Keeping up the momentum gained from the Fine Chocolate Industry Association meeting takes effort. Let’s start by reviewing the basics of the Fine Chocolate Glossary and how you can get involved.
Anyone at the Fine Chocolate Industry Association meeting on June 24th probably will agree that the day flew by with way too many people to greet and catch up with and way too little time. Many attendees chose to spend a little of their valuable time hearing about the Fine Chocolate Glossary…but the “Lunch & Learn” structure left too little time for lunch and way too much to learn.
Summer responsibilities and motivations differ both across and within industries and I can draw parallels between the fine chocolate industry and my regular home in academia. In academia, summer offers the freedom from other responsibilities (classes, advising, committees, etc…) and an opportunity to focus on their areas of research (often also known as scholarship). At the same time, academics must balance this desire to make “real progress” with the need to relax and refresh before the next academic year begins. In the chocolate world, summer may not be the best time to make chocolate depending on where you live.
With NYC departure issues from JFK, my bags took an extended 5-day trip to reach me in Austin, TX. Fortunately, the chocolate I had packed within the bags did not melt! I find it a little too easy to just melt away at the thought of keeping the momentum going in the summer. However, as noted, summer does often offer the gift of time for some and we should take full advantage. To that end, I write to refresh the memory of those in attendance at FCIA, to summarize the tenets of the Fine Chocolate Glossary for those otherwise occupied and to reach out to everyone not able to attend the meeting.
Things to Know About the FCG:
- Identifiable Matters – authors contact provided
- “G” in Glossary Means Global
- Picture worth a 1000 words – entries ask for some bling
- An entry = not a disseration – just work to get people started
- Entries, not definitions – fluid, able to review
- Entries made by and meant for multiple stakeholders – no agenda
- Livable entries – have opportunity to develop
- PhD not required to author – just ability to do research
- Not a one size fits all model
- It’s YOUR Glossary.
Key Links (QR Codes on Posters)
Glossary Tutorial Entries in Need of Authors Entry Submission Form PDF Submission Requirements PDF Submit Feedback Submit an Entry
After the author has submitted an entry, the Glossary Manager uploads it to the website and then it becomes available for comment. I mentioned that the term Fairmade seeks immediate comments from FCIA members. No time limit exists in regards to feedback and the Glossary Committee will periodically review the content and update entries in cooperation with the original author. We can look forward to seeing about 20 or so entries appear in the Glossary as all the FCIA members make good on their commitment to author a term. To encourage entry completion, we will celebrate each one with a social media splash – stay tuned to hear about wild cacao, BIPOC and certification!
I encourage anyone to reach out with question about the Fine Chocolate Glossary. Much of the work such as identifing authors, writing invites, authors providing entries, and uploading entries, goes on in the background. However, I find it important to keep the Fine Chocolate Glossary alive and active. These special interest projects currently include incorporating the cadmium and lead information from the FCIA meeting into the Glossary, exploring the inclusion of new terms from origin and also perhaps Hawaii and reaching out to disentangle the terms used to describe “special” cacao such as fine-flavor, wild or native, rare and heirloom. If you have insights into any of these topics, please reach out to the Glossary. In the meantime, stay cool and get some words down for an entry.
I/You Should Be Writing
