Dubble- Fair Trade Chocolate for Kids
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.10.05
Last month treehugger John asked-"Can Sustainability be Cool?" Here is an English effort to make sustainable Fair Trade Chocolate cool. We feel a twinge of guilt promoting chocolate bars marketed to kids, but if they are going to have proper English teeth at least they should rot in support of cocoa farmers in Ghana. Five years ago Comic Relief and The Day Chocolate Company teamed up with Kuapa Kokoo - a co-operative of 35,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, West Africa, to launch Dubble, a fair trade chocolate bar backed up by a website, educational campaigns and 50,000 dubble agents- kids promoting the product. OK, we have covered coffee and chocolate- is there any healthy, nutritious fair trade stuff around? ::Dubble and brush your teeth when you finish.
Geobars are healthier than chocolate.
Also, maybe not super-nutritious, but there is plenty of fairtrade honey and wine in the UK, both of which will be good for you in moderation.
I know the following sounds like it's too good to be true but it really is true. I've read the original scientific research. Chocolate or more specifically pure cocoa solids as they come from the cacao bean actually contain very beneficial compounds in the same category as dark vegetables and fruit. If it's made into high quality dark chocolate bars with a minimum of sugar and no hydrogenated fat added, containing a high percentage of cocoa (the % is stated on high quality pure chocolate bars) it is actually a healthy food that may help reduce heart disease, stroke, and cancer. If on the other hand it contains hydrogenated fat, usually along with lots of sugar, (as most lower grade milk chocolate does), it should not be eaten by anyone.
Uhm. Since when is sugar the most evil substance on the planet? Geez, people's adversion to anything sugar is a bit too much for me. I like my chocolate sweet. I refuse to stop eating fruit, corn or any other product high in sucrose, fructose or glucose. Instead, just eat only a small amount.