Consumers have terrific power over producers so if we consume in alignment with the values we want foremost in the world, we are a force in making it happen . This Dinner Theme reflects Earth Charter’s Preamble: “The protection of Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.”
Topic #1 Fair Trade OR Eat Chocolate & Change the World
Guests
Family, Friends, Neighbors, Chocoholics, Fair Trade merchants, Cooks/Chefs, Shopaholics, shop owners, Advertising folks.
Setting
At-home setting, Back room in candy shop; arts and crafts shop that sells fair trade goods; coffee shop that serves fair trade coffee, Book Store surrounded by books on fair trade, chocolate delights, consumerism
Tablescape
Big serving bow/dish heaped with fair trade chocolate or Fair Trade Coffee Beans www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/ or www.divinechocolateusa.com/; OR Chocolate Candy Centerpiece (made with fair trade chocolate) http://www.chocolate-candy-mall.com/chocolate-candy-centerpiece.html
Art/Music
- “My Funny Little Valentine” and other sweet songs or artwork
Menu
Flavorful Mexican Chicken Mole (Recipe follows “Toast” at end of page) Salad, Rice, French Red Wine like a Cote de Rhone or Chocolate Martini; Dessert: Chocoholic or Coffee Lover Tasting (blind tasting and rating of fair trade and non fair trade chocolates or coffee. Can serve chocolates with champagne and Fair Trade chocolate cake/pie for Coffee lovers.
Conversation Opener
To the Mayas, cocoa pods symbolized life and fertility and the Aztecs believed that that it had nourishing, fortifying, and even aphrodisiac qualities. When did your love affair with chocolate begin? Would you share a romantic experience where chocolate was involved?
Questions to be Asked After One Glass of Wine
For four decades, advertising has been one of the world’s fastest growing industries. In US, ad expenditures for media and direct mail were $332.19 billion in 2007. It’s no surprise that shopping therefore is a primary cultural activity with Americans spending six hours a week shopping. Teenagers spend more time in malls than anywhere besides school or home. (How Much is Enough?; Alan Thein Durning; 1992).
- What are your shopping habits? What influence has advertising had on you or your family?
Fair Trade refers to products imported to the United States that are certified by the TransFair USA www.transfairusa.org and guarantees the following::
- Fair price: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price and an additional premium for certified organic products.
- Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.
- Direct trade: With Fair Trade, importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
- Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues.
- Community development: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement trainings, and organic certification.
- Environmental sustainability: Harmful agrochemicals and Genetically Modified Organisms are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.
· What are your thoughts about the value of fair trade practices and certification? Is there any downside? What experiences have you had with buying fair trade products?
View Video “Dark Side of Chocolate” about child labor on cocoa farms and chocolate companies who support it. http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/MovieScreening.cfm
Americans spend $14 billion a year on chocolate, that’s a lot of buying power. Did you know that over 40 percent of the world’s cocoa, the primary ingredient in chocolate, comes from West African nation of the Ivory Coast. The State Department estimates that over one hundred thousand children in the Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry work under “the worst forms of child labor. Some ten thousand children are victims of human trafficking or enslavement. These child workers labor for long, punishing hours, using dangerous tools and facing frequent exposure to dangerous pesticides as they travel great distances in the grueling heat. Those who labor as slaves must also suffer frequent beatings and other cruel treatment. http://www.pacifica.org/program-guide/op,segment-page/segment_id,297/
- Discuss Video and your thoughts about information presented.
Actions
- Discuss how you can become a shopper who shops in a way that positively impacts humanity and the planet. Then begin to do so.
- Global Exchange has activities and ways to get involved in a Fair Trade campaign. www.globalexchange.org. There are also reports from schools about how kids have become involved. One 4th grade did a buycott before Easter of Mars Chocolate because of their use of child labor and ran a campaign that influenced other students and parents. http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/chocolateschoolspage.html
For the Global Exchange Chocolate Workbook for kids go to: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/ChocolateActivityBook.pdf
- Get a copy of Affluenza or Escape From Affluenza, which are one-hour humorous documentaries on the symptoms of and antidotes to the disease of shopping and materialism. View and Discuss at next Gathering. Order a copy from KCTS (800) 937-5387.
- As a group engage in Buy Nothing Day, which falls in November on the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year. Activities have included: Credit card cut up (standing in mall with pair of scissors and a sign offering to cut up credit cards for free); Whirl-mart (you as a group drive shopping carts around in a long, inexplicable conga line in a store or mall without ever buying anything). http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd
Organize a “cash mob”. http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/cash-mobs-promote-spending-and-socializing-locally/ At the urging of a local blogger, shoppers staged a cash mob at a Buffalo wine store, a book store in Cleveland and a locally made jewelry and art store in San Diego recently. The aim is to reclaim the fun and spontaneity of flash mobs while supporting local businesses. The spending goal should be no more than $20 a person, although people can of course spend more if they choose.And organizers should give the store owners a heads up, so they aren’t overwhelmed.
Closing Toast
“Action expresses priorities.” Mohandas Gandhi
CHICKEN MOLE WITH FAIR TRADE CHOCOLATE
Serves 4
2 halves of free range chicken breast–probably about 8 oz each half
Simmer chicken in water with onion and garlic as shown in previous recipe; drained the water, removed chicken and then cut it up for the mole.
1 cup roasted chopped almonds roasted in oven until slightly brown.
Enough veg oil to cover pan
1/3 c sesame seeds
2 small onions chopped
2 cans 8 oz tomato sauce
About 3 oz of dark Divine Fair Trade chocolate chopped
6 cups chicken stock
1 TBSP of Hot Mama Holy Mole Spice* (produced in Tampa and composed of 25 spices) for 2 cups of stock but at the end I tasted it and thought it was too spicy so added another cup of stock
3 to 4 TBSP Flour
4 TBSP Raisins
Heat large skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 min. add sesame seeds until golden brown and set aside
In large saucepan heat oil over medium heat, add chopped onion and fry until limp and transparent. Add Hot Mama spices and flour until well blended
Add 1 cup of broth and tomato sauce, stir, and continue for another 2-3 minutes until flour absorbed.
Add almonds, chocolate and rest of broth..one cup at time…add salt and cook over moderate heat about 15 minutes until mixture begins to gurgle and thicken.
Add chicken to mole sauce, stir in raisins and cook everything 15minutes until meat is warm, tender and well seasoned with sauce. If preferred, cover chicken and bake it in sauce in 350 oven for about 20 minutes
Serve over rice with green salad.
*If not using Hot Mama Holy Mole Spice purchase red colored mole sauce from most supermarkets and use according to taste.