

African cocoa farmers taste chocolate for the first time - bennettfeely
http://twentytwowords.com/african-cocoa-farmers-taste-chocolate-for-the-first-time-now-they-understand-white-people/

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colanderman
?? I enjoyed the video, but…

Basic chocolate is _very_ easy to make (albeit time-consuming to make in
quantity). They already have dried fermented beans. The remaining steps are
merely to roast the beans (this can be done in a metal pan over an open
flame), to hull and grind the beans (this can be done by hand with two rocks),
and to add something sweet (I see two suitable items in the film, bananas and
the pulp of the cacao pod itself).

The conclusion I am forced to draw is that these farmers do not eat chocolate
not because it is expensive (which it is – to import); but because they do not
know how to prepare it (or, it seems, know that it exists). I bet you could
get similar reactions from American farmhands on a farm that grows chickpeas
destined for hummus.

Am I missing something?

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cypherpnks
This video has been making the rounds. I call bullsh*t.

1\. People aren't idiots. We get the idea that poor people tend to be dumb in
the US because, in many cases, it's true. If you have intelligence, work
ethic, and grit, in the US, you'll get out of poverty. If you lack those,
you'll get into poverty. As you move into the developing world, everyone from
some settings is poor. The number of smart, ambitious, curious, hard-working
people is quite high.

2\. Chocolate in Africa is not 2 EU. Food there is cheap. That includes
chocolate.

Background: I spent a lot of time in the developing world, including several
ECOWAS countries (same part of the world).

