Entry: Steve Genzoli, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
The trip to Ghana with my fellow delegates was an experience I won’t soon forget. While I thought I was prepared for the sights, sounds and climate we would experience, I was completely caught off guard by the emotions that I experienced. Having worked in the chocolate industry my entire career, I failed to appreciate the tremendous amount of work exerted by the farmer and the conditions in which he and his family live. Because of their hard work, I am able to work in an industry I fully enjoy.
I have always appreciated the importance of cocoa bean flavor, but that is where my appreciation stopped. Having spent six days traveling throughout Ghana, watching farmers plant cocoa trees, cultivating the soil with nothing more than a machete, turning a heap of fermenting cocoa beans with their hands, and watching them fully engulfed in learning during a Farmer Field School, I can’t help but feel guilty that in the past I took their efforts for granted. I will never look at a cocoa bean again without those images flashing through my mind.
In the end, I am proud that my company supports the World Cocoa Foundation. Having seen several programs with my own eyes, having spoken directly with farmers, school children and women who were making soap, I am convinced that these programs are making a difference. Though progress is never fast enough for those of us who live in more developed countries, progress is being made and we must continue and expand our support.
Photo: Steve Genzoli of Ghirardelli and Melane Rose Boyce of the National Confectioners Association