We started the day off by taking a cruise tour along Amsterdam’s various canals, enriching ourselves on the geography and history of the city. From the boat, we were able to clearly see the architecture of each building that we had walked past yesterday, which gave me a completely new perspective of the sizes and shapes of the buildings in Amsterdam. I noticed that some of the buildings were bent sideways, a term that the recorded guide called “sagging.” We later found out that this was because many of the older houses were made with wooden foundations, but over time, the planks would rot and the building would tilt to one side. Houses are now built with a cement foundation to avoid this, but as we walked through the city after the canal tour, we couldn’t help but notice all of the sagging buildings we passed throughout the city.

We then visited a local chocolate store, Cacao and Spice, where we met the owners, Salome and Ian, and had our first company visit. Firstly, Salome shared with us the history behind her store and several specific chocolate bars. She taught us that much of the chocolate companies around the world use fair trade where several middle men are used in order to produce chocolate cheaply, and this often leads to increased child slavery. Cacao and Spice only uses direct trade, which means that they get their cacao beans directly from the farmers, allowing the farmers to be payed a much higher wage then when fair trade is used. They also only select producers that make the chocolate in the same country as the farmer to allow for greater job opportunities for developing countries and greater economic status.

Cacao and Spice also only buys their cacao beans from farmers that use biodiverse environment as opposed to a monoculture environment which is often used in the chocolate business. Because cacao plants are shadow trees, they require other plants to grow above it. A biodiverse environment has different trees growing around the cacao, further enriching the soil and prevented the chemical “sunscreens” used in monoculture. This is extremely sustainable because it decreases deforestation of native plants and keeps the soil healthy, while also adding natural flavors into the chocolate. We tried several different dark, milk, and white chocolates, and I could taste the earthiness in each one of them. Salome also explained that each farm they bought cacao beans from had a different taste because of the other plants surrounding the cacao.

Cacao and Spice not only had delicious chocolate, but had several other products that came from previously wasted byproducts of the cacao bean. During the chocolate making process, the cacao beans have to undergo fermentation where a liquid is released, and is traditionally disposed of. However, at Cacao and Spice, they sell this liquid byproduct as 100% natural juice, and I can attest that it was delicious. Salome told us that just by making cacao juice from the fermentation product can increase the income in cacao plantations by 30 to 40 percent. While establishing their company, Salome and Ian also realized that the largest part of the plant, the outer shell, was completely discarded after the beans were removed. They noticed that this part of the plant was very hard and durable, so in order to make their company even more sustainable, they ground the outer shell into flooring. This way, none of the plant is wasted and underrepresented farmers can make a much higher salary.

We also went on a walking tour with Ian through Amsterdam where he showed us the stock exchange, Holocaust monuments, and took us through a cheese factory. However, apart form some history about the Netherlands and Amsterdam, he also told us about the future plans for the city. Amsterdam has its first female mayor, and she is already making progressive changes to the city. Ian explained to us that historically, Amsterdam has a reputation with drugs and sex work because of the “Red Light District,” which used to be a place for sailors to unwind after a long and demanding trip. However, Amsterdam is no longer a port city and there are no more sailors, so the mayor wants to reform the streets of Amsterdam.

For this project, the city council bought out almost all of the buildings in the Red Light District, and is only selling them to small, female owned shops. While walking through the street, we saw one of the new additions which was an instrument shop implemented for people that could not afford to buy them, and could practice for free. If they got good at playing the instrument, they could even stay permanently in a room in upper floors of the building. It was incredible to learn what is to come for this booming city, and I can not wait to return some day when it is all in effect.

I left today feeling so enlightened. I was blown away by how much I learned from talking to the owners of Cacao and Spice and about their sustainability practices. I have never met entrepreneurs so passionate about their work and making sure that it is done in a way that aligns with all of their societal and personal values. This experience left me feeling incredibly inspired and wanting to learn as much as possible about what we can implement into our daily lives to make each step more sustainable. I was moved by Salome’s presentation and I hope for their continued success in the future, especially because their chocolate was absolutely delicious (even the Carolina reaper one)! See you tomorrow Amsterdam!