ECUADOR: ORIGINS AND DOMESTICATION OF COCOA / CONSUMPTION OF CHOCOLATE IN CANADA

The Embassy of Ecuador in Canada and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, IICA, in its delegation in Canada, are pleased to invite you to the webinar "Ecuador: origins and domestication of cocoa. Consumption of chocolate in Canada".

The webinar will allow attendees to learn about the origins of cocoa domestication and its early use five thousand years ago by the inhabitants of Santa Ana, La Florida, in what would become the canton of Palanda, in the province of Zamora Chinchipe in present-day Ecuador. Attendees will then follow the cocoa route as it transits to Mesoamerica, Europe, and the rest of the world in the 16^th century, according to research undertaken by an Ecuadorian-Canadian team led by renowned archaeologist Francisco Valdez.

The webinar will also explain the process of planting, harvesting, production, and marketing of cocoa, including the consumption of chocolate in Canada, which annually amounts to an average of six kilograms per inhabitant.