In the Honors Seminar, Chocolate and Power, we discussed many topics, and learned through videos, powerpoints, websites, and interactive opportunities. These topics surrounded the beginnings of cacao and chocolate in Mesoamerica, the European colonization of Mesoamerica and the subsequent transportation of cacao to Europe, the differences in the ways cacao was consumed, past and current ethical issues, and the way chocolate influences life all around the world today. We were also able to visit Krohn Conservatory and Maverick Chocolate Bean to Bar Chocolate Factory, where we learned about the cacao plant and a fair trade, artisan chocolate company. From this experience, I learned about chocolate’s long, interesting, and complicated history as well as its many ethical issues in our current day society. I learned that most mainstream chocolate brands use forced and child labor, with unfair wages, to farm in ways that also harm the environment. This experience was extremely impactful for me, as I now know more about chocolate than ever before. I feel confident in my knowledge of the history and current issues and feel compelled to promote fair trade chocolate brands, instead of mainstream companies. This experience helped to shape my view of the world to be more critical of large corporations and advocate for change.

For part of our Honors Seminar experience, we were able to visit a few different areas of Cincinnati to learn about chocolate and cacao. One of the places we went was Maverick Chocolate Bean to Bar Chocolate Factory. This was an amazing learning experience, as we got to see every step that goes into fair trade and artisan chocolate. We saw the raw cacao beans, the roaster, the machine that shells and grinds the nibs, the machine that makes the ground beans into liquid chocolate, the tempering and molds, and finally the finished product. This whole process takes over six weeks. It was amazing to witness all of these steps and know that what is on the shelves is high quality chocolate. I chose this sample to highlight, because I am a huge chocolate fan, and being able to see where good chocolate comes from was an extremely interesting experience. I am beyond grateful we were able to visit here and tour the factory.