by Carol Off
Jean-François Bélanger, Radio Canada’s reporter in West Africa, was extremely helpful, finding me contacts, numbers and background. I am in his debt. Humphrey Hawksley of the BBC gave me the insights and advantage of his extensive experience both in Africa and on the cocoa file; Bernard Taylor of Partnership Africa Canada and David Lord of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee shared with me their extensive contacts in West Africa.
In France, the friends, colleagues and family members of Guy-André Kieffer were especially generous. Of those who can be named, I would like to thank Aline Richard, Léonard Vincent of Reporters Without Borders, Thomas Hoffnung of Libération and Antoine Glaser of La Lettre du Continent. The others, who remain anonymous, know that I would like to thank them as well, and one day I will be able to do it more publicly.
In Belize, many thanks must go to everyone at the Toledo Cacao Growers Association—Gregor Hargrove, in true Maritime style, was frank, welcoming and passionate about his work; Armando Choco, Annamarie Cho and Oscar Canelo shared their first-hand knowledge of cocoa culture; and the farmers shared their stories of struggle, sweat and success.
Anita Sheth was the first person to bring to my attention the issue of child labour exploitation in cocoa, and I admire her for her tireless pursuit of children’s rights. Richard Swift of the New Internationalist shared with me his cocoa research in West Africa; Professor Patricia McAnany of Boston University gave me generous access to her research as well.
Libraries and archives are essential for any book like this. I am indebted to the Toronto Reference Library, York University Library in York, England, the Cadbury papers in the University of Birmingham Special Collections, the Hershey archive in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the ICCO library in London.
Jet Belgraver, my colleague at CBC TV, provided reliable information on the Dutch cocoa industry, blowing through a fair bit of folklore, and she also translated much material, even after she knew that this book might damage her ability to enjoy chocolate in the future. Other colleagues who routinely fed my craving for news about the cocoa industry, while knowingly affecting their future indulgence of chocolate, include Harry Schachter, Dan Schwartz and Jay Bertagnolli. Special thanks to Alex Shprintsen for his moral support and for procuring for me the best chocolate I sampled in the course of writing this book. It’s made in Russia!
Don Sedgwick and Shaun Bradley are my agents but that doesn’t come close to explaining what they do for me, both personally and professionally. In addition to careful and helpful reading of this manuscript and many fine suggestions for how to make the book better, they have been much moral support throughout the project.
Anne Collins, publisher of Random House Canada is, of course, the person who made this book possible. Her encouragement to me as an editor along with her rigour as a journalist made this book much stronger than it deserved to be with my talents. I also had the great pleasure of working for the first time with Pamela Murray, managing editor at Random House Canada, who performed some hard slogs through every version of the manuscript (which will be happily relegated to the recycling bin) and helped me make huge improvements, while encouraging me to continue. Scott Sellers, Random House of Canada’s director of marketing strategy, gave me much encouragement for this book and I know he’ll get me through the hard sell as well. Kevin Kelly, who did the publicity photos for this book, must be mentioned. He not only made me look reasonably good—an almost impossible task—but also was a joy to work with.
My husband, Linden MacIntyre, knows what he did to help me write this work and if I spelled out my entire acknowledgement to him it would be longer than the book itself. Suffice it to say, you wouldn’t be reading these pages today if not for him.
My final debt of gratitude is to the children of Sinikosson who inspired me, more than anyone, to write this book and to explain why the gulf must be closed between the hand that picks the bean and the hand that unwraps the candy.
CAROL OFF has witnessed and reported on many of the world’s conflicts, from the fall of Yugoslavia to the U.S.-led “war on terror.” She is presently the co-host of CBC radio’s current affairs program As It Happens and has won numerous awards for her documentaries. She lives in Toronto.
VINTAGE CANADA EDITION, 2007
COPYRIGHT © 2006 CAROL OFF
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Published in Canada by Vintage Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, in 2007. Originally published in hardcover in Canada by Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, in 2006. Distributed by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Vintage Canada and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House of Canada Limited.
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LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Off, Carol
Bitter chocolate : investigating the dark side of the world’s most seductive sweet / Carol Off.
eISBN: 978-0-307-37079-2
1. Chocolate industry. 2. Cocoa trade. 3. Chocolate industry—History. 4. Cocoa trade—Social aspects. 5. Chocolate industry—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title.
HD9200.A2O34 2007 338.4’7664153 C2007-900753-8
v3.0