Be Fair

Winner of the Be Fair competition- its very cool, check it out

The best kind of justice.. edible!

If you’ve enjoyed the recipes we’ve tried over the last few months then you might want to head to the Sweet Justice web site. Representing Trade Aid’s range of Fairtrade baking products, the site has LOADS of yummy sounding things like Double Chocolate Banana Berry Muffins, Chocolate Chilli Mousse and Chocolate Cashew Biscotti.. well worth a look if you’re trying to procrastinate studying or looking for inspiration! And if you feel like reading instead of baking, there’s also lots of info about Fairtrade cocoa producers..

Secret benefactors in the coffee business

It is a fact that Fairtrade products appeal to a particular set of consumers. I know if I have a choice I will choose a Fairtrade product over one that doesn’t specify, within a student budget of course. What is surprising then is that some companies, and large ones, have chosen to go Fairtrade secretly. Choosing to fulfill all the criteria and go through the certification process with the Fairtrade Labelling Association but choosing not to display it on their packaging. As I learned this week at uni, you could call this deontological ethics (I like big words). All it means is that you do something because you think it is the right thing to do, not because of the consequences, ie not because it fits into your marketing strategy. Café Supreme is one example of this and also Hummingbird coffee. Its kind of cool.

Another secret subscriber to Fairtrade is the Ministry of Education. In their Dunedin offices and right across the country, MofE staffrooms are stocked with Fairtrade tea and coffee – but they don’t want to shout about it either, they’re just quietly getting on with it. Nice work!

Fairtrade gets illuminated on campus

Thats right! The Fairtrade logo is shining brightly in blue and green on the walls of the Union Bar and Grill, down the end of the Student Union building. The beans are brought in by Trade Aid as green beans and then roasted by Cerebos-Greggs, the Uni supplier who have their factory on Forth St.

Today I have to recommend getting your coffee takeaway and heading out to the union lawn so as to enjoy the springing of Spring and the gorgeous sunshine! As you will have noticed, daffodils are popping up and the cherry trees are bursting out all over campus and it’s 18°C - who’d have thought Dunedin could get days like this in September?!

As for the logo, New Zealand has the quickest growing recognition of the Fairtrade logo of all western countries. According to the Fairtrade Association, 46% of kiwis recognise the logo, up 50% from last year. Best of all, along with the recognition comes understanding as almost all those who know the label know what it means. (In the UK 88% of people recognise the label but only half know what Fairtrade means.)

ps. the image hidden inside the FT logo is a farmer with his arm raised..

Trade Aid and cool Fair Trade stuff!

To continue our search for great places to buy Fair Trade products we visited the Trade Aid Shop, at 133 George St, to see what we could find. I have fond memories of Trade Aid. As a child it was like a dim Aladdin’s cave, full of small and shiny and exotic things that smelled like places with huge moons and acacia trees, places with tigers and elephants and giant butterflies. Best of all, everything in the shop is, of course, Fair Trade.. so buying here will help people and their communities right across the globe . The shop in Dunedin is still full of bright-coloured and shiny things – jewellery, Russian Dolls, toys and candles, baskets and bags – but it also has Fairtrade food products.

This is what we found: Chilli, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Ginger and Cloves and to go with your spicy meal, there are yummy-flavoured poppadoms. There is Palestinian extra-virgin olive oil, cous cous, dates, raisins and nuts alongside all kinds of coffee, sugar, tea, cocoa and chocolate in dark, peppermint and mocha. Mouthwatering stuff, and if you want to wander among the exotic foods and exotic gifts they can whip you up a delicious flat white to sip on while you browse.

Read more about Trade Aid here

Dunedin Trade Aid coffee deal

grab your mug

Trade Aid in Dunedin- has fantastic coffee. Just by taking in your own mug you will get a large coffee for the price of a regular. So next time you need a coffee fix, have your coffee vessel at hand to be in on this great deal. Not only are you supporting fair trade you are limiting your waste and is sustainable way to drink takeaway coffee.

not fair??

So as I was never really serious about ditching coffee, I headed to Modaks today, another cafe from our Fairtrade list.  It is a nice, chilled out kind of place with lots of cool paintings for sale along the walls. Casually on my way out I ask the girl behind the counter which brand of Fairtrade coffee they use… “oh, we don’t use fairtrade.. we use coffee supreme but it’s the same thing.” YIKES! I feel like I’ve been punched. I am really, honestly surprised how ill this makes me feel, even though it’s entirely my own fault.. Have I  become a little possesive of the seven million farmers who subscribe to Fairtrade?

But to the real question, is Coffee Supreme similar to Fairtrade? Well, in a word, No. And their web site tells this pretty straight – I searched all over and there are a lot of statements about their search for quality coffee beans but none about quality of life for coffee producers.

For example: “We go to great lengths to obtain the highest quality green coffee samples, then roast and taste many options before purchase… About 80% of our coffee we import ourselves, from a handful of trusted US based brokers, and increasingly from growers or exporters at origin that we’ve developed relationships with.”

And yes, “trusted US brokers” sounds a bit evasive to me too. To be fair though, Coffee Supreme don’t make any claims that they are or attempt to be fair traders (but if you want to check them out yourselves at www.coffeesupreme.com) I’m interested to hear what you think! And I guess I’ve learned to check my facts beforehand next time..

Another tool to use to see what is fair trade coffee is http://www.thegreenguide.com/food/buying/coffee-label-decoder

alright gov’ner?

For me Governor’s Cafe  is like comfort food or late nineties dance music – it makes me happy instantly. Opposite the big church on George St, this cafe still has the same crooked tables and slightly uncomfortable chairs as when I first came here 8 years ago; it still has cool music and attracts an eclectic bunch of people – academics in tweed coats, bearded hippies, students, families, anyone and everyone. It’s all cosy and comfy, somewhere you can settle into a corner table, people watch and read the paper, well, all day if you wanted. The walls are covered with sketches on napkins, with flyers for bands, exhibitions and film festivals, the coffee is really good (and fair trade) and comes in a big mug and there is a bathtub full of goldfish upstairs.. I like it!