My argument is less around how great vanilla is but focusing on how bad Chocolate is. Vanilla farming although it may have some criminal shenanigans unrelated to the farmers themselves is relatively harmless, on the other hand, Cocoa bean farming is riddled with trouble. Cocoa farming for one thing is a heavy contributor to environmental disaster due to forests in the Amazon being burned to make room for its cultivation. Like humans, trees store extra resources for later use in case of famine, but in their case instead of fat it is carbon. When a tree is burned that carbon is released into the atmosphere causing it to heat up contributing to climate change. Besides Cocoa farmer’s disastrous expansion practices farming in Africa is fueled by child slavery. In the twenty-first century, you would think we would have completely abolished the establishment of slavery, however, in 2017 the count of child slaves employed at cocoa farms was over 2.1 million in Ghana alone. While I may enjoy this sweet rich treat, its manufacturing and the expansion of its industry are leading to the suffering of many for one’s gain.
