Just say no to chocolate slavery this holiday season!

Some food for thought, literally, as we approach the holiday season. Whether you give a box of nicely wrapped truffles to coworkers, use it as an ingredient in your favorite cookie recipes, or use it as a stocking stuffer, chocolate is everywhere during the holidays. So, since it is something that we have such a love affair with, why not double check this year that you are buying chocolate that is organic and fair trade to ensure that you are not contributing to the mounting problem of chocolate that comes from farms that use child slavery to harvest the cocoa?

72% of the world's cacao is grown in West Africa, in the country of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Part of the problem, understandably is the extreme poverty faced by the farmers, and the price of cacao dropping because buyers keep demanding cheaper beans. To be able to support their families, afford fertilizer and make a small profit, the growers cannot afford to pay their workers, and thus come to rely on child labor as a cheap, reliable way to keep their farms running and survive.

The largest offenders in purchasing chocolate from farms that use child slave labor are: Nestle, M&M, Hershey. Companies that have started to take steps in the right direction and to protect the rights of chocolate farmers, but still have a long way to go are: Godiva, Starbucks, Ghiradelli/ Lindt, Dagoba and Endangered Species Chocolate. The best bet are these companies who are committed to sustainability, and improving the lives of chocolate farmers globally. They are: Sweet Earth Chocolates, Divine Chocolate, and Equal Exchange. This list was provided by the International Labor Rights Forum in Washington, DC.

 While there are always some people who are more dedicated to bringing about positive change in the world than others, I would like to suggest the personal activism of Teun van de Keuken, a chocolate lover in Amsterdam. Upon discovery of this issue, he decided to eat 19 chocolate bars and then turned himself over to the police for knowingly purchasing a product made with slave labor, which he says under the Dutch legal system is a criminal act. "At first, I just called the police and said I did a terrible thing. They said, 'Don't worry, we all eat chocolate, good-bye.' Then I hired a lawyer." And that didn't stop him. He has produced a film, called Tony and the Slave Free Chocolate Factory (which you can check out on youtube) and is on a mission to bring about awareness of this problem. This issue is extremely complex to be sure, with poverty being a huge contributing factor. 


However instead of boycotting chocolate, the first steps in doing something to bring about positive change would be to 1) buy fair trade chocolate, 2) buy organic chocolate- since they have higher standards than regular products, many experts say that those farms are unlikely to be using forced labor, 3) write to many of the large chocolatiers and complain about their lack of compliance with international policy. 4) read up more on the issue.

Resources:

http://dosmallthings.com/tag/chocolate-slavery/

http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/takeaction.html

http://www.laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/ChocolateScorecard09.pdf

FSA photographs...great gift for foodies

My professor of Intro to American Studies, recently tipped me off to this great resource, and place to get potential gifts for people who enjoy photography. However, this can be taken a step further to include foodies. The resource is the Library of Congress's digital collection of photographs. The ones that I am thinking of are the FSA (Farm Security Administration) photographs that were taken during the Great Depression throughout rural America. 

 There are many wonderful photographs, including the famous "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange available on the site. The coolest part of the site, after you have spent considerable hours getting lost in thought while sorting through the amazing images, is that they are all available for purchase! Yep, you can buy a copy of any of the images that 

you find, on archival paper for under $25.

This is a terrific gift documenting a fantastic project undertaken by some amazingly talented photographers showcasing the resourcefulness, pride, and history of rural American farmers. For anyone who doesn't know about the FSA photographers....it was a government department that sought to document and prove to congress and the public alike the problems experienced by rural farmers and the success that the New Deal programs were having.

During it's existance, the department, run by Roy Stryker, produced a collection of 80,000 photographs. He hired many talented photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, John Vachon, Russell Lee, Marion Post Wolcott and John Collier, Jr.

Certainly, Styker's overarching goal was to create a visual encyclopedia of America, but he concentrated the focus of the photographers on rural worker, many of them migrant farm workers, to show how central agriculture was to the economy.  

To check out the extensive collection of photographs and for ordering info, here is the link to the website: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

And still more gifts for the foodie in your life...

I just thought that I would check out holiday gift buys at one of my favorite stores, Fishseddy which now happens to have a fabulous websites for online shopping. Much easier than my usual trek to NYC to rumage through the stacks of dishes, glasses and flatware scattered casually about the funky store. Here are some of their handpicked selections for gifts under $25 that I thought you might enjoy.



"Steep Up to the Plate Teabag Rest" $5.95



"Artist Palate Cheese Tray $24.95"




"New Yorker" Mugs $10.95 (many other designs)



"Floorplan" coasters $3.95 (many other kinds)

Check out their website for more great finds:  http://www.fishseddy.com/

The Sweet Spot, part I

Recently, I was asked by a classmate about a good bakery that was near Trinity College, so I decided that I should start reviewing bakeries in Hartford. Since Hartford is a truly multicultural city, there are many, many delicious pastry shops to chose from. The South End is still considered "Little Italy" despite the influx of new cultures such as Puerto Rican, Albanian, Mexican, Peruvian, and Bosnians. One of the very well known Italian bakeries is Mozzicato, which opened in 1978 at 329 Franklin Ave. The bakery is chock full of decadent desserts, wedding cakes, cookies and Italian bread. But if you head to the door on the left side of the building (unmarked from the outside) you will enter the charming caffe.

The caffe is one of those places that is just perfect to spend a lazy Sunday with your book and a cappuccino, or to bring a date in the evening. Besides having delicious pastries, including fresh cannollis, you can also having gelatos, and granitas. If your tastes are not for desserts, then you can try some of their housemade pizza, arancini, or calzones. The calzones, by the way, are ENORMOUS, and it's a good idea to split one with somebody. Just remember to ask the server to bring you a side of sauce to accompany it.

They also have a full bar including many appertifs, which makes it quite appealing a destination in the evening. In addition, the staff encourage unofficial Italian and French language nights, where patrons can gather and practice their conversation skills with one another.

Website:  http://www.mozzicatobakery.com/cafe.asp

Nyotaimori and late night sushi

Recently, I came across an article that while it made think about feminism, food, Japanese culture, and the culture of consuming, it also made me hungry for sushi. So this post is both about the dead or dying practice of Nyotaimori and the lovely deal that Feng Asian Bistro in downtown Hartford is offering. 

Nyotaimori is an underground practice of using a naked woman's body as a display platter for sushi. From all accounts that I have read, it is largely a dead practice, and one that used to take place in houses of ill repute in Japan for special events. However, in places outside of Asia, there has been coverage by news organizations of restaurants or other venues from Florida to London opening to offer this type of "Japanese food culture". In 2008, there was an article written about Temple restaurant in Minneapolis who was posed to begin offering naked sushi nights on models of both sexes...ah gotta love America. Some followers of the film, Sex and the City might also recognize the familiarity of the image as Samantha's attempts to cover her body in sushi for her boyfriend on Valentine's Day. The fact that the media has publicized this practice as something typical in Japanese culture, instead of an underground creation has caused considerable resentment. 

Naturally, resentment doesn't stand alone on this one. The practice of eating atop a female body is not exclusive to Nyotaimori, it has also been seen in Eastern European restaurants where a naked woman posed underneath glass, creating the effect of a human table. The live, submissive, unresponsive woman acts as a conduit for consumption of not just the food laden atop her, but she also presents herself as a commodity to be consumed.

Feeling intellectually charged with these ideas, my friend and I headed out to Feng's late night happy hour menu to continue our conversation. It only seemed fitting to have sushi as it was central to the discussion of the evening. We were very happy to see how far our money stretched for the late night menu. The menu is strikingly similar to the regular, early happy hour menu, in a good way. I did find it dissapointing that there were NO late night drink specials (which I had to point out to management), I mean what's a happy hour without drink specials? It was still exceptionally nice to be able to go somewhere in downtown Hartford and enjoy high quality sushi, after 10pm for two people and pay under $30. Especially favorites of mine were the duck spring rolls, and the sweet potato tempura rolls. 

Late night happy hour runs from:
Mon-Thursday 10-12pm
Friday and Saturday 11pm-1am
Sunday 10-11pm
Website: http://www.fengrestaurant.com/

Culinary tour of downtown New Haven - NEXT WEEKEND!

Yep, you read right...the culinary tour led by Stephen Fries is back! Stephen is a food writer known around the greater New Haven area who leads a four hour culinary tour to nine destinations where you can sip and sample your way through the city. The concept behind the tour is to introduce people to the city and to new cuisines that they wouldn't usually have tried otherwize. The majority of the tour is a surprise to guests, as the itinerary is kept a secret, which is just part of the fun! But what has been revealed is that the tour will explore a range of places from upscale venues to ethnic food finds. Fries says "New Haven is considered to be the restaurant capital of Connecticut, few realize it was the original home of the Culinary Institute of America. Food brings people together. Everyone has a different story about what food was like when they were growing up. It brings back such memories. It gives you goosebumps." If you are interested in going, make your reservation early. The tour is on Saturday, Dec 11th and meets at 10:45am at the top of the Omni Hotel and tickets cost $69.00. Reservations can be obtained from (203) 777-8550.