Unfortunately, most modern chocolate products are mass produced and highly refined. Luckily, the demand for high-quality, ethically-grown, pure cacao is steadily rising.

The world of mass chocolate production is ethically unsound. With large chocolate companies claiming they don’t have the budget to pay more for the cacao they use — while their CEO’s make millions — many traditional cacao farmers struggle to work and live, so cacao farming and harvesting commonly turns to low-wage labor, slave labor, and child trafficking.

This has initiated grassroots efforts to get large chocolate companies to reconsider how they source cacao. Appeals for more fair trade chocolate, which is chocolate made in a sustainable and ethical way, have also skyrocketed.

Environmentally unsustainable cultivation systems, including the use of pesticides, toxins, and the practice of monocropping, also have the Earth suffering from mass production.

Nothing is more important than knowing where our cacao comes from, because:

• The food we eat holds energy, which in turn becomes a part of us, contributing to our fundamental health. Beyond the actual scientific nutrients, the food we eat is vibration and energy.
• If our cacao was grown inhumanely, or if humans were treated poorly during its cultivation, this energy becomes a part of our cells and our energy body.

How can we remedy this unethical system and improve the lives and livelihoods of cacao farmers? While there is no simple answer to this systemic problem, it begins by us truly honouring chocolate and its miraculous, magical transformation from blossom to bar — and being willing to pay for the efforts of ethical farmers who make it possible.

And with consciousness and awareness about our food sources growing, humanity is headed in the right direction.