Cacao, or the botanical name, Theobroma cacao, translates to “food of the Gods.” This sacred medicine originates from ancient Mesoamerica dating back to 1500 BC and is the lifeblood of Mayan, Aztec, and Olmec heritage, history, and culture. As a symbol of abundance, rulership, and ancestry, the cacao tree is a metaphorical conduit by which human souls and gods travel between Earth, Sky, and the Underworld. It’s no surprise that once colonization gripped Mesoamerica, the dominance of cacao spread worldwide, starting the global cacao craze.

Cacao became a symbol of elitism for Europeans and eventually transformed into the world’s obsession with the processed version of cacao, “cocoa” which is eventually made into chocolate. The richness of chocolate captivated taste buds around the world with its decadence. Still, as rich as chocolate may be, it comes at the price of poor ethics, a convoluted history, and a call for liberation.

Theobroma cacao is a small evergreen tree with white flowers and grows autumn-colored pods containing cacao beans coated in a white, sticky pulp. Cacao is a peculiar plant that only thrives in a narrow band of tropical ecosystems 20 degrees north and south of the equator. Indigenous to Central and South America, cacao is traditionally grown, harvested, and ceremonially guided by women.

Cacao and chocolate appear in countless ceremonial contexts in Olmec, Mayan, and Aztec cultures, ranging from agricultural and celestial events to rites of passage such as birth, death, and marriage. Cacao was medicine for the people and used with other sacred medicinal plants to cure everything from a common cold to seizures. Raw cacao is an extraordinarily complicated and powerful medicine. With an estimated 400 – 600 chemical components, raw cacao acts on the physical body, offering nutrients, minerals such as magnesium, and an abundance of natural “feel good” hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. War ceremonies would consume cacao before battle in Aztec cultures, as blood circulation accelerates up to 40% when drinking cacao, providing strength and tangible power.

The Yucatán manuscripts, “The Ritual of the Bacabs,” dive into ancient practices where Spiritual Guides used cacao to deliver individuals from disease and affliction. Many of the botanical remedies contained cacao as part of the recipe; an example is chacah, or medicinal chocolate, a drink of cacao blended with honey, pepper, and tobacco juice, administered to a patient at the end of a shamanistic chant.

For the Aztecs, cacao was their currency, holding such significance that cacao was worth more than gold. Cacao’s capital fueled Mesoamerica’s economy over several millennia and catalyzed an extensive trade industry with a powerful merchant class. Once the Spanish colonized this sacred medicine in the sixteenth century, cacao became so popular among elite Europeans, and eventually, North Americans that, along with commodities such as coffee, sugar, tobacco, and tea, it was one of the founding products and fuel for the transatlantic slave trade and the development of capitalism.

The ownership of cacao production and control of its distribution created spheres of power and great wealth that perpetuated slavery, colonization, and exploitation for thousands of years, leading to the current chocolate economy.

The World Cocoa Foundation estimates that 40-50 million people worldwide are dependent on cocoa as their primary source of income yet cannot afford to buy chocolate themselves. The hands producing, picking, and providing the world’s cocoa are primarily children; more than 109,000 children in the Ivory Coast work under “the worst forms of child labor,” working night shifts, exposed to harmful pesticides, and faced with extreme violence for their production.

It is estimated that 20%-30% of children in cocoa communities suffer from stunted growth, drastically reducing their physical and mental capacity for their entire lives (IDH 2019).

In the chocolate industry, a handful of companies and governments control the lives of millions.

These corporations have exploited the abundance of cacao and continue to harm people and the land: Hershey’s, M&M Mars, Nestlé, Kraft, Cargill, Archers Daniels Midland (ADM), Ferrero, and Olam are just a few.

In 2001, consumer outrage over the sobering reality of the cocoa industry prompted the major chocolate companies to pledge to end the worst forms of child labor. Child Labor Legislation was gaining traction among the public to regulate large cocoa companies, but the industry lobbied against the proposed laws and stopped the momentum in its tracks. Unfortunately, reports have surfaced that little has changed with child labor in cocoa plantations. In parallel, it’s a similar story to the environmental degradation of forests worldwide due to cacao monocropping and pesticide use.