Keeping it fair
Knowing what we now know, it is difficult to really enjoy a cup of coffee, tea or cocoa unless it's a Fair Trade brand 44% of Irish people now recognise the Fair Trade label, as opposed to 16% in 2002.
Not only has awareness increased, but the quality and variety of the produce has also improved. Sales of some Fair Trade mark coffee and tea grew by 50% last year.
Fair Trade standards also exist for sugar, bananas, fruit and vegetables, dried fruit, fruit juices, rice, wine, nuts and oilseeds, cut flowers, ornamental plants, cotton and sports balls.
Having travelled to both Guatemala and Costa Rica, and seen first-hand the conditions of the coffee and banana workers, I am acutely aware not only of the hardships they endure, but also the phenomenal amount of pesticides that are used in conventional production, so it's good to see that more and more Fair Trade products are also organic.
In April 2002 I spent a couple of weeks on an eco-tourism adventure in Costa Rica. Having trudged through rainforests and whizzed passed acres of fincas, bananas will never seem quite the same again. Costa Rica is the world's second largest banana producer.
Eco-tourism is Costa Rica's number one earner, followed by bananas and coffee. However, pollution caused by the agri-export industry is threatening its image as a Garden of Eden.
Over on this side of the world, we seem to attach considerable importance to perfectly shaped, unblemished fruits. A huge cocktail of potentially dangerous chemicals is used in banana cultivation 20% of which serve only to improve the appearance of the fruit and are not essential for disease control.
Eco-travellers who pass through the banana plantations of Costa Rica or who take river trips, especially along the Rio Sarapiqui, can't fail to spot the blue plastic bags which cover the fruit on every tree. The perfect formation of Costa Rica's bananas is due largely to the fact that they grow inside these pesticide-lined bags, some of which inevitably make their way into the rivers and lakes where they are consumed by the fish, mammals and iguanas.
In the Rio Tempisque basin, armadillos and crocodiles are thought to have been virtually exterminated by agricultural pesticides.
Unfortunately, animals are not alone in being at risk from the pesticides. In 1987, a hundred Costa Rican banana plantation workers sued Dow Chemicals, Shell and Standard Fruit for producing and using a chemical which is known to cause sterility. Although they won the case in the US courts, the companies appealed. However, since then, several harmful pesticides have been banned.
On a day trip to Kekoldi Reserve, home to the indigenous Bribri tribe, we drove through miles and miles of banana fincas. All along the way were people working in the plantations.
They carry the huge bunches to the roadside, where they are piled up to be transported by mule or canoe, then by lorry to the packing station and onwards to the port at Limon, where ships wait to transport them across the world.
Down by the edge of the Sarapiqui river, we watched as the bananas and plantains (a larger variety) were weighed and the farmers were paid in cash on the spot. Most then had a simple meal of beans and rice before walking back to their farms.
The good news is that the acreage of organic production is increasing in Costa Rica and more Fair Trade projects have been put in place to ensure that workers get a fair price and good work conditions.
Cork city hopes to be the first Irish Fair Trade City; so far, Clonakilty is the only certified Fair Trade town in Ireland. The story of the commitment of the people of that town to the ethos of Fair Trade has been a remarkable example of a community working together to reach out to those who labour and harvest many of our favourite food and drinks for subsistence wages.
We can all help by seeking out and buying Fair Trade products on a regular basis. Ask local shops and supermarkets to stock a range. Check cafes and restaurants are serving Fair Trade products. The Coffee Cuisine group (Kylemore Cafes) will be serving Fair Trade coffee, tea and hot chocolate in all of their eight branches.
The price difference is very little to us but the feelgood factor is immense.
150g/6oz butter
150g/6oz caster sugar, (plus 50g/2oz for meringue)
7 eggs, separated
175g/7oz dark Fairtrade chocolate, melted
125g/5oz self-raising flour, sifted
Buttercream: 100g/4oz butter, softened
175g/7oz icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon Fairtrade ground coffee, or 1½ teaspoons Fairtrade instant coffee
Chocolate cake: Preheat oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
Grease and line the base of a deep 23cm/9-inch round cake tin. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in egg yolks one at a time, and then stir in the melted chocolate.
Whisk egg whites until stiff, then fold in sugar to make meringue.
Alternately fold in flour and meringue to the chocolate mix.
Transfer mix to tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is firm to touch and a skewer can be withdrawn cleanly.
Leave to cool in the tin, then transfer to a cooling rack until cold.
Split cake in half and fill with Fairtrade coffee buttercream.
For the buttercream, infuse the ground coffee in a tablespoon of boiled water, then strain; or dissolve the instant coffee in half a teaspoon of boiling water.
Beat the butter until light and fluffy.
Add the icing sugar to the mix a little at the time, beating well in between.
Gradually beat in the coffee.
(recipe from Jane Asher)
I HAVE always loved this moist, tasty banana bread. It keeps for up to two weeks in a tin but I doubt you will find this out as it will be gobbled up quickly.
Serve it thickly sliced, spread with soft butter.
This recipe makes one large loaf.
225g/8oz self raising flour
½ level teaspoon salt
110g/4oz butter
170g/6oz caster sugar
110g/4oz sultanas or seedless raisins
30g/1oz chopped walnuts
110g/4oz cherries, washed and halved
2 eggs, preferably free range
450g/1lb very ripe Fairtrade bananas (weighed out of skins)
Loaf tin: 9½ inches x 5½ inches x 2inches, lined with greaseproof or silicone paper.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/regulo 4.
In a large, wide mixing bowl sieve the flour and salt. Rub in the butter, add the sugar. Stir in sultanas or seedless raisins, the walnuts and the glace cherries. Mash the bananas with a fork, add the eggs and mix this well into the other ingredients.
The dough should be a nice soft consistency.
Pour the mixture into the lined tin and spread evenly. Place in the centre of a moderate oven and bake for 1½ hours. It is vital that the oven door is not opened during cooking or the banana bread will collapse.
Cool before removing from the tin.
It's even nicer after a day or two.
Makes 7-8 large muffins
100g plain flour
40g cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
90g unrefined (golden) Fairtrade sugar
40g melted butter
1 egg, beaten
2 ripe Fairtrade bananas, well mashed
80ml buttermilk
50g Fairtrade milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks
Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Sieve flour, cornmeal, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl. Stir in sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, egg, bananas and buttermilk. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix gently (do not over-mix).
Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill a muffin tin (ideally lined with muffin cases) to just under the rim. Bake for about 30 minutes until golden-brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tin.
(Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall)
Serves 4-6.
: 225g plain flour 2 medium eggs up to 500ml milk.
: 250g good quality butter
toffee (broken up if in a block)
3 tablespoons milk
10 ripe Fairtrade bananas, sliced
Sieve the flour and beat in the eggs. Beat in the milk a little at a time until the batter has the consistency of single cream.
Put the toffee and 3 tablespoons of milk in a heavy pan.
Stir constantly over a low heat until the toffee has melted and the sauce is smooth. It should be nice and hot.
Fry the pancakes in a lightly oiled non-stick pan.
When bubbles appear (after approx 1-1½ mins) turn the pancake. Stack them up and keep warm while you cook the rest.
Place slices of banana down the middle of each pancake and pour over a generous amount of toffee sauce.
Fold over each side of the pancake into the middle.
Decorate with more banana slices and toffee sauce.
Serves one.
1 large fairtrade banana
200ml ice cold milk (skimmed if you prefer)
1 tablespoon porridge oats
2 ice cubes
Place all the ingredients in a blender and whizz for approximately one minute until smooth.
Pour into a tall glass and enjoy.
What you can do to help Fairtrade
By yourself: Choose Fairtrade Mark coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, bananas and fruit juice when doing your shopping.
At work: Get your workplace to change over to Fairtrade Mark tea or coffee. Fairtrade Ireland can support you with samples, leaflets, etc.
At school: Show the Fair Comment video (available from Fairtrade Ireland), have a coffee morning, start a Fairtrade tuck shop. Contact Fairtrade Ireland to organise a workshop.
Where you live: Ask your local shop or supermarket to stock Fairtrade Mark products. Convince your favourite coffee shop to Fairtrade Mark coffee or tea.
See how you can help make your city or town a Fairtrade one.
For further information:
Fairtrade Mark Ireland, Carmichael House, North Brunswick St, Dublin 7. Tel 01-4753515,
info@fairtrade.ie; www.fairtrade.ie.
Fairtrade Cork Project, c/o Comhlamh,
55 Grand Parade, Cork. Tel 021-4275881,
info@fairtradecork.com;
www.fairtradecork.com.
Thai ingredients: Sukunya Foods,
tel 022 25941, sukunyafood@fastmail.fm;
Also from Superfruit, Douglas Shopping Centre, Douglas, Cork. Tel 021-489 4179.
