BBC chocolate programme, The Bitter Truth
Thursday 8th April
We’re a little bit late with this one but if you watched Panorama: Chocolate, the Bitter Truth a couple of weeks ago on BBC1 then you’ll know that it had quite an impact. We thought it was, on the whole, a great programme for raising awareness and promoting the fact that consumers need to have take more responsibility for the food that they’re consuming and for it’s source. Reporter Paul Kenyon travelled to West Africa to investigate child labour in cocoa plantations and uncovered some unpleasant truths.
One of our favourite chocolatiers, Marc Demarquette was very involved in the programme, advising and educating presenter Paul Kenyon about fine quality chocolate and advocating ethical sourcing. Read his description of the programme here at the Demarquette website. There are also a few interesting articles on the subject at Trading Visions
One of the main issues is that chocolate doesn’t generally have a transparent supply chain and for large companies it’s difficult for them to regulate every stage of the process. We encourage consumers to find out a little more about the chocolate they’re buying and where the beans are from. Child labour is generally a problem in West Africa, not in other cocoa producing countries. If you’re buying from a mass market producer then please try to buy fairtrade chocolate. If you’re buying from an artisan chocolatier such as Marc Demarquette then he will be purchasing his chocolate from a quality chocolate maker who has bought top quality beans at a price well above market rate and has relationships with the plantations they buy from so you can be secure that there is no exploitation involved.
Unfortunately, the show is no longer on iplayer but I’m sure the BBC will be showing it again on BBC3. If you missed it there’s an overview here: BBC
New chocolate producer in the UK
Saturday 20th March
We recently went to see Duffy Sheardown, a new chocolate producer based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes. He has a fairly basic set up from which he’s producing some really great chocolate. There’s a full write up of our trip on: seventypercent.com Duffy will be joining the Chocolate Unwrapped area at The Real Food Festival, more details here so you’ll have the opportunity to taste his chocolate before anyone else.
Pierre Hermé arrives in London
Thursday 28th January
Exciting news! The World famous patissier and chocolatier Pierre Hermé is to open up in London. It’s wonderful for London’s chocolate lovers and foodies as Hermé is extremely highly regarded, probably most known for his wonderful macarons. A collection of his macarons and chocolates will be available in Selfridges from 5th February with plans to open a boutique later on this year. We’ve heard a few rumours about where the shop is going to be with SW1 being the most persistent. Pierre Hermé will be a wonderful addition to the London chocolate scene and it’s a testament to our growing sophisticated tastes that one of France’s finest chocolatiers has chosen to open here. Hermé says of the step across the channel – “It has always been a dream of mine to open in London, many of our devotees in Paris are from the UK. I am looking forward to finally work in such an exciting city for cuisine and gastronomy. The energy of London is recognized throughout the world, I am simply delighted to be here at last.”
It certainly sounds as though Hermé has the right strategy in launching into the UK. We were very sorry to hear that Mary Chocolatier had recently closed their outlet but have to question whether opening a kiosk in Westfield was the right move for a respected chocolate company.
We’re very much looking forward to Hermé being in London and Selfridges is becoming a must visit chocolate destination with Artisan du Chocolat’s boutique and Melt having a good presence there.
