Essay about Bittersweet: Unwrapping the Hidden Side of Chocolate

Throughout the 16th century, as there was a demographic collapse of the indigenous population, there was now a new demand for slave labor in Latin America. In Brazil, the Portuguese needed a large workforce to cultivate sugar plantations. As a result, numerous slaves from Africa were imported to work on large plantation fields. In various plantations, rural slaves experienced harsh working and living conditions. Few slaves had a high life expectancy. Robert Edgar Conrad in “Children of God’s Fire,” shares some primary sources that dealt with the types of environments and conditions many slaves faced and encountered in Brazil. The sources also gave insight into the regulations and economics/business of the slave trade. Conrad states that rural Brazil was “a hell for blacks” (Conrad 54). Many slaves dealt with extremely harsh conditions just to keep the European market in Latin American growing and profitable. This paper will analyze how rural slaves lived and worked on Brazilian sugar plantations.

The rise of sugar as a commodity in England situated England as the world’s leading consumer. The increasing popularity of coffeehouses among middle-class English people, as well the introduction of tea from China, fueled the counties. England’s growing interest in coffee and tea greatly increased the demand for sugar leading to a significant effect on Africa and its people. The high English demand for sugar required land to expand sugar plantations, and an efficient source of labor to produce, creating a connection between all three. For example, if there was not enough demand, there would have been no point in planting sugar and if cheap labor could not be obtained, it would not be worth doing so on such a large scale because it would have been expensive and unprofitable. Since they had all these contributing factors in their favor the British were able to gain profit from sugar plantations, which worked as a significant contributor towards their economy. To meet the land requirements the British picked their Caribbean colonies because of their control of that region and its climate. After finding the land for plantations, England had to find the source of labor to work these plantations. The English turned into Africa for cheap slave labor. The British had tried the local Caribbeans to work on the plantations but these people were already affected by the diseases that were brought to the area by Europeans. As a result, there were not many Caribbean people to work the

If the company we outsource with has some sort of issue with its equipment or is running behind schedule it will delay our orders and reflect poorly upon our company. If we choose not to do anything we will continue running at inefficient levels costing us more and more money as time goes on.

The long-term effects of the Columbian exchange included the swap of food, crops, and animals between the New World and Old World, and the start of the transoceanic trade. In order to produce a profit, Portuguese explorers were the first to established sugar cane plantations in Brazil. They then sold this crop to the Old World where it was a popular commodity because it provided Europeans with a sweetener for foods. In addition, European produce was brought to the New World, including “…wheat, vines, horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens… Where they sharply increased supplies of food and animal energy.” This fusion of crops between the Old and New World became fundamental in enhancing the diets and food of both populations.

Sugar is one of the most important items that was discovered in the new world back in the 1300’s. The reason for this is that in the 1300’s hardly anyone knew what sugar was until Christopher Columbus went to the Bahamas and came back to Spain with sugar in the 1400’s. So what drove the sugar trade?, well there are many factors that drove it some of them were Land meaning the natural resources used to make sugar, Labor, meaning human resources that are needed to make sugar, and Investment Capital which is money used to buy tools and land. Sugar could have become such a desired good due to the fact that people in Europe found out that there is such a thing with the qualities of sugar or maybe it could be because of the low cost of slaves

Imagine being a young child walking into a chocolate museum where chocolate lines the walls, you can create your own one of a kind candy bar, thousands of different types of chocolates, and chocolate bars line the walls.

The sugar trade was positively impacted by a rapidly increasing demand for sugar, along with the European desire to colonize the Caribbean islands, and the growing ease of purchasing slaves as a means of labor. As more sugar was being produced, the demand for it in Europe grew at an extremely swift rate. The production of the sugar was taking place in the Caribbean, which at the time was being colonized by major European nations such as England, France, and Spain. These islands were the ideal location for the growth of sugar cane, which was the basis for the manufacturing of sugar. To help supply the high demand for sugar, there was a rise in the use of slaves as a cheap and efficient method of labor.

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

Sugar has been a staple in the diets of Europeans for centuries. From desserts to tea, sugar has been added to everything. While it is unhealthy in large doses, the demand for the saccharide does not falter. Before sugar could be mass produced by machines, much of the labor was done by slaves. While this benefitted white Europeans, they were the only ones to have profited from this new sugar craze. The African population suffered immensely from the sugar industry as the working conditions of sugar plantations were brutal and they had no civil rights as slaves.

One more plant which is also adopted in Europe is tobacco. At that time, tobacco was used widely as a recreation pastime through smoking and an important medicinal herb which kills pain. In return, the Old World agricultural foods such as wheat, apples, sugar cane, or coffee are brought through Atlantic to the Americas. When it comes to sugar cane, this type of plant grows well in the fertile American soil, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sugar provides the cheap source of calories for the working class in the Americas. As the consuming of sugar increases dramatically, sugar canes are cultivated in the large scale. Because of lack of laborers, by 1509, African slaves are first imported to the Americas to work on sugar plantations, which then give rise to the African slave trade. Besides sugar cane, wheat and apples are also introduced to east coast of the United States as well as plantain in Virginia. However, the European arrival unintentionally contaminates American fields with weed seed which includes couch grass, dandelion, or chickweeds. They also burn forest to save lands for the large scale Old World plantations. As a result, the native flora is exposed to sunlight directly and the whole American ecosystem suffers. So far, the exchange of plants between the Old World and the New negatively affects the environment in Americas.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is a powerful novel that serves as a great introductory guide to the Latin-American culture. The novel consists of primarily female characters, the De La Garza family, where each one portrays a female stereotype, or perhaps their role in the society. The setting of the story takes place during arise of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which helps to further distinguish the roles of the women and how they go about living their everyday life. Like Water for Chocolate can be looked at as a story about two women, a daughter and a mother, Tita and Elena De La Garza. Tita, our protagonist, struggles against her mothers’ tradition, to “serve” her until the day she dies, without having a life of her own.

Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate The novel “Like Water for Chocolate” written by Laura Esquivel is a historical piece of South-American literature which is parallel to the Mexican Revolution which took place at the start of the twentieth century. The De La Garza family in the novel emphasizes certain similarities with the things going on during the Mexican Revolution, especially with the people in the lower rank. One important structural device used in the novel is the use of recipes which is found in each chapter and sets the overall mood and atmosphere for that particular chapter, the mood or feelings of Tita.

Founded in 2000, Cocoa Delights is one of the youngest gourmet chocolate manufacturers in the industry. However we do not view our youth as a weakness, on the contrary, our youth is associated with our two most valued attributes: creativity and innovation.

Many people often meet different characters in literature and in life that they admire or despise. They conclude if those characters are good or evil and at the same time they reflect on the choices and responsibilities that those characters have. From The Chocolate War I admire Roland Goubert or The Goober based on his actions. I despise Archie Costello (The Assigner of The Vigils) because of the choices that he made and also because of his actions.

Many historians justify that the evolving of the industrial revolution was based on slavery and mainly the triangular trade. The triangular trade was the route taken by Europeans to transport goods to Africa in exchange for slaves to be taken to the Americans. The triangular trade was seen as the first system of global commerce which linked Britain, Africa and the Americans. The most important colonies for the sugar growth were West Indies islands. During the 17th and the 18th century Dutch settlers in Brazil had perfected their sugar cultivation at the same time the triangular trade was taking place between America, Britain and Africa. As the