Chocoday -2009 October, 12th
THE CULTURE OF GOOD CHOCOLATE

Open Chocolatiers is this year’s big innovation, in collaboration with Fairtrade Italia. Teaching activities at schools are back, along with the partnership with CoorDown for the National Down Syndrome Day

For the fifth consecutive year, Monday 12 October 2009, will again be Chocoday, the National Cocoa and Chocolate Day created and promoted by Eurochocolate in collaboration with Fairtrade Italia, the organisation that certifies fair-trade products to celebrate and promote Good Chocolate in Italy and around the world.

Good because it is made exclusively with cocoa butter and mass, without any added fat or vegetable oil. Good because it defends the ethical and social values tied to its production. And good because it is monitored throughout every production phase in terms of biodiversity, transparency and traceability.

Cocoa producers, exporters and importers, chocolate producers, patisseries, chocolatiers, trade associations, schools, NGOs, institutions, companies and choco-lovers can offer a tangible sign of their desire to protect the quality of chocolate by signing the Chocoday Manifesto at www.chocoday.com and organising activities to learn more about chocolate, distinguished by the official Chocoday logo (which can be requested free of charge).

Thanks to the partnership with Fairtrade Italia, the first Open Chocolatiers event will be organised this year: chocolatiers and patisseries all over Italy will allow the public to enter and discover the secrets of Italy’s best artisanal chocolate, made exclusively with chocolate certified by Fairtrade.

Educational activities will be held again at schools, where children and teens will receive an original “learning kit”. They will also participate in laboratories, lessons and workshops, where they will get in-depth information about the production chain, from cocoa plantations to the chocolate that is regularly served at our tables, in order to encourage aware consumption from an early age.

Following last year’s success, once again Chocoday is supporting National Down Syndrome Day, promoted by the Coordination of Down Syndrome Associations. It will be held on Sunday 11 October, in more than 200 squares in Italy, in order to encourage respect and awareness of diversity, overcome prejudices and promote true integration in schools and workplaces.

In short, Chocoday is an important initiative in order to spread the proper culture of chocolate and promote policies that can support an ethical profile in the sector’s economic sphere.

Everyone can contribute to defending good chocolate by signing the Chocoday Manifesto at www.chocoday.com!