Il lato oscuro del cioccolato

Summary

This video script delves into the world of cocoa and chocolate, highlighting Madagascar's lesser-known cocoa production and the Ivory Coast's dominance, producing 40% of global cocoa and relying on it for 20% of their GDP. It explores the environmental impact, with deforestation in the Ivory Coast to make way for cocoa trees, and the ethical concerns, including child labor. The script also traces the history of chocolate from the Aztecs to modern industrial production, touching on the economic imbalance of the cocoa market and the challenges of fair trade and supply sustainability.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Madagascar is known for high-quality cocoa and vanilla, but it's also one of the world's poorest countries.
• 🌿 Madagascar's unique biodiversity contrasts with the environmental impact of cocoa production.
• 🏆 The Ivory Coast is the world's leading cocoa producer, with significant deforestation to make room for cocoa trees.
• 🍫 The process of making chocolate from cocoa beans involves roasting and grinding the beans.
• 🌱 Cocoa trees are the source of cocoa, and their cultivation has a significant impact on the economies of producing countries.
• 💰 The global cocoa supply chain is heavily concentrated in West Africa, with Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon being key producers.
• 🌐 The demand for chocolate is increasing globally, but production is limited to tropical regions, leading to economic and environmental challenges.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Child labor is a significant issue in the cocoa industry, with millions of children involved in production in West Africa.
• 🍩 The chocolate industry is a multi-billion dollar market, with major players like Nestlé and Mars Wrigley dominating sales.
• 🌱 Efforts to promote fair trade and ethical sourcing in the cocoa industry have been ongoing but face significant challenges.
• 🍫 Despite awareness of issues like child labor, the global demand for chocolate continues to grow, raising questions about sustainability and ethics.

Q & A

What is Madagascar known for besides cocoa?

Madagascar is known for its high-quality vanilla, which is considered among the finest in the world.

What is the global ranking of Madagascar in cocoa production?

Madagascar is ranked 14th in the world in terms of cocoa production.

How does the speaker describe Madagascar's economic situation?

The speaker describes Madagascar as being marked by extreme poverty, being among the ten poorest countries in the world.

What is the significance of the Ivory Coast in the global cocoa production?

The Ivory Coast is a global cocoa giant, producing two fifths of all cocoa worldwide, with 20% of its national GDP and 40% of its exports depending on cocoa.

What environmental impact has the cocoa industry had on the Ivory Coast?

The cocoa industry has led to significant deforestation in the Ivory Coast, with green patches reducing considerably between 1990 and 2015.

What percentage of global cocoa production comes from West African countries?

Around 70% of global cocoa production comes from West African countries, including the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon.

What is the role of the cocoa press in the history of chocolate?

The cocoa press, invented in 1828 by Casparus van Houten, allowed for the production of solid chocolate bars by removing cocoa butter from the beans.

How did the chocolate industry evolve after the invention of the cocoa press?

After the invention of the cocoa press, there was a race to find the most innovative methods for making chocolate, leading to the creation of milk chocolate and the development of conching by Rudolf Lindt.

What is the economic issue presented by the concentration of cocoa production in a few countries?

The concentration of cocoa production in a few countries presents an economic issue because it makes the global chocolate supply vulnerable to fluctuations in those areas, such as climate change or disease.

What is the situation regarding child labor in the cocoa industry?

The cocoa industry is known to employ almost two million children aged between 5 and 12 years in Ghana and Ivory Coast, and there are concerns about child labor and slavery in the supply chain.

How does the speaker suggest consumers should approach chocolate consumption?

The speaker suggests that consumers should be aware of the issues surrounding chocolate production, such as child labor and environmental impact, and make informed choices about their consumption.

Outlines

00:00

🌴 Madagascar's Cocoa and Biodiversity

The paragraph introduces Madagascar as a country known for its cocoa production, ranking 14th in the world. It also highlights Madagascar's vanilla, considered among the finest globally. Despite being one of the poorest countries, Madagascar is home to a rich culture and biodiversity. The script then shifts focus to the Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer. The deforestation in Ivory Coast is attributed to cocoa cultivation, with the country producing 40% of global cocoa and relying heavily on it for its economy. The paragraph raises questions about the concentration of cocoa production and its implications, hinting at the historical and economic factors involved.

05:02

🌱 The Origins and Evolution of Cocoa

This section delves into the history of cocoa, starting with its domestication in Central America around 3000 BC by the Maya and Aztecs, who used it in various ways, including as a currency and in religious rituals. The word 'chocolate' is derived from 'Xocolatl,' meaning bitter water. The spread of cocoa to Europe is credited to Hernán Cortés, and its popularity grew with modifications to suit European tastes. The industrial revolution brought innovations like the cocoa press, leading to the creation of solid chocolate bars. The paragraph also discusses the rise of chocolate companies like Nestlé and Hershey and the challenges of cocoa cultivation, which is limited to tropical regions.

10:03

🌍 The Unequal Cocoa Supply Chain

The paragraph discusses the cocoa supply chain, focusing on Ivory Coast's鼓励 of cocoa cultivation post-independence, leading to deforestation. It details the process from farming to global markets, involving small-scale farmers, wholesalers, and multinational companies that mediate the trade. The paragraph highlights the imbalance in the cocoa market, with farmers earning meager incomes while chocolate companies profit. It also addresses the issue of child labor in cocoa production, a problem that persists despite public awareness and industry promises. The paragraph ends with a critique of consumer indifference and the industry's lack of action to resolve these issues.

15:04

🍫 The Global Impact and Future of Chocolate

This section contemplates the global chocolate market, its value, and future projections. It contrasts the challenges of cocoa cultivation in limited regions with the increasing global demand. The paragraph also touches on cultural differences in chocolate consumption, with China and India being potential growth markets. The discussion concludes with a reflection on chocolate's role in society, from an ancient currency to a modern comfort food, and the need for consumers to be aware of the ethical implications of their choices.

Keywords

💡Cocoa

Cocoa is the primary ingredient in chocolate, derived from the fermented and dried seeds of the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao. The video discusses Madagascar's and Ivory Coast's significance in cocoa production, highlighting Madagascar's quality beans and the Ivory Coast's leading role in global production. The script mentions the country's 14th place in world rankings and the environmental impact of cocoa farming in Ivory Coast, including deforestation.

💡Deforestation

Deforestation refers to the large-scale clearing of forests, often for agricultural purposes. In the context of the video, deforestation in Ivory Coast is directly linked to the expansion of cocoa farming. The script describes the drastic reduction of green patches from 1990 to 2015, illustrating the environmental cost of cocoa production.

💡Cabossa

Cabossa, also known as cocoa pods, is the fruit of the cocoa tree. The video explains that these pods contain dozens of seeds, which are the cocoa beans used to make chocolate. The term is used to describe the physical transformation from tree fruit to a key component in chocolate production.

💡Ivory Coast

The Ivory Coast, a West African nation, is highlighted in the video as the world's largest producer of cocoa. It accounts for one-fifth of the global cocoa supply, which significantly impacts the country's economy, with 20% of its GDP and 40% of exports relying on cocoa. The video also addresses the environmental and social implications of this reliance.

💡Child Labor

Child labor is a significant issue in the cocoa industry, as mentioned in the video. It refers to the employment of children in cocoa production, often under harsh and exploitative conditions. The script points out that nearly two million children between the ages of 5 and 12 are involved in cocoa production in Ghana and Ivory Coast, raising ethical concerns about the chocolate industry.

💡Chocolate Industry

The chocolate industry encompasses the businesses involved in the production and sale of chocolate and chocolate products. The video discusses the industry's reliance on a few key countries for cocoa beans, its economic impact, and the ethical challenges it faces, such as child labor and deforestation.

💡Supply Chain

The supply chain in the context of the video refers to the series of processes involved in bringing cocoa from farms to the final chocolate product. It includes farming, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and distribution. The video raises questions about the concentration of cocoa production and the implications for both producing countries and consumers.

💡Austronesian

Austronesian refers to the cultural and linguistic group originating from Southeast Asia, which the video mentions in relation to Madagascar's unique culture. This term is used to emphasize the cultural diversity and historical depth of regions involved in cocoa production, adding a layer of cultural context to the economic discussion.

💡Extreme Poverty

Extreme poverty is a situation where individuals lack the basic means to meet their needs. The video script mentions Madagascar being among the ten poorest countries in the world, providing a backdrop to the challenges faced by cocoa farmers and the broader implications of global economic systems on local communities.

💡Fair Trade

Fair Trade is a system designed to ensure better trading conditions and sustainable livelihoods for farmers. The video touches on the efforts to promote fair trade in the cocoa industry to address issues like child labor and farmer exploitation. It reflects the ongoing struggle to balance economic interests with social responsibility.

💡Chocolate Consumption

Chocolate consumption refers to the global demand for chocolate products. The video discusses the increasing demand for chocolate, particularly in Western countries, and how it drives the need for cocoa. It also raises questions about the sustainability of this demand in light of the environmental and social costs associated with cocoa production.

Highlights

Madagascar is known for cocoa and vanilla, with its cocoa being of high quality.

Madagascar's cocoa production ranks 14th in the world.

Madagascar is among the ten poorest countries in the world.

The Malagasy culture is of Austronesian origin and is unique.

Madagascar has extraordinary biodiversity.

The Ivory Coast is a global cocoa giant, just above the equator.

The Ivory Coast's forests have been significantly reduced for cocoa production.

Cocoa trees produce a fruit called cabossa, containing cocoa beans.

The Ivory Coast produces two fifths of all cocoa worldwide.

70% of global cocoa production comes from the Ivory Coast and three other West African countries.

Cocoa production is concentrated in a few states, raising questions about supply chain and impact.

Cocoa has historical roots in Central America, with the Maya and Aztecs being early consumers.

The cocoa press, invented in 1828, revolutionized chocolate production.

Milton Hershey industrialized chocolate production in the early 1900s.

Cocoa trees can only be grown in tropical areas, leading to a concentration of production.

The cocoa supply chain is unbalanced, with farmers earning little while chocolate companies profit.

Child labor is a significant issue in cocoa production in West Africa.

Efforts to promote fair trade and control the cocoa supply chain have had limited success.

The global chocolate market is valued at 120 billion dollars a year and is expected to grow.

Chocolate consumption is increasing in China and India, opening new markets.

The dilemma of cocoa production is the limited regions suitable for growth versus increasing global demand.

Chocolate is seen as a gift and a vice, with a complex history and social impact.

Transcripts

This is me in Madagascar, in a

cocoa manufacturing plant, and this is a

cocoa bean.

And this is quite a lot of

cocoa beans here.

But Madagascar is not only known for

cocoa, think of its vanilla, among the

finest in the world.

Malagasy cocoa is renowned for its

quality.

In fact, the country is in 14th place

in the world production rankings.

Now, I won't tell you all my misadventures

in this country, a country marked by

extreme poverty, think about it, it is among the ten

poorest countries in the world, but still inhabited by

extraordinary people and by a culture, the Malagasy one

of Austronesian origin, which it is fascinating and unique.

Of course, Madagascar is not just cocoa, it is

a land of extraordinary biodiversity.

But to talk about cocoa on a large enough scale

we necessarily have to look elsewhere, towards

the true global

cocoa giant.

This is the Ivory Coast, a

West African country just above

the equator, and these were

its forests in 1990.

In 2000, just ten years later, the

green patches of the Ivory Coast they had reduced

considerably and in 2015 they even seemed to have disappeared

completely.

All to get this, chocolate.

ENERGUMENI, POUR ME THE CHOCOLATE!

Because those disappeared green spots that you saw

in the photo are precisely because of the

cocoa trees.

Cocoa trees, 5 or 10

meters high, produce a very strange fruit, the cabossa,

which in turn contains dozens of seeds,

the cocoa beans.

Once roasted, the beans are crumbled and

used to make chocolate.

It is for cocoa trees that the forests

of the Ivory Coast have made room.

And there is a very specific reason.

Without the soils of the Ivory Coast we would not

have the cocoa necessary for us to enjoy this

beautiful chocolate bar full of processed

and industrialized sugars, so processed that, although it is a

90% bar, the cocoa will be an

infinitesimal part and...

Sorry, I was getting off topic.

Ivory Coast produces 2 fifths of

all cocoa worldwide.

20% of the national GDP and

40% of its exports depend on cocoa.

And apart from Indonesia, which is the

third largest producer, and a few other South American countries,

70% of global cocoa production

comes from Ivory Coast and

3 other West African countries.

Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon.

In other words, our unbridled

chocolate consumption depends on a handful of states.

But now let's ask ourselves some questions, as it is usually

good to do every time.

How is it possible that cocoa production

is so concentrated in just one area of ​​the

planet?

What does this particular supply chain

mean for those states and for us ?

And above all, how do we manage to have

our much-loved chocolate on

supermarket shelves?

The answers to these questions have to do

with both history and

economics.

But before proceeding I would like to thank the partner

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at least plan the fridge.

Maybe unlike me.

What are we eating tonight?

The fridge is empty.

And now to us.

Where does this stuff come from that

is so addictive to some of us

that we want to eat it every

single day?

As mentioned, it all starts with the cocoa tree,

whose scientific name is Theobroma, literally food

of the gods.

The Swedish botanist Linnaeus gave it this name in 1753

, but cocoa has

its original roots in Central America, not in Sweden,

in what is now Mexico, where it was domesticated for

the first time around 3000 BC.

Its greatest admirers were the Maya,

who considered cocoa fruits a gift

from the feathered serpent Kukulkan, and then the Aztecs.

The Aztecs, between one sacrifice and another,

because they, yes, killed plenty of poor people

unlike the Maya, used

cocoa beans in the most disparate ways, as a currency

of exchange and pay for the military, as

medicine, as aphrodisiac, and for practicing religious rituals,

but also for mixing particular drinks.

They were produced by drying cocoa beans

and shelling them in water, then adding pepper, chili pepper

or vanilla.

In short, a sort of primitive Nesquik milk without

sugar.

The emperor, the nobles and the soldiers, who

were the only ones who could drink this mixture

considered divine, called it Xocolatl, that is, bitter water.

And this is where the

word chocolate comes from, even if a

lot of water still had to pass under the stitches before having

bars, pralines, Sacher cakes, hyperglutinising and diabetic.

Now, until 1500, we Europeans didn't

even know what cocoa was.

The first to import it into the old continent was

in fact the old exterminator of natives, Hernán Cortés.

Within a few decades the conquistadors came

into possession of the Mesoamerican cocoa plantations, so

as to produce Xocolatl for them.

Although with some modifications to sweeten it, this Proto

Nesquik became very popular among European aristocrats, especially

in Spain and Catholic countries, since

in places like England and Holland tea and coffee were preferred

at the time.

This at least until the first industrial revolution

led to a revolutionary invention

which, in the history of chocolate, has the same

value of the discovery of fire for human beings

.

We are talking about the cocoa press, created in

1828 by the Dutch chemical entrepreneur Casparus van Houten,

although the invention is erroneously attributed to his

son Conrad.

This machinery allowed, yes, to shell the

cocoa beans, but also to remove

the so-called cocoa butter from the resulting powder.

The latter could thus be used to create

chocolate that was no longer liquid, but solid, in a bar.

From that moment on it was a race

to find the most cunning and innovative master chocolatier.

In 1867 the Swiss pastry chef Heinrich Nestlé, better

known as Henry Nestlé, yes, that Nestlé, developed

a particular method of condensing cow's milk

.

Method which in 1875 allowed the master chocolatier,

not Lindt, but Daniel Peter, to put

milk chocolate on the market.

Four years later, Rudolf Lindt, this time yes,

the real Lindt, invented the machine for

conching chocolate, a process that made it

smoother, tastier and sweeter.

Today Nestlé and Lindt Sprüngli are among the

world's leading chocolate producers.

Finally, at the beginning of 1900, the American entrepreneur

Milton Hershey brought the production of chocolate to

an industrial scale, building a real city

around his factory , which is located in

Pennsylvania and is called, coincidentally, Hershey,

even having it built another in Cuba, from where

he obtained cocoa beans directly.

Basically a kind of Willy Wonka.

Although little known here, The

Hershey Company is also a global chocolate giant.

Here, the fact that Hershey had to travel

all the way to Cuba to obtain cocoa

beans allows us to talk about what

has always been a big problem for

the chocolate industry, namely the difficult availability

of the raw material, of the cocoa itself .

In fact, cocoa trees can be grown

and made productive almost only in tropical areas.

Warm and humid areas, possibly close to the equator,

through frequent and abundant wetting.

Philippines and Indonesia, for example, were carpeted with

slave plantations by the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.

But then, when the slave trade was abolished in every

part of Europe in the mid-19th century

, almost everyone found it more convenient

to move cocoa crops directly to the

West African colonies.

Both those crafty French people on

the Ivory Coast and those nice English people in

Ghana and Nigeria took advantage of it.

And from there, as we saw at the beginning

of this video, the cocoa never moved

again.

And this, in economic terms, is a

significant problem.

Since the Second World War, the consumption of

chocolate, or at least ultra-processed chocolate, has increased

dramatically, so much so that today in the West

virtually anyone can afford it, with Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom

and Norway being the most greedy for it.

So much so that Switzerland is today

the land of chocolate.

After all, we come from the country of chocolate.

However, the costs of cocoa are by no means

negligible.

If, as in 2024, for example, production

in Ivory Coast and Ghana is affected

by adverse climate or some disease,

cocoa supplies decrease and prices increase.

The question you might

ask yourself at this point is...

what are the steps in the cocoa supply chain

and therefore also chocolate?

Let's start from the chocolate laboratory, the

Ivory Coast. Here, since independence in 1960,

cocoa cultivation has always been encouraged by the

government, even more so since the 1990s

, a period of great economic liberalization, when

he understood that you could really make a lot of money with cocoa

, and so he started

deforesting.

From 1990 to 2020, Ivorian forest hectares

shrank from 8 million to

3.

The free market, however, favored large

companies rather than local workers.

And so…

here's how it all works.

Local cocoa cultivation depends almost entirely

on around 800,000 farmers, who own

small farms of up to 3 hectares.

Once the beans are obtained, farmers then

resell them to wholesalers in

inland towns such as Mann, Boisflet and Dewequee.

From here wholesalers ship the beans to

the country's two main port cities, San

Pedro and the capital Abidjan, and it is at

this precise moment that

multinationals come into play.

Initially these are companies unknown to most,

but they play a key role in mediating

between cocoa producers and

chocolate consumers, that is, ourselves.

To give some examples, we find the US companies Cargill

and ADM, the Swiss Ecom and Barrique Lebaux

and the Singaporean Olam.

All of these are specialized, more or less, in

processing cocoa beans or selling them to the

global chocolate production giants, who

ultimately only have to deal with manufacturing the

chocolate, processing it, packaging it and putting it on the market, unless

they choose to grind

the cocoa from them.

In order of size, these confectionery titans

that achieve billion-dollar sales are

the American Mars Wrigley, that of Mars so to

speak, Mondelyse, that of Toblerone, the Italian

Ferrero, Hershey, Nestle, Lindt and Sprüngli, the British

Pladis, the Japanese Meiji, the South Korean Orion and

the German August Stork.

It doesn't take an economic genius to

understand that this system is extremely unbalanced.

Algezira headlines that Ivorian cocoa farmers

are barely surviving while

chocolate companies' profits grow.

For Oxfam, the cocoa market is a

tremendously unequal market.

According to a study by the Royal Tropical Institute in

Amsterdam, the average income in Ivorian rural areas

where cocoa is grown amounts to 6,500

dollars, yes, but per year, for a family

of 7 people, who manages a farm

considered large.

And chocolate companies

really like this system, in fact it would be good if it were maintained because

it allows them not to pay any employees to

grow the cocoa and to have the seeds

ready to be ground.

The government of Abidjan, however, doesn't give a

damn as long as cocoa is exported and as long as

multinationals continue to operate on the national level,

thus enriching the lords in government.

And this is a situation that does not

only concern Ivory Coast, but also all

the major cocoa exporting nations, and then

in reality there is something else.

And that is that, crossing various estimates made by the

States, by Fortune magazine and by the corporate accountability

lab, cocoa production in Ghana and

Ivory Coast employs almost two million

children, aged between 5

and 12 years.

We have known about child labor in the cocoa industry

for at least 15 years, and

even before that we have known that every year thousands of

children are kidnapped in other African countries, transported

to West Africa, and then enslaved to work

on cocoa plantations.

In other words, it may be, it is not certain,

but it may be, that the chocolate egg

consumed at Easter is the result, in some way,

of a slave exploitation which, apparently,

never really ended in 1800 What are you saying

?

Do you also think like Uncle Turiddu?

He also told you by chance...

But what do I care, their problems,

I'm here consuming ultra-processed chocolate that

I pay for with my

hard-earned money and not you...

Shhh, shut up Turiddu, make some chamomile and go

to make out, go to sleep.

We have been talking about solving these problems for more than twenty years now

, and

these problems have not been solved since then. Over time,

the pressure on the main chocolate industries from

associations and public opinion

has been of little or no avail , despite grandiloquent

promises made by one or another multinational

to completely eradicate child labor within

the given year.

As long as they don't care about it, we might as well ride

the wave and we might as well shove

chocolate in our faces as always, because it's that

little vice that for some is so good and

satisfying and almost like a drug, not for

me because chocolate is so I only eat

under threat.

I've been part of the savory team all my life.

And while cocoa farmers are starving

, we are here discussing how

chocolate can be included in a

balanced diet and Americans even see it as

the netter of the gods, or as junk food

that is nice to gorge on in a day

out of hand, perhaps on the same day that

they train their legs.

Why is American chocolate, asks a

Guardian columnist, so disgusting?

It tastes like sawdust soaked in a

child's vomit.

Maybe it's even better than the chocolate we find

in the supermarket.

The vomit sawdust I mean.

In any case, no matter how much effort we make

in promoting fair trade and controlling

the cocoa supply chain, the chocolate industry

will always be here.

For us.

The value of the global chocolate market amounts to

120 billion dollars a year, it will be worth

160 billion around 2030.

And this is without taking into account that there are at least

two large markets where chocolate is

appreciated, but has never taken root as it is

here, namely China and India.

To give an example, in China the most popular brand

is the almost unknown Dove, owned

by Mars, while in India it is Cadbury,

a subsidiary of Mondelēz.

The dilemma always remains the same, cocoa

grows and will continue to do so only in

tropical regions, in a few countries of the world, but in the meantime

global demands for this product are increasing and

when West Africa is no longer enough, where

will we go to get the cocoa ?

One thing is certain, we are not so different

from the Aztecs, we use chocolate in hundreds of

different recipes, we take it as a medicine for the

mind, to relax and we still recognize

its aphrodisiac effect today.

But above all, as economists Ellen Polmans

and Johan Svinden say, in the ancient American empires

cocoa beans were used as currency, today

chocolate is also seen as a gift,

a gift, and certain products have been explicitly

designed and created in this way. sense.

Next time, however, I'm sure we

'll all think twice before pronouncing the

most classic of phrases, namely, what could be

a bit of chocolate?

Or when Uncle Turiddu comes to tell you with

his usual calmness, oh shit you can't

eat anything calmly anymore after

your videos on the food series, you

will answer him, for me, uncle, you can eat

that what you want, the important thing is that you

nourish your brain with the awareness of

what you are eating, this is ultimately

what distinguishes us from

free-range beasts, the choice is yours and it is free,

per aspera ad astra.