The annual EuroChocolate festival in Central Italy takes place this year from 14 to 23 October and is expected to showcase chocolate traditions from around the world.
International chocolate producers will gather to showcase Fairtrade chocolate products, with an emphasis on tradition and social and economic sustainability at the heart of the event.
The festival, which first began in 1994, attracts thousands of visitors to the city of Perugia each year.
This year, chocolate makers from 11 Cocoa-producing countries from around the world were invited to present at the festival: Colombia, India, Peru, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Togo, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Uganda and Madagascar.
Mexico was named the Guest Country of Honor by EuroChocolate to recognise Indigenous chocolate traditions.
We are very satisfied with this participation…which confirms the authority gained internationally by our event and which lays the foundations for potential development of concrete collaborations between the two countries on the cocoa and chocolate supply chains.
Eugenio Guarducci, President, EuroChocolate
José Antonio Nieves Rodríguez, the Secretary of Mexico’s Tourism of Tabasco, stated that the exhibition provided “the opportunity to become an excellent means for Italians to learn about the history and the culture of cocoa and chocolate.”
Participants at the event will be able to visit producers in the Chocolate Experience Pavilion, where tastings and learning experiences will be offered, and there will be an opportunity to purchase products. Producers will use their Fairtrade chocolate products to demonstrate their values of quality while combining local traditions with contemporary perspectives on sustainability.
One example is ChocoTogo, the first Cocoa processing company in Togo, which was founded in 2014 and will be featured in the festival. Their goal is to reconnect farmers with the rest of the Cocoa value chain.
Even the cacao farmers had never eaten chocolate.
We wanted to make available chocolate in our own country.
Eric Agbokou, Founder, ChocoTogo (source: Food Tank)
In particular, ChocoTogo hopes to benefit women with fewer opportunities and to give back to local communities to aid in their development.
We are employing our moms and older women because they don’t have a chance to apply for jobs. No one will accept them.
Eric Agbokou, Founder, ChocoTogo (source: Food Tank)
In addition to ChocoTogo, other international producers will also contribute their unique views on quality, tradition and how social and environmental sustainability fit into a modern strategy for chocolate production.
