Show of chocolate-themed art depicts Asia’s relationship with key ingredient cocoa

Art exhibition in Hong Kong sets out to educate people about where chocolate comes from and how it is made

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In Stranger Lands: Cocoa’s Journey to Asia, at Tang Contemporary Art, curated by Caroline Ha Thuc (above), examines chocolate’s history in Asia. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 1:15pm, 26 Oct 2024

Chocolate is universally loved, and possesses the power to lift one’s mood by releasing the feel-good chemical dopamine.

In 2022 more than eight million tonnes (7.8 million tons) of chocolate was consumed globally and it is a US$120 billion industry, one dominated by Germany, Belgium, Italy and Poland.

While Europeans eat the most chocolate and Europe is the leading processor of cocoa beans, chocolate’s key ingredient, the continent lacks the hot and humid conditions needed to grow the evergreen cacao trees that produce the beans.

The production of cocoa beans is centred on West Africa, with Ivory Coast and Ghana producing more than 60 per cent of the world’s supply. But intensifying heatwaves and rainstorms, a result of climate change, combined with illegal gold mining, disease and deforestation are hurting harvests, and have sent cocoa prices to record highs.

In Stranger Lands: Cocoa’s Journey to Asia exhibition runs at Tang Contemporary Art, in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong, until November 14. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The International Cocoa Organisation has projected that global production this season will fall by 14.2 per cent. Less cocoa could mean consumers paying more for chocolate.

Asia is fast becoming a leading player in cocoa production. But which Asian countries produce cocoa beans, who are the farmers cultivating them, what challenges do they face and why has chocolate taken so long to register on Asia’s culinary landscape?