How Relationships Sustain Bean-to-Bar Chocolate, From Forest Gardens to Farmers’ Markets
In this episode, the Feeding City Lab sits down with ChocoSol’s founder, Michael Sacco, to dive deep into the journey of bean-to-bar chocolate making—rooted in forest gardens, regenerative agroecology, and the power of community.
Michael shares how ChocoSol first began at an organic farmers’ market in Oaxaca in 2004, with solar roasters and bicycle-powered grinders, and how it has since grown into a vibrant learning community and social enterprise. Through an actionist approach built on relationships, rootedness, and ecological regeneration, ChocoSol continues to challenge conventional chocolate production.
Listeners will get an inside look at the people and partnerships that make ChocoSol what it is today—from Jaguar cacao to popped amaranth, all made possible through forest garden regeneration, friendship, and solidarity. Michael also discusses how seasonality shapes our work and takes listeners behind the scenes into our Toronto-based production facilities.
A Field Visit to the Forest Gardens of Oaxaca
In this episode, Feeding City Lab transports listeners to the forest gardens of Oaxaca, where the roots of ChocoSol’s chocolate run deep. Michael Sacco joins Culinaria Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Nino Bariola on a visit to the Indigenous Chinanteco community of San Felipe de León to meet with cacao growers and community leaders working towards regeneration and biodiversity.
During their visit, they sit down with Don Max and his daughter Miriam, two key partners in ChocoSol’s network of growers, to explore how cacao is cultivated, harvested, and fermented to bring out its rich flavours. This episode provides a firsthand look at how biodiversity isn’t just vital to cacao cultivation—it’s essential to the resilience of the communities growing it.
This bilingual episode includes an in-depth conversation between Dr. Jaclyn Rohel and Nino Bariola in English, alongside short segments in Spanish from Nino’s original interviews with Don Max and Miriam. Immersive environmental soundscapes bring the forest garden to life, allowing listeners to experience the sights and sounds of the land where our chocolate begins.
