Divine Board hears about new Kuapa constitution

Posted by Sophi:

While people in Britain continued to contemplate the length and depth of this year’s winter and when it will ever finish, the Divine Directors escaped to the sun, making the annual pilgrimage to Ghana for our board meeting. I have been making this journey for eleven years. Pauline Tiffen, the Director who helped Kuapa Kokoo set up, has been going there even longer, and now we have people travelling from USA and Holland too.

The Divine US Board meeting in Ghana

I sit on a number of boards and getting people to know and trust each other is always a challenge, involving planning days, and retreats etc. But with Divine we have all been making the trip to Ghana to meet with the farmers that own 45% of the company and see their challenges close up. In the process we have also had a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other, once you have shared the experience of changing planes in Amsterdam at 4.30 am you have nothing to hide!

The farmers have had a difficult autumn but seem to have come through with renewed vigour. At their AGM last year they passed a Constitution, the result of a good consultative process. As this year is an election year they are working hard to embed it at a local and district level. They have created an A3 flip chart to use in villages, with illustrations to explain how the new constitution will work for them. There will be much more going on at a District level rather then at National Executive. This should really help to build Kuapa both as a democratic farmers’ organisation and as a cocoa buying company. The flip chart was another lovely example of Kuapa really appreciating that everyone needs to understand and be able to join in the new constitution.

Both the USA and UK Board meetings went well, chaired by Sandy Balfour in his inimitable way, lots of good discussions on future plans, with no distractions. Kuapa took us all out for a Chinese meal – we all sat at a huge round table with a lazy susan, enjoying the company, the spicy food and the G&Ts.

Divine’s board is really representative of what makes Divine special, made up of talented busy people who generously give their time for the bigger vision, a world where the producers have a real say and a share of the wealth they are creating. They represent organisations: Twin, Christian Aid, Comic Relief, Oikocredit and Lutheran World Relief who have worked for far longer to create a more equitable trading system based on respect and dignity. We talked into the night, putting the world to rights. After two days of meeting, thousands of miles of travel and much food for thought, we began our trips home, grateful for the opportunity to have been part of something so significant.

Cadbury sells to Kraft – very different reasons to be sad

Peter Cumming, head of equities at Standard Life, is today quoted as saying “…It is sad that Cadbury is gone, but business is business.” There are lots of people who feel sad – but for very different reasons…

Some are sad that a company with all this British heritage has been ‘lost’ to the Americans. And it’s sad that all that philanthropic heritage was brought out of the archive and dusted off to leverage the deal, and keep those share values going up and up (a brand message strangely at odds with drumming gorillas and dancing eyebrows). Sad for the employees now fearing for their jobs. And the investors are sad the selling price didn’t go higher..

Sad to see a few people getting very very wealthy – having talked movingly about the need to ensure a better deal for very poor cocoa farmers. At the end of the day, sad that despite the heralded move of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk to Fairtrade – nothing has really changed. It’s global business as usual – just as inequitable as it’s always been – with money-making and decision-making in the hands of the very very few.

London plans for Fairtrade Fortnight

posted by Sophi

Despite the inclement weather, people from all across London met last night in City Hall to share their plans for Fairtrade Fortnight 2010, themed The Big Swap. Lots of lovely resources, posters , leaflets and cute stickers are available from the Fairtrade Foundation . The focus this year is on trying to get the big tea companies to swap to Fairtrade . Traidcraft has got together with the Women’s Institute to create a natty campaign pack called ‘The Big Brew’ . 

Everything stops for Fairtrade tea - and Sam Stern's Divine chocolate fridge cake!

Cafédirect and Divine both have sampling packs you can request if you want to run your own event, and delicious recipes you can download, for the perfect Fairtrade tea party. 

A wonderful range of events are being organised, from Mad Hatter’s Tea parties to Strictly Fairtrade Dances, events in shops, libraries, cafes and churches , and an impressive range of events for children, schools and teachers, something for everyone. We also had a session on our fabulous new website so that everyone can now confidently blog about what is going on in their area.

If you want to know more about what is happening in your borough , or you want to set up an event go to www.fairtradelondon.org.uk

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