Dancing the Cocoa

摘要

In Trinidad, we dance the cocoa to polish the beans with our feet to an earth brown sheen (Figure 1) before they are exported. Unlike dancing the cocoa, chocolate making is not a tradition in my island. What we do not prepare for export, we eat and drink directly from the Food of the Gods itself and we make cocoa tea using ground beans and spices. I dance the cocoa in my own way — finishing the choreography that the farmer started — from roasting the beans to moulding smooth chocolate bars, barks and fruity bonbons (Figure 2). This dance with cacao has changed me and now roots me in the land where I was born.