Friday, November 28, 2003


weep for your chocolate; more on pros & yoga

yes my friends: weep for your european chocolate. in the past those of us in north america could confidently rely on the quality of most european chocolate.

we knew that due to strict national laws, most european chocolates would be high-quality, pure chocolate, with little or no lecithin or vegetable oils, and only real vanilla, real sugar. it would have to contain an accurate percentage of its chocolate amount.

but multi-nationals have lobbied the bureaucrats in the e.u. and a new standard takes effect that significantly lowers the quality of what now can be called and sold as chocolate in europe. as a result, consumers are going to have to scan european chocolate labels with more care.

the once-fine european chocolate we consumers have prized now could be filled with soybean oil, not real cocoa butter, and wonderful substances like the new c*spraydex, an "enzymatic conversion of starch" used to replace pure cane sugar.

thanks, cargill. it's what we really needed around here. not.

we all know that the e.u. bureaucracy is filled with corruption, fraud, and abuse. it makes me cynically wonder what elaborate quid pro quo, if any, went down to help this new regulation along. . .lord knows the spanish and italians did everything they could to stop it, first trying to ban the sale of these inferior "chocolates" and then battling in the e.u. court.

i think what this means is that in the short-term, these lower-quality "choco-products" flood the market at low prices, forcing those manufacturers who really would rather maintain quality to compete on price, and thus cut corners. we will pay inflated euro-import prices for reduced-quality products here in north america.

in the long-run, it will hopefully create a greater market here in north america for local artisan chocolatiers who maintain quality and insist on using real chocolate. assuming they can get their hands on it. . .but these products will be expensive!

in happier news, more pro sports figures are discovering the benefits of yoga. . .

posted by fortune | 9:06 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments