As I sat at my dining room table, with the fluorescent blue-light of my laptop staring back at me, I felt consumed by guilt. The video I had just watched completely transformed my perspective on America’s favorite candy forever. Although I was instructed to place the chocolate on my tongue, I found myself hesitating; I suddenly saw the delicious morsel in my hand through a completely different lens. Before this film, when I thought of chocolate, I would think of the small joys it had brought me as a child; all of the Valentine’s days, Halloweens and movie nights where the main appeal to me was the chocolate involved. It’s decadent texture, rich flavor and comforting aroma were no longer the main qualities I associated with this treat. Rather, I thought of how I purchased the product of another sleepless night for a small farmer, wondering how he would make ends meet. I would bite

A young boy uses a machete to break cocoa pods at a farm near Abengourou in eastern Ivory Coast in December. PHOTOGRAPHS BY BENJAMIN LOWY

into the calloused hands of a child who instead of sitting in a classroom was in the fields, having to slash open cocoa pods with a machete. I would have to unpackage the systematic exploitation of Africa’s people and resource rich land. Ultimately, I would have to come to terms with the fact that by purchasing the chocolate, my money went towards the exploitation of human beings.

Globalization has greatly altered our relationship with food in many ways. We are now able to be completely disconnected with the source of our food, and in turn disconnected with the many horrors and injustices that take place in the world food system. Dismantling these systems will not be an easy feat, especially since multi-billion-dollar corporations are at the heart of the issue. However, we can work towards a better future for small farmers and children by purchasing from companies that value the health and wellness of their employees before their bank accounts. For example, Theo is a chocolate company based in Seattle that prioritizes purchasing from smallholder farms, and produces ethically sourced, fair-trade and organic chocolates. In 2019, all of the 1,225 metric tons of cocoa they purchased came from the community of Watalinga in the Eastern Democratic

A woman holds up one of Theos chocolate packaging

Republic of Congo. You can explore their 2019 Theo Impact Report for more information on the impact of their business practices.