National Chocolate Week, moments of delight!

What is the feeling like when gifted chocolate on special days and especially in the month of love?

Historically in the year 1895, our legend Tetteh Quarshie upon his arrival from his farm in the Eastern Region with cocoa beans from Fernando Po, presently an island in Bioko Equatorial Guinea introduced cocoa to Ghana.

Across Ghana, cocoa is grown and processed into variety of goods, such as chocolate, cocoa butter cream, cocoa butter lotion, cocoa drink, Milo, etc. All of these products are essential to the development and growth of the human system and the nation as a whole.

Cocoa butter, a product made from cocoa has a decent source of vitamin E which benefits the body in many ways. Vitamin E supports vision, reproduction and the health of your skin, brain and blood. Cocoa butter contains a high amount of fatty acid and that acid creates a protective barrier that holds in moisture and prevents your skin from drying.

According to research, chocolate and cocoa-based products lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of clotting and increase blood circulation to the heart and lower the risk of stroke.

The Ghana Tourism Authority in 2005, introduced the National Chocolate Day to align with valentine’s day which falls on the 14th of February as a way of promoting Ghana’s cocoa and cocoa-based products especially chocolate in this month of love.

In recent times, there has been a strong collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and Cocoa Processing Companies (CPC) to make it a whole week, therefore giving it the name, National Chocolate Week. The theme for this year is “Eat Chocolate, Stay Healthy, Grow Ghana” and sub-themed ‘My Chocolate Experience, Eat Chocolate And Enjoy Healthy Life’.

As part of Ghana Tourism Authority’s objective to promote domestic tourism through Ghanaian culture, the initiative See Ghana, Wear Ghana, and Feel Ghana was launched to promote the consumption of made-in-Ghana products, and also to ignite the Ghanaian spirit to patronize these made-in-Ghana products and also patronize cocoa-based products like chocolate because of the benefits derived from them.

Although Ghana Tourism Authority promotes Ghana domestically, they also do it internationally. With this, they attend international conferences that are fairs and exhibitions where cocoa and cocoa-based products like chocolates are showcased.

This is done to encourage the consumption of chocolate and also market cocoa-based products internationally. Recent fairs and exhibitions attended by the Ghana Tourism Authority to promote chocolate and cocoa-based products include Vakantiebeurs in the Netherlands. Another is the Spain FITUR where Ghana’s cocoa and cocoa-based products like chocolate are exhibited on one of the biggest Spanish markets.

The National Chocolate Week is mainly to increase domestic consumption of Ghana’s chocolate and other cocoa-based products, promote tourism and give Valentine’s Day in Ghana a healthy orientation.

When was the last time you enjoyed a bar of chocolate?

Come this National Chocolate Week, let’s all eat more chocolate and consume more natural cocoa to refresh and strengthen the body.

Together let’s all share some chocolates as a way of expressing our love to others this National Chocolate Week.

Happy National Chocolate Week

Written by:

Hafsat Salih

Racheal Asantewaa Boadi

Dzivenoo Franklin Kwame

National Service Personnels

(Ghana Tourism Authority