{"id":1275,"date":"2018-05-07T05:01:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T05:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2018-05-07T05:05:35","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T05:05:35","slug":"unwrapping-chocolate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/2018\/05\/07\/unwrapping-chocolate\/","title":{"rendered":"Unwrapping Chocolate"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the contemplative practice on chocolate, my thinking focused on the origins of the cacao and how I take my ability to indulge for granted. Overall, the practice made me feel guilty. I contemplated swearing off chocolate, but couldn\u2019t entertain the idea for long and tried to forget the practice. However, when examining the variation of typical foods in a nation for my Hungry Planet paper, I considered my relationship with chocolate on this level instead of simply feeling guilty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

From https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Larabar-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Dough\/dp\/B01IRA6DO6<\/p><\/div>\n

The smooth and sweet substance has dressed s\u2019mores from around family campfires, covered birthday cakes enjoyed with friends, and filled holiday baskets. It is idealized as something special and decadent. Although those particular occasions evoke my immediate associations of chocolate, the sweet plays a role in my daily life; chocolate is in my granola bars, Starbucks order, and, this morning, pancakes. Chocolate enters my life almost unintentionally; its ubiquity influences my intake because I am not often actively seeking it, but it is offered as an option.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

From http:\/\/www.scholastic.com\/browse\/article.jsp?id=3755147<\/p><\/div>\n

The food culture in the United States turns chocolate into an oxymoron; it is both a luxury limited to celebration and an element of everyday consumption. This makes it difficult to consider removing it from my life because it\u2019s constantly available, sold in many forms, and central to holidays, like Halloween.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

From http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-15917164<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, I feel more conscious of my chocolate intake by noticing the when, where, what, and who is involved with my consumption. I realize despite buying fair-trade chocolate bars, I buy pastries and snacks that contain the ingredient without a thought to its integrity. I realize the Halloween candy I hand out to children is cheap because a child elsewhere is suffering. I still feel guilty, however, with this reflection over time I can identify changes I can make in my own life, prove life is possible without cheap chocolate, and share strategies with others.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the contemplative practice on chocolate, my thinking focused on the origins of the cacao and how I take my ability to indulge for granted. Overall, the practice made me feel guilty. I contemplated swearing off chocolate, but couldn\u2019t entertain the idea for long and tried to forget the practice. However, when examining the variation of typical foods in a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-practices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1289,"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions\/1289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}