Where does Nestle take Fairtrade?

Posted by Sophi:

While the world powers battle it out in Copenhagen over who should commit what to combating climate change, the poorer countries yet again are objecting to being both unequally affected, and unfairly pressed to reduce their carbon footprint.  A subtext to this summit, as with all other world summits these days is – is it Governments or global business with the most power and capability to make real change happen?

In the Fairtrade world, the power of global business to effect change is currently back in the spotlight too, with the announcement that Nestle is to be awarded the license to carry the Fairtrade Mark on its four-finger KitKat  bars.

While everyone welcomes the increase in income promised to smallscale cocoa farmers and sugar farmers, even those who are deeply committed to fairer trade are conflicted over this development – see Rob Greenland’s  blog , but many, such as Michael Niemann and Joe Turner  are concerned about where these global companies will take Fairtrade.  Fairtrade London is hosting a debate about it too.

We see Fairtrade as part of a bigger movement to fundamentally change the way business is done, shifting money and decision-making into the hands of the many, and out of the hands of the few. Activists have worked hard to see that happen, and consumers deserve to see real commitment, and not lip service to fairer trade and better business practice.

Divine goes to the Panto!

Evelyn Greedly tucks into Divine before making mischief in Jack and the Beanstalk

Divine supported the first night of  Christmas panto  ’Jack and the Beanstalk’ at the Lyric Hammersmith – and Sophi and I went along with our families to watch the show.  The familiar story of a poor boy whose poverty and desperation is exploited by a wicked schemer who gives him a poor price for his most valuable asset….. had a strange resonance for us!

It was a great show – with the very special innovation that the real star of the cast was the cow  – being played by a Spanish bull in drag!  Some great performances, lots of in-jokes about Hammersmith, singing and dancing, plus plenty of hissing and booing and ‘he’s behind you!’ to satisfy an audience of all ages. 

Jack would have traded his cow for a few Divine bars!

Also great to see the Lyric going ahead with its ambitious expansion plans to enable it to offer a full range of services and courses to the local community.

Jill does a great Beyonce impersonation - fuelled by Divine!

The Dame and her admirer Plug

Celebrating Social Enterprise Day at No.10

Post from Sophi, direct from Downing St!

At lunchtime today Downing Street was crammed full with Social Entrepreneurs – a fitting way to celebrate Social Enterprise Day and all that Social Enterprise does every day of the year. Gordon Brown made a lovely speech. He thanked Jonathan Bland the departing CEO and founder for Social Enterprise Coalition, Campbell Rob the Director General of the Cabinet Office who is off to become the CEO of Shelter, and he thanked all the guests from social enterprises for the impact that they make on peoples lives and the communities around the UK and across the world. Tessa Jowell spoke and Angela Smith gave out awards, for the Best English Social Enterprise, and a newcomer and three school were also selected. You will be able to vote on line for the best school and the Best Social Enterprise in the UK at Social Enterprise Awards.

The Social Enterprise Ambassadors turned out in force and Sunlight Trust did us proud with fantastic canapés, delightful micro shepherds pies, fish and chips, beef with Yorkshire pudding, the piece de resistance was of course the double chocolate pots which were simply Divine ….

MasterChef and the chocolate challenge

Gregg Wallace, John Torode, Andi Peters try the winners dish

Divine was the chocolate of choice at MasterChef LIVE at the Invention Test at London’s Olympia last weekend so we just had to go along and take a look. Fans of BBCs MasterChef will know the Invention Test only too well. Contestants are presented with a tray of ingredients and given 30 minutes to create a tempting dish to impress the stars including Terry Wogan, Nadia Sawalha and Andi Peters – all in front of a live audience! One of the chosen ingredients was our 70% Dark Chocolate which is great in cooking because of its rich, intense flavour. The best three dishes were judged by MasterChef presenters John Torode and Gregg Wallace who were a lot of fun on stage. The contestants created some ambitious dishes, one contestant created a prawn risotto in the half an hour time limit which I thought was pretty impressive.

Dan and James, two contestants

The chocolate was used in lots of creative ways, savoury dishes, sauces and of course in desserts and puddings. The whole event looked pretty nerve racking, I know I wouldn’t have wanted to be up there. Andi Peters was telling us that your mind just goes blank when you see the ingredients. There were some disasters, some burnt apricots with pork and some over cooked rice in another but it all looked great fun. I said hello to the lovely Gregg Wallace at the end who is one of our favourite TV stars and who is partial to a piece of Divine.

Follow Gregg Wallace, Andi Peters and Divine Chocolate on Twitter

Watch John and Gregg talk about MasterChef Live

Experience MasterChef Live

Divine at The Spirit of Christmas fair

Divine is exhibiting at The Spirit of Christmas fair at Kensington Olympia until Sunday.  Run in association with House & Garden magazine this hugely popular event attracts shoppers in their thousands.  Laura and I were manning the stall yesterday and had a great day chatting to chocolate lovers at the show.   It’s incredible to see so many people being so organised about their Christmas gift buying already!  We were really thrilled that so many visitors had tried our bars when they bought Marie Claire magazine last month as well as trying out our fantastic recipe for Rich French Torte that was featured in Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine last month.  We sampled Divine’s newest flavour, Dark Chocolate with Raspberries and if our sales of that flavour are anything to go by, it’s a winning flavour!  You’ll find this zesty bar at Waitrose and Ocado if you’re not able to attend the fair. 

Come and get yourself in the Christmas mood at Spirit – there are literally hundreds of stands selling everything gift idea you could possibly imagine.  Click here for details: http://www.spiritofchristmasfair.co.uk/

You’ll find Divine upstairs in the food area on stand FD52.  Come and say hello, sample some of our fabulous flavours, and take a little chocolate respite from the crowds downstairs.

Spending time on Comfort’s farm

I travelled to Ghana last week for meetings with Kuapa Kokoo (we’re working on more synergy between our Ghana, UK and USA communications, and I had an update on the workshops Kuapa has been running on climate change). I was also meeting up with Comfort Kumeah, the Chair of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Trust, at her village an hour or so west of Kumasi.  There will be many people both in UK and USA that will remember meeting Comfort – as she’s become a well-travelled ambassador for Kuapa Kokoo and Divine, and has shared all her learning about the chocolate market and attitudes to ethical shopping with her colleagues and community back in Ghana.

Adim Mensah, President of his local Kuapa Kokoo society, in his funeral robes

There was a big funeral and a big wedding going on in the village on the same day so everyone was dressed up – either in black for the funeral, or in the Sunday best for the wedding.  Funerals are a very big deal in Ghana – with people all but bankrupting themselves to buy a good coffin, put on a really good ceremony, and invite the whole community.

Within minutes of arriving all the kids in the village were excitedly drawing us pictures of what they had been doing at school – lots of detailed diagrams of plants (particularly cocoa trees) with all their parts clearly labelled. 

The walk to Comfort's farm

We spent most of the day on Comfort’s farm which was about a mile and a half’s walk out of the village. We’d had to wait till Saturday to go as there is a taboo preventing women crossing the stream between the village and her farm on Fridays. It was beautiful walk and we were glad of the wellies we’d been given – at the bottom of the valley it was pretty muddy – there’s been some heavy downpours recently.

The palm nut crusher bought with Fairtrade premiums

Comfort's cocoa farm

We walked around the farm – with Comfort pointing out the boundaries, marked by evergreen bushes, and sometimes with pineapples.  The harvest is well and truly underway, with the first batch of ripe pods already mostly picked – and the next wave starting to turn yellow now.  Nicholas pointed out how there was a particular good distribution of tall rainforest trees across Comfort’s farm – giving the right amount of shade and protection above the cocoa trees.

Cassava, plantain and a machete

We had chicken, tilapia, plantain and jollof rice for lunch with some very good spicey sauces. Comfort showed us some ’sweet apples’ – some very nobbly fruits about the size of a small melon – I’ve tried to look it up since I got home but haven’t found it yet.  For afters we handed out bars and gold coins of Divine for everyone.

We left with everyone preparing for the evening’s parties – and were sent off with all the drawings the children had done.

Back in Accra, waiting for our flight home, we saw a glimpse of a different slice of Ghanaian life – a cosmopolitan group of young Ghanaian students, Lebanese business men, NGO representatives and diplomats’ wives and families – all enjoying a day off on Sunday round a swimming pool.

Baking with Bertinet

The Bertinet kitchen is an impressive cookery school set in Bath. I signed up for the pastry masterclass and although a great food lover and sometimes cook I immediately felt overwhelmed by the sleek glossy interiors and pristine staff.

As everyone chatted nervously over coffee it soon became clear that I was the least skilled of the group but we all shared the same passion and enthusiasm for good food, luckily the course is designed for all levels.

Within minutes Richard’s sense of humour and Gallic charm had put us at ease and even my butter fingers were sifting the finest flour. We were learning from scratch to knead and roll the pastry, stopping along the way to chat excitedly and taste the raw dough. As the smell of the baking wafted through the air we all relaxed and started to have fun.

The course is designed to be very hands on with practical help and advice combined with lots and lots of tasting. We were constantly dipping our fingers into the creams and comparing textures, scoffing all the mince pies before they could cool and cooing over the most delicious Divine hot chocolate.

The day ended with everything out of the oven and then the whole group sitting down to lunch. We proudly examined our hard work before sampling with a couple of bottles of wine. The quiche and pies were amazing, the Divine chocolate tarts were fabulous and the choux pastry swans were so elegant sitting to attention on the cake stand.

For both foodies and novices like me this course has something to offer. I left having had lots of fun and feeling truly inspired, I even bought a rolling pin on the way home!

Written by guest blogger Jane Boyd

Anthony Horowitz on: The Divine Poetry Competition

Anthony Horowitz

Top children’s author Anthony Horowitz talks about being a judge in this year’s Divine Poetry Competition on his blog yesterday.  He says, “It was my friend, Anne Fine, who introduced me to the competition and I have to say I do absolutely love the chocolate” – glad you like it Anthony!  (Divine followers will know that Anne Fine was the judge last year).  He also says, “You have to write a poem (which can be rude, funny, sad, serious, whatever) called “If I owned a chocolate company” and the winners will receive large quantities of chocolate, book tokens and a recording of the poem by me. Since I have a stammer and a lisp, this may not be the best part of it, but I’d say otherwise it’s definitely worth a go”.  Read the full post here.

Anthony Horowitz is famous for his cult children’s series Alex Rider which has sold millions of copies worldwide.  His latest book, Crocodile Tears, is due out next month.  Perhaps less well known, Anthony is also responsible for creating television smashit series including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War.

Divine runs the Poetry Competition in partnership with Christian Aid.  You can download a poster and a leaflet here which gives all the info you’ll need about the theme this year and instructions on how to enter.  It’s open to all ages and there are some great chocolate prizes up for grabs (as well as book tokens) so get those poetic juices flowing – closing date 21st December.   Good luck!

Comedians loving Divine

We were delighted to see the cast of the fantastic play Comedians by Trevor Griffith celebrating Chocolate Week in style by chomping on Divine!

Described as a “stunning performace” by the Guardian, the play is showing until 14th November at the Lyric Theatre.

Matthew Kelly

Mark Benton

Reece Shearsmith

Michael Dylan

Sam Stern’s Chocolate Orange Recipe

posted by Sam Stern

My self-catering flat at Uni is pretty small and basic. But every Tuesday, 12 or so mates come round for a slap-up dinner. Everyone chips in a couple of quid and we cook together. So far, we’ve had a couple of big roasts with all the trimmings, chicken curry, homemade burgers.  We’re usually eating late so pudding’s not the priority but there’s always chocolate.  To celebrate Chocolate Week, we’ll be making Chocolate Satsumas this week. They’re easy to shop for – take your choice of Divine 70% dark or milk chocolate bars and get hold of some lovely sharp tasting new season satsumas.

Here’s what to do.

1. Buy one good Satsuma (or seedless Clementine) for each person expected.
2. Peel.  Try to get as much of the bitter white pith off as you can but don’t go mad.
3. Put a saucepan of water on to boil then reduce to a very gentle simmer ie the water is just about moving.
4. Sit a bowl into the top of the pan. Don’t let it touch the water.
5. Break up a load of Divine 70% Dark Chocolate and drop it into the bowl.  Judge how much you’ll need by making one for yourself ahead of the event.
6. Let it melt very slowly without stirring.  Once it looks soft and malleable, take it off the bowl. Stir till creamy.
7. Dunk one fruit at a time into the melted chocolate and turn to it’s coated. Maybe use a couple of large spoons.
8. Sit the fruit on greaseproof paper/non-stick baking tray/foil, to set in a cool place.  Special occasion? Melt a bit of white chocolate as above to decorate/write messages.

Awesome.