“When Virtue Tastes Like Cocoa” | #PSC 190
Episode 190 of #PodSaveChocolate is an interview with Philippe Juglar, the President of AVPA (the organizer of the Chocolate Processed at Origin competition), and Carolina Faure of Paris-based importer/distributor La Cooperativa.
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Episode 190 Overview
In this episode, I will be joined by AVPA President Philippe Juglar, the author of a short but provocatively titled OpEd, and Carolina Faure, founder of La Cooperativa, a Paris-based importer/distributor of food products, including chocolate produced in her home country of Colombia.
The Op Ed begins:
There’s something deliciously paradoxical about the way some European chocolatiers talk about cocoa: always with warmth, yet rarely without condescension. They speak of “meeting the producers,” of “highlighting the terroirs,” and, of course, of the “social impact” of their chocolate bars. Their words smell of vanilla, but their rhetoric leaves a faint aftertaste of colonial paternalism.
These new missionaries of chocolate set off, linen shirts and tender smiles at the ready, for Peru, Colombia, or Mexico: countries they describe, with the zeal of a fair-trade brochure, as Edens of cocoa beans waiting to be saved. There, among the pods, they pose for the camera: a well-meaning European surrounded by grateful farmers. The staging is impeccable, the moral prepackaged. Everything melts perfectly, except, perhaps, humility.
The Op Ed critiques how some European chocolatiers [makers in consuming countries more broadly] frame their engagement with cocoa origins as benevolent “social impact” while reproducing colonial paternalism. It targets the performative narratives of visiting producers, “bringing expertise” [...] often centered on flattering imagery of foreigners among supposedly grateful farmers.
However, countries like Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico have long-standing, sophisticated chocolate cultures. Contemporary origin-based makers are producing high-quality, innovative chocolate in their own right. Yet, global discourse highlights buyers of beans rather than local transformers.
In this episode, my guests and I will explore the themes presented and developed in this OpEd.
Resources
Philippe Juglar
Read the entire op-ed here.
[L]: The original image. [R] The color-corrected version used.
Future Episodes
A conversation with Shawn Askinosie on the 20th anniversary of our first bean sourcing trip (to Mexico and Venezuela).
Episode Hashtags and Social Media Links
#cocoa #cacao #cacau
#chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate
#PodSaveChoc #PSC
#LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife
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Clay Gordon
Clay Gordon
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