Easter Chocolate

I love Cadbury creme eggs. I mean, I really love them. The creamy chocolate, the thick, creamy center- it's plain delicious. I always look forward to this time of year, when Cadbury Creme Eggs are everywhere. My husband has bought me several this year and has hidden them around our apartment for me to 'find'. The best ones are the ones imported from England. We go to a British store on the Marietta Square sometimes. The shop owner imports her chocolate directly from England. It may be psychological, but I think the imported ones are better. As you can see, I'm a big fan.

I'm not a big fan of slavery. I think it's pretty nasty. The idea of men, women and even children harvesting crops and making products I consume is a little nauseating. This practice is all too common in our world. I've been doing fairly extensive research, and its very difficult to live a completely slave free life. Check out Slavery Footprint to find out how many slaves likely work for you. It's unpleasant, but really good to know.

I follow several organizations on Twitter that track slavery. One of my favorites is the ap/twitter Free2Work. They track companies to determine the level of ethics in place when it comes to slavery, supply chains and overall ethical practices. I have the iphone ap, it's excellent and there are new companies added frequently. They grade each company on policies, transparency, monitoring, and worker rights to determine an overall grade.

So that takes me back to my beloved Cadbury Cream Eggs. Sadly, my beloved eggs got a D+ rating on free2work. My standard for a good company is much like my standard for my students: a B is the lowest grade that I consider 'good'. So a D+ isn't going to cut it for me. So, I dug a little deeper. It turns out that Cadbury production in the United States was purchsaed by Hershey in 1998. Cadbury in Europe and Australia has committed to fair trade and slave-free chocolate, but Hershey has not followed suit. See this article by Common Dreams, and this post by Global Exchange.

There is always a brief moment of depression that sets in when I realize that in order to commit to purchasing slave free products I have to give up something that I love. I thought that this post would conclude with me lamenting about my decision to give up these fabulous Easter treats. But we have good news! All my Atlanta 'peeps', head over to The Corner Shop on the Marietta Square. She imports her Easter Candy directly from the UK, and if my research is correct, the Cadbury Creme Eggs she sells are NOT produced by slaves. The cost is a little higher, but for me its worth it. If I'm going to commit to living a slave free lifestyle, I need to be as faithful as possible, even in the little things, like Easter Chocolate. If you aren't a Cadbury fan, check out this article by CNN that discusses Easter chocolate in general. There are a lot of ways we can work together to end Slavery, one piece of chocolate at a time.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. HE is risen!