Northwest Chocolate Festival
www.nwchocolatefestival.com
Seattle Center Northwest Rooms
October 23rd and 24th!
All day admission $12.50 or e-mail [email protected] to volunteer and get in free!
Chocolate Festival Trade Justice Line Up
Saturday
Tree to Bean to Cup: Wake Up with Coffee and Chocolate (10am)
The parallels between cacao and coffee are endless – both artfully fermented, roasted seeds of fruits, both stimulating, delicious tropical commodities. Coffee talk, sip and taste with members of Caffé Vita Coffee sharing stories from trips to origin coffee growers and the trade practices of this fine Seattle coffee roaster.
Chocolate Spa -Fair Trade Beauty (11:30 – 12:00)
Ever wanted to bathe in chocolate? Feel beautiful inside and out knowing your premium cocoa-butter lotions and soaps were made with respect out of Fair Trade Organic beans from beautiful Belize. Erin Andrews of Cotton Tree Chocolate launches her new line of cocoa beauty products, IndiChocolate, complete with samples and hands on demos!
Direct Trade in Chocolate (11 am) Larry Stolnick, co-founder of TAZA Chocolate, a Bean to Bar Chocolate Maker using a traditional stone-ground method to making fine organic chocolate, presents a look direct trade with cocoa farmers and how a company can be built to make great chocolate and have a social conscience.
Fair Trade 101 (noon) What is Fair Trade? How does Fair Trade monitor a supply chain to ensure your chocolate’s kharma is as balanced as its flavor profile? Learn about Fair Trade’s impact on people and the environment in chocolate and beyond with speakers Stacie Ford-Bonelle of Fair Trade Seattle, Rick Riehle of Pangea Organics and Kristin Beifus of Sweatfree Communities.
Fair Trade 201 (1pm) Graduate your understanding of Fair Trade to the next level with Green America Fair Trade Program Advisor Yochi Zakai! Fair Trade brings up many complex issues. While it may not have all the solutions, consumer education is a step in the right direction. Delve in with us into a critical analysis of room for growth. How fair is fair enough? Can Fair Trade undo the injustices a history of colonialism has done to the commodity of cocoa? What is the best way to get farmers their fair share? How do various certification schemes meausure up?
Chocolate Social Responsibility and Global Corporate Trade Practices, (A “Spotlight” Series) (1pm)
Though you probably think coffee when you hear Starbucks, all those mochas add up! Join Pablo Ramirez – Cocoa Supply Chain monitor for one of the biggest cocoa buyers in the nation, as he presents an engaging talk on Starbucks’ efforts to monitor cocoa in the Ivory Coast. What is an internal auditing system for cocoa trade, and how can it scale up? How does Starbucks make real it’s commitments to treating people fairly in trade?
Chocolate – The Bitter and the Sweet (2pm)
Join Sarah Sweeney of the Not For Sale campaign for a viewing of footage from BBC special “Chocolate – the Bitter Truth.” We’ll get to the roots of the injustice of child and human trafficking in the cocoa industry, and explore ways we can help to put an end to slavery as conscious consumers purchasing fair trade chocolate. Free Fair Trade chocolate and informative booklets will be available to all participants, along with Halloween goodies and door prizes.
A Divine Idea: Farmer-owned Fair Trade Chocolate (3pm) What if cocoa farmers owned their very own chocolate company? How would such a model work? Why would West African growers want to participate in such an experiment? Learn the answers to these questions and much more. Join Mark Magers, VP of Sales at Divine Chocolate, for this delightful workshop followed by a Divine taste experience!
Geography, Politics, and Chocolate (4pm)
While eating chocolate is a leisurely pastime for many of us, farming cocoa is anything but. Yochanan Zakai of Green America presents a window into the world of farmers and digs deeper into labor issues in cocoa production. Explore inspiring efforts to improve the lives of cocoa farmers through legislation, litigation, and consumer campaigns labor in cacao. We’ll discuss the Harken Engel Accord, the International Labor Rights Forum’s lawsuit to bring Hershey’s, ADM, and Nestle in line, and Green America’s consumer campaigns to promote Fair Trade chocolate’s expansion in main stream companies.
Kids Parade and Halloween Party (3-5pm)
Candy! Costumes! Games! What could be more fun than celebrating chocolate and Halloween with Fair Trade Seattle in a conscious way? Children and families of all ages are invited to join us for an uproarious hulaballo celebrating the farmers and the land that bring us this most delicious treat. Wear your costume, join the fun today, then take to the streets this Halloween with Reverse Trick or Treating spreading the message of Fair Trade Organic chocolate in your neighborhood! Stay tuned for a costume parade and Fair Trade Jam, as we show off what we’ve learned to the festival!
Family Jam – Fair Trade Style! (4pm)
Let’s play and parade! Making music is as easy as 1, 2, 3 with Jamtown John as your guide. We’ll use fairly traded hand drums and small percussion instruments from around the world and create a song ~ right on the spot ~ that supports the fair trade chocolate message. Then we’ll parade around the festival in grand style! Each family will be invited to contribute to the song and help develop our story. Get ready to rock, roll and march!
Tasting, pairing and story: A Juxtaposition of Wine and Chocolate from a Fair Trade Perspective (5pm)
Enjoy sipping a glass of wine from small family producers in Argentina and comparing notes on tastes of Fair Trade chocolate while listening to an equally refreshing talk on trade relationships in wine and chocolate. Nathan Maas of Detour Wines and Theo Chocolate presents a wine and chocolate pairing that draws parallels between these two commodities and examines Fair Trade in the supply chain of both.
Sunday
Chocolate Spa -Fair Trade Beauty (11:30 – 12:00)
Ever wanted to bathe in chocolate? Feel beautiful inside and out knowing that your premium cocoa-butter lotions and soaps were made with respect out of Fair Trade Organic beans from beautiful Belize. Erin Andrews of Cotton Tree Chocolate launches her new line of cocoa beauty products, IndiChocolate, complete with samples and hands on demos!
Chocolate Social Responsibility and Global Corporate Trade Practices, (A “Spotlight” Series) (11am)
Though you probably think coffee when you hear Starbucks, all those mochas add up! Join Pablo Ramirez – Cocoa Supply Chain monitor for one of the biggest cocoa buyers in the nation, as he presents an engaging talk on Starbucks’ efforts to monitor cocoa in the Ivory Coast. What is an internal auditing system for cocoa trade, and how can it scale up? How does Starbucks make real it’s commitments to treating people fairly in trade?
Mayan New Year Celebration: History of Cacao (12:00)
Cacao’s cultural history is rich and complex. Even the word “cacao” has an intriguing history – it is nahuatl –aztec for “life blood”. From the Olmec’s unlocking of the secret of the seed of cacao pods thousands of years ago, up through the Aztec and Maya cultures of today, Emily Arfin of Ukush Fair Trade Textiles shares the cultural history of cacao, paired with a Celebration of the Mayan New Year Today, 8 B’aatz’ 4 Sak’!
Trade Justice Panel: How can farmers get their fair share? (1-3)
Get ready for new ideas and hot debate as we examine different strategies designed to get cocoa farmers a better share of profits in the cocoa industry. Mark Magers will present Divine Chocolate’s model, in which farmer-shareholders have ownership and sway over this Fair Trade chocolate company. Brett Beach of Madecasse Chocolate presents a tree-to-bar model, where profits rest in local communities in Madagascar. Larry Stolnick compares Taza Chocolate’s approach of direct trade. Economics Professor at University of Puget Sound Matt Warning provides an experienced background to the Trade Justice debate. Not so much going head to head as putting our heads together, we hope to get to the roots of the trade dynamics and let you decide the best way to eat ethical chocolate.
Fair Trade 101 (3pm) What is Fair Trade? How does Fair Trade monitor a supply chain to ensure your chocolate’s kharma is as balanced as its flavor profile? Learn about Fair ‘s impact on people and the environment in chocolate and beyond with speakers Stacie Ford-Bonelle of Fair Trade Seattle, Rick Rhiele of Pangea Organics and Kristin Beifus of Sweatfree Communities.
Fair Trade 201 (4pm) Graduate your understanding of Fair Trade to the next level with Green America Fair Trade Program Advisor Yochi Zakai! Fair Trade brings up many complex issues. While it may not have all the solutions, consumer education is a step in the right direction. Delve in with us into a critical analysis of room for growth. How fair is fair enough? Can Fair Trade undo the injustices a history of colonialism has done to the commodity of cocoa? What is the best way to get farmers their fair share? How do various certification schemes meausure up?
Tasting, pairing and story: A Juxtaposition of Wine and Chocolate from a Fair Trade Perspective (5pm)
Enjoy sipping a glass of wine from small family producers in Argentina and comparing notes on tastes of Fair Trade chocolate while listening to an equally refreshing talk on trade relationships in wine and chocolate. Nathan Maas of Detour Wines and Theo Chocolate presents a wine and chocolate pairing that draws parallels between these two commodities and examines Fair Trade in the supply chain of both.
A Divine Idea: Farmer-owned Fair Trade Chocolate (5pm) What if cocoa farmers owned their very own chocolate company? How would such a model work? Why would West African growers want to participate in such an experiment? Learn the answers to these questions and much more. Join Mark Magers, VP of Sales at Divine Chocolate, for this delightful workshop followed by a Divine taste experience!
Cacao in the Dominican Republic: A Snapshot of Fair Trade farmers (4pm)
Former Dominican Republic Peace Corps director, Christine Ygona, transports us to the world of cocoa farming at CONOCADO, the world’s largest Fair Trade cocoa cooperative. From farming to harvesting, fermenting and drying, exporting and reinvesting funds in community projects, we’ll learn how Fair Trade has affected the lives of farmers in this community. We’ll also learn about a women’s eco-tourism project in the chocolate lands, made possible by Fair Trade.
