Summary
Rotten Season 2 Episode 5, “Bitter Chocolate” is an important chapter, highlighting how supply chains are often overlooked for worker exploitation.
This recap of Netflix Series Rotten Season 2 Episode 5, “Bitter Chocolate” contains spoilers. You can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.
The start of Episode 5 makes you salivate, discussing how wonderfully crafted Belgian chocolate is. I genuinely believe that chocolate is likely to be the tastiest food on earth. The chapter focuses on a particular Belgian factory, that makes its chocolate in such a way that it melts in your mouth at a specific temperature. Here I was hungry for chocolate, waiting to be hit by a Rotten revelation.
“Bitter Chocolate” asks the audience the question — do you even know where chocolate comes from, or what it looks like? This question stumped me slightly; I’ve never seen the origin of the beans. A worker on a cocoa farm explains how he has no idea how to make the beans into chocolate for “the white man”.
But what’s telling about Episode 5 is that chocolate companies are faced with the task to ensure that their supply chain is not riddled by worker exploitation. Underpaid workers that spend hours cutting down beans for the wider consumer is viewed as a PR disaster, forcing companies to find socially conscious methods to ensure their revenues are not linked to terrible working conditions.
But this notion is not new; every year, we learn that a company is linked to a corrupt supply chain. “Bitter Chocolate” explains to the audience that some workers in West Africa are paid $200 a year for working on these farms. That is ludicrously below the minimum wage, and a result of corporate supply chain slavery.
Which brings me on to my next point. More can be done to stop modern slavery from occurring and forcing farmers to undersell their worth. As someone who has a career in procurement, supply chains can be looked at and investigated; due-diligence carried out. The issue here is the availability of these farms, and how to make social changes to ensure workers do not continue to be exploited to appease our taste buds. Rotten Season 2 Episode 5, “Bitter Chocolate” is a seriously important chapter in the Netflix series.
You can read the recap of the sixth episode by clicking these words.
