In the photo above: Megan with three of our amazing volunteers, Francis, Natalie and Elzy-Mae, without whom the SGO would not be what it is today!

Has it really been 2 months since our Taste-Off? How time flies! To promote Fairtrade Fortnight, the SGO ran a Fairtrade Taste-Off in Touchdown Café, giving you lovely students a chance to taste a variety of Fairtrade chocolate and vote for your favourite! Here is a review from the SGO’s wonderful Francis Olaku, who volunteered at the event. This is what he thought about it:

Monday 29th February was our free Fairtrade Chocolate Taste-Off. Fairtrade chocolate differs from regular chocolate because the farmers get paid a fair amount for the beans that they cultivate, that are in turn made into chocolate. They also receive many benefits from Fairtrade, an enhanced quality of life and further community benefits. We ran a stand for students in Touchdown Café to introduce them to the importance and benefits of Fairtrade. There were three types of chocolate to sample, ‘Divine’ Milk Chocolate, ‘Meaningful Chocolate’ Orange & Milk Chocolate, and ‘Divine’ Dark Chocolate with Almond and Raisins. For someone that usually loathes Dark Chocolate, I was surprised at how delicious this tasted. It was not as bitter as the other unpleasant Dark Chocolate I have tried. 

Surprisingly, the vast majority of students thought that there might be a catch involved- that we might charge them for the chocolate. When we explained that there was no catch, many came out of their shells and happily received the chocolate- with some taking a hearty amount, I might add! It was a delightful sight, as we all know how important chocolate is- one of your five a day, I heard.*

We also provided recipes that students could take away if they wanted. All in all, I thought that it was a successful event. Many who did not know about Fairtrade chocolate were able to find out more about it, and I believe that we’ve planted a seed in them. So next time, we hope they might choose the Fairtrade chocolate over the regular non-Fairtrade brand. 

*This may be a slight lie, even if there is orange flavouring in the chocolate. 

Written by student blogger and volunteer,
Francis Olaku