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Chocolate originated as a revered drink, "chocolatl", in the Mesoamerican civilizations, and has exploded into a worldwide favourite since contact between European explorers and the Mayan and Aztec peoples. The Cadbury family of Birmingham, England began selling cocoa products in the Victorian era, utilizing trade networks and technological advances of the British Empire to become a global company. Their Dairy Milk chocolate bar became the centerpiece of the business in the early 20th century, vaulting them into the top three producers of chocolate. The procurement of ingredients of their trademark product has been a source of controversy throughout its history as the company has attempted to balance the compassionate, pacifist Quaker roots of the company with the inherent inequities of imperialism and globalization. In this way, it is a product that truly reflects the conflicts and contradictions of the history of Western European contact with the world at large.



Chocolate and European Contact

Chocolate is one of the most universally loved, widely consumed products available in the world today. Yet chocolate consumers who bite into a Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bar may not be aware of this sweet treat’s dark history and the complex, international processes involved in making such an affordable, delicious product.

Chocolate in its many forms.

When the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez first made contact with the Mayan and Aztec civilizations in Central Mexico in 1520, he was introduced to the bitter “cacao” beans that would become the essential ingredient used in today’s thriving chocolate industry.[1] The Spanish would later add sugar to the hot drink and, over the 17th and 18th centuries, the European appetite would grow rapidly for the “food of the Gods.”[2] After first contact with “cacao” in Mesoamerica, Europeans took the seeds of the tropical evergreen Cocoa trees, like the Theobroma cacao, and planted them in other parts of the world, within 20 degrees of the equator. Thus, in addition to growing in Central and South America, cocoa plantations were established in the West Indies, West Africa, and Southeast Asia.[3]

The leaf, flower and fruit of Theobroma cacao.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the strength of the British Empire and the emergence of industrialization led to the creation and development of the Cadbury chocolate company. To meet the ever-growing demand for their “Cocoa Essence” and other chocolate products, the Cadbury family – along with other top English and European chocolate producers – would unleash a series of social and economic impacts felt around the world over the last 200 years.

The import of cocoa and sugar to England depended on the vast trade networks and labour systems of the British Empire. The complex process of manually harvesting “cacao” pods from the trees and processing the cocoa seeds within was very labour-intensive. Once the pods were opened, the seeds were extracted and then fermented. After they were dried, the cocoa seeds were shipped to factories in England and Europe for further processing and manufacturing. The demand for low-cost labour to manually harvest large quantities of cacao pods and process the beans led to the use of slavery. While the Cadburys were pragmatic businessmen, they were also Quakers and philosophically opposed to slavery.[4] The Cadbury family eventually helped mount an anti-slavery campaign.

Ultimately, the history of chocolate arose from cultures in contact – starting from the Spanish-Mesoamerican "first contact" and the discovery of cacao – leading to the production of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar, and the company’s legacy and growing focus on social responsibility, with a commitment to develop and label a product that is both ethical and delicious.

Birth of Cadbury

The Cadbury chocolate company traces its roots to the Cadbury family who lived in the emerging industrial town of mid-nineteenth century Birmingham, in England. Both the forces of industrialization and the availability of commodities from Britain’s expanding empire contributed to the creation of Cadbury and their eventual focus on cocoa products.

Birmingham had a reputation as an industrial centre known for its invention and innovation. [5] Among the innovative entrepreneurs of Birmingham was John Cadbury, who was asked by his father to “investigate the new colonial market” in London in the 1820s. There, John Cadbury was able to visit the warehouses of the East India Company, which housed tea, sugar, coffee, spices, and the intriguing cocoa bean.[6]

Inside a Belgian chocolate factory using a setup similar to what would have been used in the original Cadbury Brothers shop.

In 1824 John Cadbury returned to Birmingham and opened a coffee and tea shop with his brother. Their new company, ‘Cadbury Brothers,’ in addition to selling coffee and tea, began to develop recipes for cocoa drinks. At this time in England, cocoa had not yet been made into solid chocolate as we know it today but was used to make drinks that were marketed as healthy and nutritious.[7] In the 1830s and 1840s, Cadbury Brothers began manufacturing cocoa on a larger scale, using steam-powered machines to facilitate the roasting and pressing of cocoa beans. By 1854, Cadbury Brothers were able to open their first London office, and were given a “royal warrant to supply cocoa to Queen Victoria” [8], affirming their success as a business establishment within the British Empire.

1903 photo of the Bourneville "factory-in-a-garden" created by the Cadbury brothers in 1879.

When the Cadbury business was passed down to John’s sons in 1860, they continued the family tradition of innovation. At first they followed their father's example, creating new kinds of cocoa drinks with names like ‘Pearl Cocoa’, ‘Queen’s Own Chocolate’ and ‘Churchman’s Cocoa’, but they wanted to develop a new kind of cocoa product that would be more appealing to the public. Cocoa drinks were made from a paste of ground cocoa nibs mixed with other ingredients like sugar, treacle, potato flour, sago or arrowroot. In 1866, with the aid of imported Dutch machinery, Cadbury Brothers became the first cocoa company in England to produce a “pure cocoa essence” that didn’t need the addition of other ingredients in order to make a cocoa drink.[9] During the same decade, cocoa companies began to produce what they called “fancy chocolates,” which “became the favourite romantic gift”.[10] By the 1870s, Cadbury Brothers had expanded to include agents outside of England in Ireland, Canada, Chile and Paris.[11] Chocolate, as a confectionery, was becoming popular, and Cadbury Brothers had emerged as one of the most successful English cocoa companies.

The growth and success of Cadbury has also been attributed to the Quaker origins of the Cadbury family. In mid-nineteenth-century England, many businessmen were Quakers, including the three most successful cocoa companies of the era: Cadbury, Rowntree, and Fry.[12] Because they were non-conformists, Quakers were banned from attending universities, were not allowed to be members of Parliament or to practice law, and, as pacifists, Quakers would not choose a military career.[13] Many Quakers turned to business and operated according to their religious ethics of honesty, justice, and concern for the well-being of others. These ideals were central to the Cadbury company, which believed their firm had a wider function of improving society. By providing employment, creating fair working conditions for their employees, and promoting cocoa drinks as an alternative to alcohol, the Cadbury Brothers considered the purpose of their business was not just to create wealth for themselves, but to enable the poor and needy to “be lifted from the ruin of deprivation”.[14]

Cadbury's Milk Chocolate Bars

The Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar that brought Cadbury world-wide fame.

The Cadbury Brothers' success was also due to the fact that they were intelligent beneficiaries of technological innovation. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Dutch, specifically the van Houten family, again advanced the development of cocoa products by creating alkalized cocoa powder. This new cocoa product was less bitter tasting than what had been available before and was more easily mixed with water or milk, as cocoa does not dissolve in liquid. This competitive pressure within the cocoa industry pushed Cadbury to shift away from selling only ‘pure cocoa essence’ and branch out to to develop new products.[15] The result was that their milk chocolate bar was pushed to to the forefront of their enterprise. Multiple advances had to be used to achieve this end. ‘Conching’, a process of excessive cocoa bean milling invented by Rudolph Lindt, was important to increase the smoothness; re-introducing cocoa butter to the powder created the actual bar texture and its ‘melt in your mouth’ property; and adding condensed milk, invented by Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle, made the chocolate creamier, less acidic and bitter-tasting, and less likely to turn rancid.[16] With a unique recipe developed in 1905 that had significantly higher milk content than other bars, the company first introduced the product that made it a juggernaut: Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar.

Indentured labourers from India working on a Cadbury-owned plantation in Trinidad.

Supply of cocoa in the company’s early stages was primarily from ‘middle-men’ at the Colonial Market on Mincing Lane in London.[17] However, a growth process that began with their cocoa essence and was accelerated when their milk chocolate garnered international fame resulted in an ever-increasing demand for commodities. Cadbury began purchasing directly from plantations in the Caribbean and Central America, even going so far as to develop their own estates in Trinidad [18] and along the African Gold Coast, then under British colonial rule.[19] Over time, Cadbury had grown too large to know of all its dealings, and in 1901 the company learned that slavery was used on the island of São Tomé, where they had purchased 45% of their cocoa beans for the previous year. This was clearly at odds with the Cadbury brothers’ Quaker beliefs. Quakers were a Christian denomination that believed all people were equal under the eyes of God, and were instrumental in supporting the movement to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire in the early 19th century.[20] On discovering the use of slavery in São Tomé, Cadbury's board spearheaded an investigation, boycotted import of the island’s cocoa beans, and George Cadbury Sr. initiated an anti-slavery campaign.[21]

Although the Cadbury family was against the use of slavery, the supply-side and export success of the Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate bar could not be completely separated from the inequities and trading efficiencies of an imperial world. Cocoa beans on the Trinidadian plantation relied heavily on indentured labour from India.[22] In addition, sugar production had long been an imperial venture and came from Saint-Dominingue (present day Haiti) and Cuba, both colonial exploits that relied on very cheap labour.[23][24] Finally, the vital export success of the Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar was at first heavily reliant on the markets of the British Empire, and thus their extensive trade networks.[25] More than a product of contact, the Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar was the beneficiary of imperialism.

The Current Picture

Products of a modern Belgian chocolate factory.

In the latter part of the twentieth century, Cadbury was one of the top three producers of chocolate, along with Mars and Nestle. During the 1970s, the European Chocolate Wars placed English milk chocolate at the centre of a debate on quality and the definition of chocolate itself.[26] Countries belonging to the European Union disagreed with new members, England and Ireland, on whether vegetable fats, such as palm oil and shea butter, used to supplement cocoa butter in milk chocolates were acceptable. With a reputation for making quality products, France and Switzerland demanded that England, where the mass-producer Cadbury’s sweeter and milkier chocolate was very popular, stop using the term ‘chocolate’ and instead use other labels, such as 'vegelate' or 'household chocolate'.[27] England was eventually allowed an exemption to use up to 5% vegetable fats and 20% milk based on the argument that their chocolate was historically preferred with less cocoa solids. In 2003, the Chocolate Directive granted Britain rights to sell their products within the European Union with labels requiring 'family milk chocolate' to be used outside of England.[28] The European Chocolate Wars are another reminder of how the modern Cadbury Milk Chocolate Bar is a contested product with links to England and its national identity.

While the taste of Cadbury’s milk chocolates is linked to English preferences and history, its ingredients are acquired from places where most people cannot afford chocolate. There have been many variations of the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar over the last century, such as 'Aztec' (1967) and 'Fuse' (1996),[29] but the creation of a Fairtrade Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar in 2009,[30] explicitly highlights the current trend of consumer consciousness. The pressures on the chocolate industry in England began in 2000 when Britain’s Channel 4 reported that the majority of the cocoa produced in Cote d’Ivoire was made by child slaves.[31] This led to governmental demands that 'slave-free' labels be placed on chocolate bars. While Cadbury purchased most of its cocoa from Ghana, where cocoa could not be directly bought from farmers and therefore monitoring was not completely possible, the company’s strong association with domestic chocolate forced it to review its purchasing policies as well as create its own ethical protocols (i.e. Human Rights and Ethical Trading Policy, Ethical Sourcing Standards.)[32] Moreover, an environmental group, Friends of the Earth, launched a campaign against Cadbury in 2004 claiming that its milk chocolates used ingredients such as palm oil which was responsible for ecological degradation in Southeast Asia even though it constituted 0.001% of the milk chocolate product.[33] For these reasons, Cadbury also began to use SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data exchange) to conduct farm inspections with NGOs as partners and increased its efforts towards using crops that met sustainable agricultural practices.

A Cadbury bar with the fair trade movement's logo printed on the wrapper.

The consequences of producing and distributing a mass product like Cadbury’s chocolates are more widely recognized in current discourses and media. Cadbury, in the recent decade, has increased socially-responsible initiatives to support cocoa producers. Since Cadbury has been buying cocoa from Ghana since 1908, all of its current projects are situated in this West African country.[34][35] Cadbury has been building wells in communities since 2002 and has initiated the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership with international collaborators, such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in 2008.[36][37] The partnership’s aim is to improve living conditions through the development of educational programs, increase microfinancing and income levels for cocoa farmers, improve cocoa yields, and respond to problematic issues (such as the younger generation leaving cocoa farming) facing future cocoa supplies.[38] Research, which has been published,[39][40] is also currently being conducted on biodiversity and sustainable farming in a Ghanaian ‘cocoa village’ called Adjeikrom.[41] Since being acquired by Kraft Foods Inc. in 2010, Cadbury is considered the world’s largest confectioner with almost $20 million in net sales reflecting its dominance in the globalized cocoa market.[42]

A Product of Contact

Over the years, Cadbury has seen its enterprises, and more specifically, the Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar, become worldwide phenomena. From cocoa's beginnings in Central Mexico, to the expanding trade of commodities from the New World to Europe, and the development of cocoa products brought about by entrepreneurs, such as the Cadbury family, Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar is a prime example of a product that was born out of the historical processes associated with contact.

Every aspect of the creation, development, and production of this chocolate bar has in some way been impacted by different social and economic forces. The expanding trade networks of the British Empire and industrialization in mid-nineteenth century Europe led to the creation of the Cadbury company. From the initial ingredients to the final consumer, this chocolate confection is a culmination of many (sometimes unwilling) contributors, that can be traced from the use of cocoa in Mesoamerica many centuries ago, to its appropriation in Europe as a result of contact by various explorers, to the involvement of Africa in the chocolate industry as a source of commodities and labour, to the worldwide transport and sale of the Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar today.

Currently, trends in the chocolate industry reflect global ethical concerns about the communities and farms that comprise the upstream portion of the supply chain. Now a mass produced and popular commodity world wide, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar is affected by global economic trends and the current political force of consumer consciousness. Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar is a product of centuries of contact and the intermingling of various diverse, cultures, eras, and societies, while still being able to remain a part of the world’s diet to this day.

Endnotes

  1. ↑ Teresa L. Dillinger, "Food of the Gods: Cure for Humanity? A Cultural History of the Medicinal and Ritual Use of Chocolate," The Journal of Nutrition 130, no. 8 (August 2000): 2057S.
  2. ↑ Marcy Norton, "Conquests of Chocolate," OAH Magazine of History 18, 3 (2004): 16.
  3. ↑ Lowell J. Satre, Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2005), 18.
  4. ↑ Satre, 13-17.
  5. ↑ Deborah Cadbury, Chocolate Wars (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010), 3.
  6. ↑ Cadbury, 11-12.
  7. ↑ Cadbury, 7.
  8. ↑ Carol Kennedy, The Merchant Princes: Family, Fortune and Philanthropy: Cadbury, Sainsbury and John Lewis (London: Hutchison, 2000), 22.
  9. ↑ Kennedy, 24.
  10. ↑ Kennedy, 26.
  11. ↑ Kennedy, 27.
  12. ↑ Kennedy, 14.
  13. ↑ Cadbury, 7.
  14. ↑ Cadbury, 32.
  15. ↑ John Bradley, Cadbury’s Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate’s Best-Loved Brand. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008), 20.
  16. ↑ Bradley, 34.
  17. ↑ Cadbury, 11.
  18. ↑ Brandon Head, A Popular Account of Cocaoa. (London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1903), 27.
  19. ↑ Cadbury, 119
  20. ↑ Cadbury, 175
  21. ↑ Satre, 18.
  22. ↑ Head, 40
  23. ↑ Shamsie, Y. Thompson, A. "Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State". (Waterloo, ON, CAN: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006), 15.
  24. ↑ Staten, Clifford L. "History of Cuba". (Gordonsville, VA, USA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 11.
  25. ↑ Cadbury, 208
  26. ↑ Julie L. Cidell and Heike C. Alberts, "Constructing Quality: The Multinational Histories of Chocolate," Geoforum 37, 6 (February 2006): 1003. http://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/alberts/research-publications/docs/Chocolate%20II.pdf (accessed 7 July 2012).
  27. ↑ Cidell and Alberts, 1005.
  28. ↑ Cidell and Alberts, 1004.
  29. ↑ Cadbury, “The Story,” http://www.cadbury.co.uk/the-story (accessed 7 July 2012).
  30. ↑ Cadbury, “The Story,” http://www.cadbury.co.uk/the-story (accessed 7 July 2012).
  31. ↑ Sumana Chatterjee and Joan Elia, “Cadbury: An Ethical Company Struggles to Insure the Integrity of Its Supply Chain.” Yale Case 07, 039 (November 2007): 3. http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/curriculum/pdf/cadburycase.pdf (accessed 7 July 2012).
  32. ↑ Chatterjee and Elia, 12.
  33. ↑ Chatterjee and Elia, 12.
  34. ↑ Chatterjee and Elia, 14.
  35. ↑ Cadbury, “The Future,” http://www.skillsspace.co.uk/geography/the_future/default.asp (accessed 7 July 2012).
  36. ↑ Chatterjee and Elia, 14.
  37. ↑ Cadbury, “The Future,” http://www.skillsspace.co.uk/geography/the_future/default.asp (accessed 7 July 2012).
  38. ↑ Cadbury, “The Future,” http://www.skillsspace.co.uk/geography/the_future/default.asp (accessed 7 July 2012).
  39. ↑ Amy Wade et al, “Management Strategies for Maximizing Carbon Storage and Tree Species Diversity in Cocoa-Growing Landscapes.” Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 138, no. 3 (August 2010): 324-334.
  40. ↑ Alex Asase et al, “Impact of Cocoa Farming on Vegetation in an Agricultural Landscape in Ghana,” African Journal of Ecology 48, 2 (June 2010): 338-346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2010.06.007 (accessed 7 July 2012).
  41. ↑ Skillspace, "Adjeikrom," http://www.skillsspace.co.uk/geography/the_future/adjeikrom.asp (accessed 7 July 2012)
  42. ↑ International Cocoa Organization, “The Chocolate Industry,” http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/chocolate-industry.html (accessed 7 July 2012).

References

Aase, Alex, Kwesi Ofori-Frimpong and P.K. Ekpe. "Impact of Cocoa Farming on Vegetation in an Agricultural Landscape in Ghana." African Journal of Ecology 48 (2010): 338–346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2010.06.007 (accessed 7 July 2012).

Bradley, John. Cadbury’s Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate’s Best-Loved Brand. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008.

Cadbury, Deborah. Chocolate Wars. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010.

Cadbury. “The Story.” http://www.cadbury.co.uk/the-story (accessed 7 July 2012).

Chatterjee, Sumana and Jaan Elia. “Cadbury: An Ethical Company Struggles to Insure the Integrity of Its Supply Chain.” Yale Case 07, 039 (November 2007):1-16. http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/curriculum/pdf/cadburycase.pdf (accessed 7 July 2012).

Cidell, Julie L and Heike C. Alberts, "Constructing Quality: The Multinational Histories of Chocolate", Geoforum 37, 6 (February 2006): 999–1007. http://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/alberts/research-publications/docs/Chocolate%20II.pdf (accessed 7 July 2012).

Dillinger, Teresa L. "Food of the Gods: Cure for Humanity? A Cultural History of the Medicinal and Ritual Use of Chocolate." The Journal of Nutrition 130, no. 8 (August 2000): 2057S.

Head, Brandon. A Popular Account of Cocaoa. London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1903.

International Cocoa Organization. “The Chocolate Industry.” http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/chocolate-industry.html (accessed 7 July 2012).

Kennedy, Carol. The Merchant Princes: Family, Fortune and Philanthropy: Cadbury, Sainsbury and John Lewis. London: Hutchison, 2000.

Lass, R.A. and G.A.R. Wood. Cocoa. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.

Norton, Marcy. "Conquests of Chocolate." OAH Magazine of History 130 (2000): 16.

Satre, Lowell J. Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2005.

Shamsie, Y. Thompson, A. Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State. Waterloo, ON, CAN: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006.

SkillsSpace (Cadbury). “Adjeikrom." http://www.skillsspace.co.uk/geography/the_future/adjeikrom.asp (accessed 7 July 2012).

SkillsSpace (Cadbury). “The future.” http://www.skillsspace.co.uk/geography/the_future/default.asp (accessed 7 July 2012).

Staten, Clifford L. History of Cuba. Gordonsville, VA, USA: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Wade, Amy, Alex Asase, Paul Hadley, John Mason, Kwesi Ofori-Frimpong, David Preece, Nat Spring and Ken Norris. "Management strategies for maximizing carbon storage and tree species diversity in cocoa-growing landscapes." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 138 (2010): 324-334.

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