Please note: the performance and Q&A is in French.
No translation or subtitles will be provided.

With Cacao Quest, the Belgian development agency Enabel, together with Tadam, a theatre company specialised in educational theatre, created a performance to raise awareness among young people (16+) about the social and environmental impact of our consumption choices.
The performance takes you on a journey through the cocoa sector and the challenges it faces. Through a witty, sharp-edged adventure, the show invites you to look differently at consumption, Fair Trade and environmental issues.

The story

In the not-too-distant future, where chocolate has become a luxury item as rare as gold, three teenagers – Emilio, Nelson and Lucia – discover a mysterious bag full of chocolate bars in an alleyway. At first, they are thrilled by their find, but they soon realise that this treasure raises many questions: where did it come from? And above all, what to do with this priceless haul?

When they taste this precious product for the first time, their senses are awakened and they embark on an investigation that takes them to the other side of the world, to Ivory Coast, where this story begins. They follow the cocoa supply chain: the plantations devouring the forest, the children labouring under the scorching sun, the underpaid farmers struggling to survive whilst multinationals rake in huge profits.

Torn between the desire to keep it all for themselves and the responsibility to do something, the three teenagers embark on a surprising quest: they set out to discover where the chocolate they hold in their hands comes from and the journey it takes before ending up on our shop shelves. How can they fight back against a market controlled by big business? Should they sell their treasure and keep it all? Share it? Or perhaps destroy it?

In a funny, biting adventure, this play explores our relationship with consumerism, fair trade and the issues surrounding globalisation.

Q&A

The play is followed by a Q&A moderated by Samuel Poos. Samuel Poos is a Belgian economist committed to greater equity and sustainability in trade. He began his career at Oxfam-Magasins du monde, where he developed partnerships with producer organisations. Since 2005, he has been a project manager at the Trade for Development Centre (TDC), a programme of the Belgian development agency (Enabel), where he promotes more sustainable trade practices.

Samuel Poos played a key role in the creation of the Belgian Fair Trade Federation (BFTF), which aims to bring together businesses within the sector. His expertise extends to the analysis of commodity supply chains, such as cocoa and coffee, where he highlights the economic, social, and environmental challenges faced by farmers. He takes a keen interest in the trends towards fairer trade, such as the development of local supply chains (milk, fruit, cereals), and advocates for fair prices in both the Global North and South.,

Samuel wil be assisted by a subject-matter expert (name tbc).

(Pictures: Enabel)