Ummm, chocolate. The very name conjures up sensations in the average homo sapiens of marvellously moist, moreish mouthfuls of rich, oozy, velvety, sweet sumptuousness. I don’t know why some people say it was an apple in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve, I for one am more certain it must have been the cacao bean in its most pure, delectable form. We have been enslaved by it ever since in one form or another, whether it takes the form of a foaming milkshake, the fudge sauce on your sundae, the crackle coating on cinema ice cream cones, the chunky chips in your choc chip cookies or that ultimate chocolate cake with cascading rivers of unctuous brown icing and decadent cream filling. Chocolate first oozed its irresistible way into the wider world in the fifteenth century, courtesy of the Spanish conquistadores in the New World who very quickly discovered the huge potential of the humble cacao bean of the Americas (believe it or not, the Mayans and the Aztecs used the cacao bean as their main form of currency!) Since then we have delighted in ever expanding confectionery empires (sorry, no true Willy Wonka in sight as yet) such as
Cadburys and Hersheys, who bombard our shop shelves with all manner of tasty treats that tickle the tastebuds and worry the waistline. And foremost among these would be the standard family block of good old fashioned, unadulterated milk chocolate, the classic 250 gram block that can satisfy the cravings of your average four person family.
Well, at least that is how I remember it in the not so distant past. They say that memory plays tricks on you more often than not…but if that is the case, how come the old 250 gram block we all know and love doesn’t quite seem to go around the traditional family like it used to? Take a look at the info on the wrapper. The 250 grams have somehow shrunk down to 220 grams, and on some varieties it is around 200 or even 180 grams. One can just about woof that down on one’s own in one sitting. And those traditional smaller candy bars you find stacked up on the supermarket shelves are now no thicker than my thumb in many cases and yield only a couple of decent mouthfuls – yet the cost has not shrunk in keeping with the new, slimline sweet treats.
I’ve since found a number of explanations for this online. Many companies cite the shortage of cacao beans from Africa and the cheaper availability of palm oil instead, rising production costs, and, just to add salt to the wound, they claim they are showing a civic duty by trying to watch the world’s expanding waistlines by reducing their treats’ portion sizes. Yeah, right. Multi billion dollar companies genuinely concerned about your health? If that was the case, they would be in a different business altogether and brainwash everyone not to touch sweet treats PERIOD. But when money is at stake, it is far easier to sneakily do the shrinking routine while keeping prices high in order to keep the profits rolling in, and knowing perfectly well people will buy even more to make up for the smaller sized goodies.
This extends to what you see on the supermarket shelves. Notice how small and miserly your average packet of biscuits has become? You pick up a packet and you hear this distinctly hollow rattle in the packet. The same can be said about the likes of potato crisps, breakfast cereal, punnets of in-season berries, and I swear the other day that I noticed that the average tea bag has shrunk dramatically as well. My once favourite brand of instant coffee now tastes like they’ve swept the factory floor for all the grindings and have shipped the actual coffee off to God knows where. In a world where we have all manner of long life storage methods for all substances edible and otherwise, it does raise the question – where is all the actual produce GOING to? Certainly not onto supermarket shelves near us any time soon. If there is one certainty in this world, the only thing not being downsized in any way, shape or form is corporate profit.
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