Chocolate bean endangerment: an immersive food and sound experience
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What is better than chocolate ice cream? Or a hot chocolate on a cold, winter day? Or a box of Belgian chocolates? Or even a fudgy and decadent chocolate brownie?
We can all agree that chocolate is one of the biggest life pleasures and a part of the everyday life of many. But this year Tropentag, through an immersive multisensory activity, immersed the participants in a new, unique, and comprehensive experience in the world of cacao. Fasten your seatbelts and follow along the sweetest ride.
I walked into a dark room with my eyes closed. I could hear birds roosting in the pleasant waves of wind. Surrounded by this unique environment, I tasted fresh cocoa beans. The first bite was enough to stimulate my sensory buds as it never happened before. It was a burst of flavour, that threw me into an out-of-body experience. All of a sudden, I was in a cacao tree forest, and the nature surrounding me was hugging me with a distinct, bitter cacao flavour.
The birds chirping got louder and more persistent, and a new sound caught my attention. Someone was cutting down the cacao. It was a soothing sound, and the thought of the cacao bean was mouthwatering. And all of a sudden, my eyes were open again. And in front of me, they are mixing an artificial cacao with water. I tasted it. “Where is my real cacao?”, I was internally screaming. Artificial cacao didn’t cut it for me anymore.
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We are at risk of having to learn how to appreciate artificial cacao flavouring because climate change is endangering cacao plantations, together with deforestation and over-exploitation of natural resources.
The “Cacao: The Sound of Extinction” project was a collaboration between food designer Inés Lauber and sound composer Alexei Galar. The project was supported by Original Beans (single-origin chocolate and cacao beans) and Barsega Gallery Studio (ceramics).
Photo credits: Studio Inés Lauber