Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Organic—a Good Option for Dinner
in Our Globalized World
Wr apped in a sleeve of gold-colored foil, with an early European
trade ship on the front, the “Incredible India” extra-dark chocolate bar
made its debut at the International Sweets and Biscuits Fair in Cologne,
Germany in 2011. Containing over 70 percent cocoa, it was the first candy
bar of its kind to be made wholly with Indian cocoa. And the certified
organic cocoa was sourced entirely from Kerala.
Chocolat Stella-
Bernrain, a Swiss-based chocolate manufacturer, had
been working with IOFPCL and Organic Wayanad since 2007 to create
this line of organic chocolate. At a meeting of Organic Wayanad's farmers
in May 2011, I had the opportunity to meet a representative from the choc-
olate company, Anthony Panakal, originally born and raised in Kerala but
now living in Switzerland with his wife and three children. In May, he
had returned to Kerala to meet directly with Organic Wayanad's farmers.
At the meeting, he announced his company's advance offer to pay 3,600
rupees (over $60) per metric ton for Fair Trade and organic cocoa. The
figure was a thousand rupees
above the current market rate. It was also
a return offer from Chocolat Stella, which had previously sourced cocoa
from Organic Wayanad.
Speaking entirely in Malayalam, Kerala's official language, Panakal
also revealed that the unveiling of the chocolate at the international candy
fair had been a success. He proclaimed that although tasters and buy-
ers were astonished to learn about the existence of Indian cocoa, they
