Some might think that an organization like Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) would be applauding the creation of lab-grown chocolate as it would not only be better for the environment but also would not (as far as we know) involve enslaved adults or children. Since its inception 18 years ago, F.E.P. has worked to inform people about the atrocities taking place in the chocolate industry. It led us to create our Chocolate List and free app to help consumers who want to eat their ethics and not support slavery or child labor. And, of course, because F.E.P. is a vegan organization, each company on the list has to make at least one vegan chocolate.
When I look at lab-grown chocolate as being a “solution,” I find it really heartbreaking for so many reasons.
For starters, that means companies are putting time, money, and other resources into a test tube solution instead of a human one. Instead of giving the farmers a living income and tools they need to succeed and treat them with the dignity they deserve, companies look to science to solve this injustice.
Instead of working toward a way to grow cacao that is in harmony with nature, they go to the laboratory.
Of course, the reality is if this succeeds, it will cost the livelihoods of the farmers who have harvested cacao for decades—especially in Western Africa, where the majority of cacao comes from—as well as Latin American farmers, who have been doing it for thousands of years.
This is a bypass from learning, growing, and protecting workers and the land. This isn’t a solution; it’s a cop out rather than doing the right thing.
As always, the responsibility of this short-sightedness lies with the corporations, as they will always be more interested in pleasing their shareholders than being good caretakers of the Earth or benevolent toward those they share the planet with.
Where are the scientists who are working to create kindness and empathy in a lab?
