This has absolutely nothing to do with being single, but our attention was recently caught by a giant Kallari chocolate bar. Then we dragged our attention away from the shiny wrapper and noticed that it happened to be produced in Ecuador, by “the only farmers’ cooperative in the world that harvests, markets and enjoys all profits from its own line of organic chocolate.”

Hello stranger, said we. The story behind the Kallari enterprise is pretty amazing, considering their humble origins and the odds they faced in becoming independent chocolate manufacturers:

The indigenous Kichwa farming groups that make up Kallari started out as cacao producers who sold their beans to exporters for only 20 cents a pound. They realized their profits would expand enormously if they started selling the beans directly to chocolate manufacturers, and eventually found funding to open their own chocolate manufacturing plant in Quito. Now, ten years later, their beans go for as much as $1.95 a pound, and the co-op has expanded to support other kinds of agriculture, as well as tourism.

Kallari farmers also hope to diversify to continue living sustainably off their land. They are planting balsa trees, which grow rapidly, to sell to windmill makers and they want to promote agritourism.

Kallari has created sustainable income so Kichwa people can fulfill our basic family needs without logging our rainforests or selling our land.

One of the most incredible things about Kallari’s success was the total lack of precedence for a chocolate manufacturer in South America. Usually the beans were exported to Europe, where they had both the technology and the market for luxury chocolate. Now Kallari sells in the U.S. to markets eager for high-quality, hippy-friendly products.

The 2.47-ounce bars, in 75 and 85 percent cacao, sell for as much as $5.99 at Whole Foods.

(We’re sure the pictures of adorable indigenous children have nothing to do with its appeal).

But success hasn’t seemed to distract them from other issues important to their community, like protecting their surrounding environment from strip mining and oil exploitation. The emphasis is laid especially upon the importance of maintaining the integrity of original indigenous communities, since modernization so often means the destruction of original Kichwa lands and resources. That’s almost enough to make us cough up the dough for one of their dark bars, cause candy + social justice = win.

When Chocolate Is a Way of Life [New York Times]

Kallari Association