Life by chocolate: an organic Valentine's countdown

Dark chocolate is the new red wine. It often leads to sex, plus it's loaded with antioxidants that keep you kicking. Sadly, unless you shop carefully, you might get cocoa that's picked by child slaves or full of pesticides.

Happily, gourmet chocolates with a conscience are getting easier to find; even Hershey's and  Cadbury are finally getting in on the game. I try to support the smaller brands, whose expertise in crafting shade-grown, slave-free, organic chocolates is in high demand lately.

So where do you find the best guilt-free-but-sinful stuff? Over these next two weeks leading to V-Day, I'll be tasting and rating some of the world's greatest organic, fair trade, sexual chocolates. In the end, I'll pick a favorite and make an obsessive comparison chart.

But first, please be aware of such hardship: I bought a stack of rich, dark chocolate bars (above) at a local organic food co-op this weekend. But after I innocently snapped a picture of the rack of chocolates for this blog, a store employee demanded that I erase the photo. Despite feeling humiliated after spending $80 on chocolate, I played nice, but it was tricky to erase the picture because my camera is set to Spanish. This woman took the camera from me and also fumbled, but her friend finally did the deed. What, did she think I was going to steal corporate secrets from the co-op? As if Whole Foods doesn't already know what they've been up to for decades.

"I'm sorry, but don't you think that's going a little too far?" I asked employee #1. "It's okay," she said, as if I were apologizing.

Instead of getting good PR in the blogosphere for its stock of chocolates, our vegetarian, employee-run, San Francisco grocery store shall remain unnamed. When I got to the car and described the ordeal to Miguel, he walked up to their window and took this forbidden, Weegee-style shot.

Coming next: chocolate test results, day #1.

Comments

[phoenix copier repair]

This is one way to save our environment.

[elsa]

thanks for the reassurance...yeah, I sorta understand if stores don't want photos taken, and perhaps I made a faux pas and am being reactionary. Still, it's not like great secrets of national security are stocked on their shelves. And the store could have been more chill about the whole thing.

The two people who monkeyed with my camera made me feel unwelcome and made the store look unfriendly, even if they're the only two turkeys there. In the name of good PR, they get lame PR. All the world's PR minders are annoying enough when you're trying to get information out of any company or govt. organization, but I didn't expect the lockdown at a chunky-granola coop! ok, maybe I'm being silly too...blah blah

[Maya]

Sorry to hear that...that's definitely stupid of them. I just got a NO for an answer too when I asked (before taking pictures) if I could take a few pictures in this used/recycled cloth shop I just found in Antibes...I got a pix of the front entrance with no problem..but not inside because the woman wasn't feeling confident about her stuffs...they were not worth my visit for sure, all used GI uniforms etc. mostly...:-P wouldn't wear it for the world. But I'll show the pix later in my blog post to recommend not to go there :-)

[jessamay]

how silly that the employee asked you erase the photo!!! for what????? i am laughing outloud because most likely the companies would be thrilled at the idea that you are taking photographs of their products and distributing them. it is like you are doing free marketing FOR THEM!!! Silly employee, tricks are for kids.