Tamana Mountain Chocolate – Keeping the Art of Cocoa Cultivation Alive in Trinidad and Tobago

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 As a study abroad student in Trinidad and Tobago, I wanted to understand the connection between livelihoods and sustainability among small farmers. One of the few things I knew about the country was that chocolate was made from a cacao plant called Trinitario. One of the things I knew less about was colonial plantation agriculture and its influences on present-day life. Historically, mass production on the West Indian sugar plantation altered the trajectory of modern capitalism, the food industry, and tastes on both sides of the Atlantic, as I read in Sidney Mintz’s Sweetness and Power. But there was also cocoa production that had taken place in Trinidad, which continues centuries later through the concerted efforts of local farmers. One of these local cocoa farms, Tamana Mountain Chocolate, is run by the Matthew family. To better understand sustainable agriculture and explore the interrelationship between cocoa farmers and their local environment today, especially given the negative effects of climate change, I did ethnographic fieldwork with owners of and workers at Tamana Mountain Chocolate. Surrounded by the greenery that set apart the cocoa farm from the town, I spent time on the farm observing the hands-on processes of cocoa harvesting. The ripe cocoa pods are chosen and cut, broken open, and the beans extracted with the pulp and left to ferment naturally in the sun. The fermented beans then had to be roasted, and finally, the cocoa extracted from the roasted beans. That was the basis of cocoa production, I learned. Some cocoa nibs went into chocolate making too. Thanks in large part to local farmers, the cocoa industry has been revitalized in Trinidad and Tobago. However, this has not been without strife as the effects of climate change significantly affect production. Cocoa farmers have collaborated to build a community of care, sharing, and providing agricultural resources to face the challenges of fungal disease and heavy rainfall, for example. At Tamana Mountain Chocolate, they also offer tours on the history of the cocoa industry in Trinidad and fine chocolate making, as well as organizing pop-up markets to share knowledge. This local knowledge is extended to international audiences as University of Minnesota students visit the farm each year to extract beans and participate in cultivation. All in all, these activities were meant to encourage youths’ interest and participation in cocoa production, learning from the art of cultivation in the past and looking toward the future. 

By Abigail Hughes


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