Western Friend

Fair Trade and the Food of the Gods

At the Quakers Uniting in Publications conference this past weekend, the topic of chocolate came up in conversation, as it often seems to do when I am around. A Friend requested a copy of this article, which I wrote for Friends Bulletin back in 2008. I thought others might also find it useful- enjoy!

As some Friends can attest, one of the most pleasurable ways to connect with Quaker history is by nibbling on a bit of chocolate. Known as Theobroma cacao to botanists, the history of this “food of the gods” is closely intertwined with that of the Society of Friends. However, finding chocolate that honors our Quaker heritage along with Quaker values such as equality and integrity can be challenging in modern times.

Industrious Friends and Chocolate

Friends’ interest in chocolate has its roots in England’s Industrial Age. Although chocolate had been brought from the New World perhaps as early as the mid-1500’s, it remained a beverage of the elite until the Industrial Revolution. The Frys, a Quaker family, changed all this in two ways: with the use of a steam engine to grind the beans (previously work done by mortar and pestle), and in 1847, the invention of the chocolate bar. No longer merely a beverage, chocolate took off, and the Royal Navy enlisted J.S. Fry & Sons in the effort to sober up their soldiers, replacing daily grog rations with chocolate bars. Other Quakers throughout history also advocated chocolate as a substitute for alcohol as part of the temperance movement.

January, 1996

This is part of an ongoing series of article reprints from the Friends Bulletin/Western Friend archives. They are selected at random from the boxes in the editor’s garage. The theme for this issue was, “The Hurt of One is the Hurt of All.”

The Permanence of Matter
by Sally Bryan, San Juan Worship Group

“What perplexes the world is the disparity between the swiftness of the spirit, and the immense unwieldiness, sluggishness, inertia, the permanence of matter. “-Thomas Marm

In our reflective moments, most of us are only too willing to acknowledge that we are involved with mankind. We have believed poets who say we are lessened if a clod washes into the sea, and we have read physicists who say that a butterfly that moves its wings in Japan will affect forces, unknown though many may be, in Chicago. In a few tender and near-incommunicable moments, we may have experienced this all-inclusive relatedness. Truly we know that we are participants in a participatory universe.

October, 1981

This is the first of an ongoing series of article reprints from the Friends Bulletin/Western Friend archives. They are selected at random from the boxes in the editor’s garage. We welcome feedback and suggestions for future excerpts!

Blockade

As Friends Bulletin goes to press, some of its readers from many meetings are witnessing to their conviction of the harmfulness of nuclear power plants by participating in the non-violent Blockade of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo, California, an action of protest organized by the Abalone Alliance. In this issue a statement is included written by Redwood Forest Meeting in support of its member Russ Jorgensen who has been arrested for trespassing at Diablo Canyon. I urge Friends to read it and to consider the issues of survival which it raises.