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    How A Venezuelan Chef Is Teaching Women To Make Chocolate And Money

    Some of the world's best cacao grows in Venezuela, a country roiled by political turmoil. One chocolatier is betting those beans can propel a whole industry and turn women into micro-entrepreneurs.
    by Larissa Zimberoff Sep 25, 2017 4 minutes
    Entrepreneurs sort cocoa beans on a tray at Cacao de Origen, a school founded by Maria Di Giacobbe to train Venezuelan women in the making of premium chocolate. Zeina Alvarado (left) later found work in a bean-to-bar production facility in Mexico.

    Even when things aren't going your way, there's chocolate: a universal balm if ever there was one. While cacao beans –– the precursor of a chocolate bar –– grow in many places, one country where you can find superb specimens is Venezuela.

    Unfortunately, for well over a decade, the country has been in a downward spiral. One woman is working tirelessly to circumvent this new normal. Maria Fernanda Di Giacobbe is a Venezuelan chocolatier who has dedicated her life to proving that her country's cacao can propel an entire industry, even when the world around it is floundering.

    "I was born in a kitchen with the scents of guava and the aroma of chocolate," says Di Giacobbe.

    The chef learned her culinary skills. The economy tanked and along with it went the cafes. Only one, Soma Café in a popular area of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, is left.

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