(Note: audio portion recorded January 26, 2022)
Innovation is mentioned often in the development of an industry. In ours—the world of specialty (but not exclusively) cacao and chocolate—I hear it stated in interview recordings, articles, whitepapers, and when we were meeting in-person, nearly every panel or round-table talk. Yet innovation is a bit like sustainability—what does it actually mean? When is something innovative and what principles are included in its definition? How do we measure such large undertakings when nearly every situation, enterprise, country, orchard—and getting granular, nearly every bean on its own—is quite distinct? It is not my duty to be the global arbiter of what is innovative or not, nor do I want to comes across as “I know it when I see it,” but I am certainly interested in learning more—and questioning further—around ideas that break away from the traditional chocolate mould.
In my own work with WKND Chocolate, I was drawn to making “chocolate” bars using only the natural sweetness of fruit, or coloring white chocolate with spices, teas and herbs. When I discovered Kelsey Tenney’s profile and learned of her new(ish) role at Voyage Foods, I immediately craved knowing more. Their mission since the company’s founding in February of 2021, is to make delicious replicates of commonly beloved foods without negatively impacting human health or the environment. Noble and ambitious goals, considering they are starting with three of the most popular and recognized foods: peanut butter, chocolate and coffee.
One part of my brain was pondering, are we indeed at this crossroads of needing chocolate alternatives? Hadn’t we gotten over the 90s carob-for-chocolate-chips ruse and debunked the claims that cacao trees were going extinct? The other part, maybe the more rational side, knows that certain status quo ways of doing business are not working, that climate change is impacting farmers, that labor and human rights issues—including those relating to children are found in current supply chains, and concerns over displacement, desertification and unprotected forests also remain high on the list. It perhaps may be hard to fathom for us that spend our lives immersed in :the beauty and joy of: cacao—obsessed and mesmerized by its powers, stupefied by its complexities and challenges—that maybe the missing link to all of the pandemonium surrounding chocolate, is the unpopular choice of having less of it?
Certainly less of it as a commodity. Less of it doing and perpetuating harm. Maybe the hardest :and most crucial: part of our roles in cacao and chocolate, will be to run towards the opposite direction; invest elsewhere (without leaving those we partnered with stranded of course!), empower farmers to participate in other crops, put others in charge, plan menus and build popular recipes with different ingredients? Maybe this will be necessary to due away with the conflicts and inequities that plague the industry on a whole? I don’t know exactly, but I am confident alongside the growth of global chocolate production and grindings, we’ll see new ways to consume it, and be met with replacements. Unlikely that it will be an heirloom cacao bar from your trusted retailer (although there are reasons to be concerned too), although certainly plausible for the chocolate croissants, popular ice creams, mochas, etc. found at any number of vending machines, airplane meals, or international franchises.
The :moral: trouble with being a skeptic is that you may be wrong. I do think however, if we’re betting on and spatting over what will or won’t work, we’re all going to lose. If collectively we acknowledge what needs change, or may soon require action, even if we work on separate tracks, we can arrive at favorable, fruitful outcomes.
Topics discussed in this Conversation with Kelsey Tenney:
+ What is “cacao free chocolate” and “future-proofed” food?
+ Voyage Foods versus their competitors, the difference between precision fermentation or cell-cultured techniques and their methods
+ Complexities of recreating chocolate as a flavor
+ Commercial scalability
+ Utilization of regional and natural byproducts, as well as limitations in using them
+ Market potential at matching even 1% of global production
+ What Kelsey and colleagues have to say to doubters
The company is hoping for a May launch for their chocolate product amongst many US based retailers.
Related links mentioned in this episode:
Mighty Earth study and update on deforestation
Dr. Robert Chiles of Penn State
Well Tempered Podcast episode featuring Dr. Allison Brown
Find more from Kelsey:
@Kelsey_Tenney on Twitter
Her food blog and writings at Appeasing a Food Geek
More from Voyage Foods:
@VoyageFoods on Twitter
@VoyageFoods on Instagram
@VoyageFoods on TikTok
You have just completed this another newsletter for #WomensHistoryMonth and listened to an episode of Conversations in Cocoa. If you learned something new, or have told someone else about this blog, please consider becoming a yearly subscriber—word of mouth and member-support is very appreciated! Chocolate donations kindly accepted as well, although full disclosure I wasn’t paid by Voyage Foods nor approached by the company to make this episode. Connect with Lauren on Twitter @wkndchocolate and Instagram @laurenonthewknd. Photo credit to Kelsey Tenney, M.S. Food Science.
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