This newsletter has been months in the making and could easily have been titled, “Why DWN doesn’t release a Dubai chocolate bar.” In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, we received more inquiries than usual asking if we made it. For the last two weeks, I have been receiving almost daily alerts from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency regarding pistachio products being recalled due to salmonella. And now, Lindt Canada released their Dubai chocolate bar with a price tag of $20.
The answer has always been, and will remain, no despite all of the hype.
My team has heard me say this many times, but my friend Tommy put it perfectly: 'Why be an influencer when you can be a trailblazer? Food trends only have value in the moment, during that brief window of online clout.' I don’t expect DWN chocolate to spark viral trends—but we do stay true to our values, creating products inspired by the ingredients around us, not what’s popular online. I want every bar to tell a story, not follow a fad. Also, my business model isn’t dictated by trends, which are often fleeting and unsustainable.
First, Pistachios and kadayif aren’t exactly local to Canada. Second, many people are drawn to these chocolate bars because of their virality, eager to say they’ve tried them, but I would like to know whether they are experiencing true enjoyment from every bite. I tried the Dubai chocolate bar made by a Canadian maker and it was simply not something that I am drawn to, and therefore, not something that I yearn to create. It was too sweet for my liking and overloaded with filling; the chocolate was lost in the process with little balance between filling and the chocolate that encased it. It kept reminding me to stay true to our goal of creating chocolate that is meant to be savoured and enjoyed.
Value also matters. As Jen Lo of Meltdown Artisan says, "it’s hard not to feel a little frustrated by the fact that a lot of people are willing to pay lots of money for a viral trend, made with sub par ingredients without thinking twice…yet, when it comes to paying $16.50 for a chocolate bar made from scratch, with the aim to preserve heirloom varietals of cocoa, there is often quite a lot of backlash." We still have people walk into the store and complain about the price of the chocolate bars but I can name the source, country, and in some cases the farm, of each ingredient. Creating chocolate this way isn’t the easiest path, but I believe it’s one worth taking. My work isn’t about chasing trends—it’s about crafting the best chocolate I can. I want people to enjoy the flavours, learn about how chocolate is made, and feel good about their treat.
Someone on a Facebook forum page called the Dubai chocolate trend the TaeBo of chocolate. What's your take?