American Horror Story: Where Your Chocolate Comes From
The truth is dark and bitter.
Scene 1: A protected forest somewhere in Ivory Coast
“Here, take this, boy. Let’s go, it’s getting late.”
The spray canister of glyphosate stands half as tall as the child. The heat only makes it heavier. The instructions warn that protective equipment must be worn when deploying this herbicide, but they’re in French, and the boy can’t read—he’s never gone to school. Too scared to ask questions, he swings the strap over his shoulder and follows the rest of the men and boys into the jungle. He knows there's trees to burn down and vegetation to spray. He has to make way for cacao trees.
Here in West Africa, in what’s left of the ancient forests of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) and Ghana, this is how the story of your Hershey’s milk chocolate bars, your M&M’s, your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, begins. Children sold into unpaid labor toil on illegal cacao plantations cut into state-protected forest, unable to see their families for years on end. They survive on bananas and cassava. They…