Last year, in the months preceding Christmas, several fashion brands introduced special editions of panettone, the traditional Italian Christmas cake.
The Easter holiday is shorter compared to Christmas, and many opt for vacations in other countries, implying fewer lunches and dinners with family and friends, events that may require a large cake that can be shared, so only Dolce & Gabbana continued the trend of the designer cake.
Aside from panettone for Christmas, D&G have a licence with Fiasconaro for a colomba (dove), the traditional Italian delicacy for Easter. Mainly coated in sugar and almonds, D&G's version is covered in chocolate and contains cream filling. Extravagance is the norm for modern panettone/colomba cakes, so you often find them in the most exotic flavors, enveloped in layers upon layers of creams to enhance its appeal.
But someone else outdid themselves in luxury this Easter - Prada-owned Milan-based Marchesi pastry shop. Known for its steep prices, Marchesi's Easter eggs and colomba cakes seem as costly (and kitsch) as a Fabergé egg.
Adorned with tiny sugar flowers or intricate basket-like woven patterns, these confections in Willy Wonka style range from €600 to €1,300 (there are actually cheaper options starting from €90), ending up being pricier than your monthly rent or mortgage.
Who knows, perhaps consuming them will grant you extraordinary powers; perhaps a taste of this colomba or chocolate egg will instantly lift you from the deepest pit of depression you've been in for ages now; maybe they are more potent than drugs. Hmm, maybe I should get one.
Yes, I know what you're saying, "That's Haute Pâtisserie, just like Haute Couture and that's not for mere mortals." You're absolutely correct: just like there are individuals who cannot afford designer clothing, there are also those ones (me included) who cannot afford these cakes and chocolate eggs.
In many ways this is a banal truism - most people can only purchase inexpensive clothing, ranging from second-hand to ultra-fast fashion; likewise, food-wise, some of us can purchase gourmet delicacies, while others settle for an average supermarket chocolate egg if they're fortunate enough.
However, Marchesi's eggs may be hinting at a future trend, a dystopian world in which chocolates are too expensive for most of us.
The world has an insatiable appetite for chocolate, but cocoa, the vital ingredient of chocolate, sourced from the seed of the cacao tree, is facing challenges.
In 2023, a study revealed that forests in Ivory Coast and Ghana were cleared to make room for cocoa plantations (despite originating from South America, the cacao tree is predominantly cultivated in Africa).
However, while Africa is losing its forests to cocoa production, another issue arises: human-induced global warming has elevated temperatures, affecting West Africa, the world’s largest cocoa exporter.
On a global scale, February 2024 witnessed the highest temperatures ever recorded. Rising carbon emissions and the resurgence of the El Niño phenomenon have contributed to these elevated temperatures. The heat has affected the crops, which were already damaged by extreme rainfall in December. This situation has been further worsened by disease outbreaks and inadequate investment in aging plantations (many small farmers are struggling to afford to replace ageing trees and buy fertilisers, the latter also registered an increase in prices). Consequently, cocoa prices surged.
In February, farmers in Ivory Coast voiced concerns over the damaging effects of high temperatures and insufficient rainfall on their crops. By March, Reuters reported that major cocoa processing plants in both Ivory Coast and Ghana had either halted or scaled back operations due to an inability to afford purchasing beans.
The price of cocoa beans in the meantime soared to unprecedented levels, surging from nearly $6,000 per ton in February to over $8,000 per ton in March, and surpassing $10,000 per ton during the week leading up to Easter. (prices are more than three times higher than those in March 2020). This places cocoa beans at a higher value than several precious metals and demonstrates a growth rate surpassing that of bitcoin.
Consequently, chocolate product prices across various companies went up (Cadbury's festive chocolates experienced a more than 50% increase in price from Christmas 2022 to 2023, attributed to the surge in cocoa costs). So, it is plausible that we may witness further price increases in chocolate products or reductions in the size of chocolate bars and packets in the future.
The record cocoa prices, though, do not lead to higher incomes for producers, as the raw material is exported and transformed into finished products elsewhere. Smallholder producers in West Africa, where much of the cacao supply originates, depend on cocoa for ther livelihoods, but do not benefit from increased prices on the trading market because they are linked to the global market through a network of intermediaries, so they have limited bargaining power. The cocoa supply chain therefore completely lacks transparency and this is also caused by the fact that chocolate manufacturers prioritize keeping chocolate affordable for consumers, perpetuating the cycle of low wages for farmers (exactly like the fast fashion industry with garment workers), something that has linked cocoa production with human rights violations such as slavery and child labor. Consequently, chocolate prices are expected to continue rising.
In this food narrative, a stark dystopian divide emerges between two worlds: one where sweetness is a luxury reserved for the privileged few who indulge in opulent sweet treats, and another where the less fortunate grapple with the harsh reality of being unable to afford even the simplest pleasures.
So, what's the future of our beloved chocolates amidst these uncertainties? Will we still be able to buy our favorite antidepressant in the candy aisle of a supermarket or will it be cheaper to buy real antidepressants? Will we still buy chocolate Easter eggs or will we be left dreaming about them and resort to generating Easter eggs with Artificial Intelligence? While these questions may seem daunting and dystopian, they certainly provide food for thought. Quite literally.
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