Bittersweet: The Dark Side of the Chocolate Industry

Programs Exhibitions Donate Shop FEATURED PROGRAM: BITTERSWEET: The Dark Side of the Chocolate Industry   Tuesday, November 8 6:00-7:30pm ET In person at the Makers' Studio in Chelsea Market   Behind the sweet taste of chocolate exists a bitter reality: a long history of child trafficking and labor issues driven by the Big Chocolate industry that, despite decades of promises from the industry, continues to grow. On November 8th, MOFAD will be at the Makers' Studio in Chelsea Market for an evening with Terrence Collingsworth, founder and Executive Director of the International Rights Advocates and journalist Simran Sethi, a former visiting fellow at the University of West Indies' Cocoa Research Centre and the author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, named best food book of the year by Smithsonian.   We'll hear Collingsworth speak about his work on the front lines defending international human rights cases against major chocolate companies and watch a clip from The Chocolate War, a 2022 documentary that illuminates Collingsworth's fight against the problematic aspects of the chocolate industry. We'll finish the evening on a sweet note with Sethi leading a tasting of three chocolate bars from Askinosie, a Missouri-based company committed to direct-trade and ethical business practices. Askinosie was named "The best chocolate in the United States" by Food & Wine, and was an amicus party to Collingsworth's Supreme Court case.   Tickets include the cost of three bars of chocolate from Askinosie and a beverage. PURCHASE TICKETS UPCOMING PROGRAMS THIS WEEK!! SUNDAY BEST: Cuisine, Clothing , & Family Bonds Wednesday, October 26  7:00-8:00pm ET Online   To chef and cookbook author, Adrienne Cheatham, Sunday Best is a way to approach everyday of the week, bringing that love and inspiration from family experiences in Chicago and annual family trips to Mississippi.   Join this virtual conversation between Adrienne and James Beard Award-winning writer, editorial consultant, and producer Osayi Endolyn, whose storytelling explores the nexus of food culture, identity, music, and art. Copies of Sunday Best by Adrienne Cheatham are available for purchase with tickets from our partners BEM | books & more.   GET TICKETS It's not a Puerto Rican Cookbook with Illyanna Maisonet and Eric Kim Thursday, November 3 7:00-8:15pm ET In person at The Greene Space w/virtual option What can you expect to see in a cookbook from the country's first Puerto Rican food columnist? Not just Puerto Rican food. In Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook Illyanna Maisonet writes, "This book is for the Diasporicans— the 5.5 million people living Stateside who continue to cook the food of our homeland. This is for the tribe of Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá ("not from here, not from there.")   Join us at The Greene Space where Illyanna Maisonet, will be in conversation with New York Times staff writer Eric Kim to talk about her cultural and gastronomic experiences being born and raised in Northern California by a single mother and grandmother born in Puerto Rico.    Your in-person ticket includes a tasting of Puerto Rican food by Que Chevere. GET TICKETS What We're Consuming According to Food52 and its authors, Ghetto Gastro's 'Black Power Kitchen' is a culinary manifesto.   From Curbed, a look at how how thousands of restaurants speedily, messily, and probably permanently took over the streets.   What's in a (food) name? From oat milk to vegan burgers, plant-based dairy and meat products are gaining traction—and sparking debate over their names, reports Modern Farmer.   The late great Chef Fatima Ali's legacy lives on in a new posthumous memoir (Bon Appetit).   Priya Krishna for the New York Times takes readers to five mithai shops across the United States as they prepare for Diwali.    For TASTE, Rachel Wharton shares an interview with Illyanna Maisonet, author of Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook. MOFAD is excited to host Illyanna at The Greene Space conversation with Eric Kim. Get your tickets here!