Saturday, September 10, 2011

On slavery, chocolate, underwear and abstinence

Clothing shopping abstinence ended in August and I ackowledged it with a trip to buy new underwear. It was high time too, because during my 12 months of clothing shopping abstinence, most of my underwear got pretty ratty. Every morning when I don a new pair, I so appreciate my ability to buy new things! Now I'm abstaining from chocolate. It has been just over two weeks and it hasn't been that hard. Why chocolate? A curious combination of events. 1. I finished reading Chocolate Wars, which ended with Kraft's takeover of Cadbury. 2. I looked, but couldn't find Cadbury's chocolate in my usual store. 3. Alarmed, I checked in another store. 4. I found the Cadbury chocolate! But it was made in USA by Hershey under license by Cadbury. 5. Same day, I read Cadbury's Dairy Milk bars are now Fair Trade (but what I read was written before the Kraft takeover). 6. Also on same day, I got an email askingvmevto sign a petition to protest against Hershey using forced labor from immigrants. I sent inquiries to Cadbury and Kraft to ask if the chocolate I buy in the US is slavery free. I don't have answers yet. So -- no chocolate till I find out. I'm pretty sure fair trade, organic chocolate is slavery free. But what about the chocolate in chocolate chips? Ice cream? Mocha drinks? Oreos? Peace Y'all Molly

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