Doing good by tasting good

Mark Zurolo ’01MFA

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What does a high-end organic chocolate bar produced by a cooperative of Ecuadorian native farmers have to do with Yale? The link is in the person of Judy Logback. She's now a student at the School of Management and the environment school, but 12 years ago, as a volunteer in the Ecuadorian rain forest, she helped the local Kichwa people sell their cacao directly at markets. By 2004, Logback had helped persuade the Kichwa to make and market their own chocolate. The result is Kallari, a brand that can be found at Whole Foods stores in the United States. Kallari says it is “the only farmers' cooperative in the world that harvests, markets, and enjoys all the profits from its own line of organic chocolate.” And how does it taste? Online reviewers have been enthusiastic, and self-proclaimed “supermarket guru” Phil Lempert declares: “This is what chocolate is supposed to taste like.”