Bitter Chocolate by Carol Off
Hailed in hardcover as compelling (Kirkus Reviews) and an astonishing and] wrenching story (The London Free Press), Bitter Chocolate is an eye-opening look at one of our most beloved consumer products. Tracing the fascinating origins and evolution of chocolate from the banquet tables of Montezuma's Aztec court in the early sixteenth century to the bustling factories of Hershey, Cadbury, and Mars today, investigative journalist Carol Off shows that slavery and injustice have always been key ingredients. The heart of the book takes place in West Africa inside the Ivory Coast--the world's leading producer of cocoa beans--where profits from the multibillion-dollar chocolate industry fuel bloody civil war and widespread corruption. Faced with pressure from a crushing cocoa cartel demanding more beans for less money, poor farmers have turned to the cheapest labor pool possible: thousands of indentured children who pick the beans but have never themselves known the taste of chocolate. An astounding eye-opener that takes no prisoners (Quill & Quire), Bitter Chocolate is an absorbing social history, a passionate investigative account, and a shocking and urgent expos of an industry that continues even now to institutionalize misery as it indulges our whims.
Carol Off has travelled and reported on many of the world's conflicts from the Gulf War to the fall of Yugoslavia. She has won numerous awards for her television and radio coverage of such stories as the plight of women refugees, the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia and the escape routes of war criminals. Off has followed the events of the war crimes tribunals since the beginning. She lives and works in Toronto.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781595583307 |
| ISBN 10 | 1595583300 |
| Title | Bitter Chocolate |
| Author | Carol Off |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | New Press |
| Year published | 2008-04-01 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |