Chocolate: The Politics, Economics, and Cultures of the Cocoa-Chocolate Trade

Chocolate. Lots of us love it. Where does it come from? Who makes it? And how can we be ethical consumers of chocolate? 

I want the answer to be easy — like, just by such-and-such chocolate bar. But the answer is more complicated than that. 

Today I’m speaking with cocoa and chocolate scholar (and lover of chocolate) Dr. Kristy Leissle, an American who now lives in South Africa.

Kristy, aka Dr. Chocolate, wrote the book Cocoa and has spent her career studying the politics, economics, and cultures of the cocoa-chocolate trade in Africa, Europe, and North America. 

She also co-founded the Cocoapreneurship Institute of Ghana, which supports entrepreneurs working at any stage of the cocoa value chain in West Africa.

I absolutely love the stories Kristy shares in this episode about how travel and learning from and befriending people from other nations and cultures led her to becoming Dr. Chocolate. 

So, can we be virtuous consumers of chocolate? What does that even mean? Kristy and I get into it. 

P.S. If you’re in an English-speaking country, it’s pronounced co-co, not ca-cow. So the next time you’re in a snobby artisanal shop and they start talking about ca-cow, you can correct them and say, “Actually, Dr. Chocolate says it’s cocoa and she has a PhD in the matter.”

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