Philippines

Over the last 10 years, I’ve watched as the US has long been a dominant force in the global craft chocolate scene, and as the power my country holds in chocolate …

It’s the 1950’s; your country is poor and in the throes of recovery from WWII— but in the south, there’s the promise of land. The Japanese occupied the Philippines for …

In researching chocolate shops in Manila, I re-started the process several times. I couldn’t seem to find any chocolate makers in Manila, or even get a good idea of where …

I heard the word tablea— also spelled tableya— so many times over my first couple of weeks in the Philippines, back in early 2017. I even bought some honey tablea …

“I almost give up… It’s very difficult, because you’re dealing with these farmers who have been in this practice for 40 years, 50 years. It’s really very difficult to change …

The Davao City chocolate scene is quite developed, with nearly a dozen local chocolate makers using local cacao to make chocolate. More often than not, this cacao is from their …

A commonly-quoted statistic is that the average age of a cacao farmer is 50 years old. That statistic comes from this 2014 article detailing studies done to determine the average …

“I would have thought that since cacao came into Asia through the Philippines, through that connection with Mexico, that the Philippines would be in as position now to be one …

People often remark that Filipinos and Mexicans have a lot in common, and this isn’t pure coincidence. From cuisine and Catholicism to a parallel colonial history, these shared traits extend …

“When you already have a product, you now have a story to tell about how this product came to be & where it all started.” -Wit Holganza Most countries around …