what I needed in my life ( ), and the exquisite of New Zealand shipment that was waiting for me back in the USA is also just what I need in my life, such as this resplendent Bolivia dark milk chocolate bar with fabulous caramel notes, lively aspect, and amazingly full texture!
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Isn't this bar just what we need on summer shelves? It's sophisticated yet accessible, and perfect for picnics, boating, road trips, and all the joys of summer life! It's even wrapped in embossed blue-sea paper, and molded like the waves of the oceans, and is a sort of world-travel-through-chocolate experience! 💙

05/08/2018

"Be happy. It's one way of being wise."
Wisdom galore at Maillet boulangerie-patisserie!
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