Applications Open for 2019 Chocolate Conservatory which Opens October 28 in Paris

Applications have opened for the 2019 Chocolate Conservatory scheduled for October 28 – 29 in Paris, France.

Chocolate Conservatory, an international forum for innovative and emerging research and education on specialty cocoa and chocolate is organised by the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute (FCCI) and European Business School (EBS).

A press statement copied to Cocoa Post noted, Conservatory attendees would over two days experience the intensity – and challenge – of understanding the present state of the industry and co-designing its future through a series of lectures, panel discussions, and workshops.

Invitations are set to be sent out to applicants by Thursday, September 26 and the cost of registration is €275 per participant.

According to organisers, the 2018 event had half of Conservatory attendees hailing from cacao-growing communities and, due to the payment of registration fees by their counterparts from chocolate-consuming countries, they paid no registration fee.

This year, the event organizers anticipate participant representation from over 25 countries.

The event will offer simultaneous translation in English, French, and Spanish.

The conference program is co-organized by award-winning researchers and educators Dr. Carla D. Martin of Harvard University and FCCI and Dr. Marie-Catherine Paquier of European Business School, with the sensory experience design of FCCI Latin American Cultural Exchange Fellow, José López Ganem.

Founded in 2018 at Harvard University, The Chocolate Conservatory gathers together engaged industry professionals to work closely with a diverse and talented group of creative actors from specialty food and academia, providing an opportunity for constructive dialogue.

The program is complemented by sensory experiences designed to educate and inspire as new ideas and future collaborations emerge.

The 2019 Conservatory’s setting on the European Business School campus and amid Paris’ storied luxury business scene provides an ideal environment for discussing projects, sharing insights, getting to know colleagues, and becoming acquainted with the next generation of significant work in cacao and chocolate.

The 2019 Conservatory focuses on the theme The Responsibility of Taste. The specialty cacao-chocolate industry has been heavily focused on taste – quality of flavor and the ability to discern quality – as a vehicle of market differentiation.

At the same time, many of the marketing tools of specialty chocolate rely on linking good taste to social and economic goodness.

The links among these elements remain blurry, are not yet clearly defined by specialty cacao or chocolate producers, and often rely on interpretations of work from related but different industries.

The Conservatory will foster a thoughtful conversation on what this means for the future of chocolate.

Attendees at the Conservatory hail from the realms of cacao production, trade, chocolate manufacturing, retail, hospitality, specialty food, anthropology, agricultural economics, business studies, and development studies.