Mott Green Explained

Mott Green (April 15, 1966June 1, 2013) was an American businessman and chocolatier, who founded the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999. An edition of The Food Programme was devoted to Mott Green in June 2013.[1]

Early life

Mott Green was born David Lawrence Friedman in Washington, D.C. in 1966 and raised in Staten Island, New York City. He would later adopt the name Mott Green, with "Mott" being a variation of his nickname "Moth", and "Green" representing his support of environmentalism. As a boy Mott was a frequent visitor to Grenada as his father, Dr. Sandor Friedman, the director of medical services at Coney Island Hospital, taught on the island each winter, often bringing his family along.

He was the valedictorian of his class at Curtis High School in Staten Island. Mott was accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but chose the University of Pennsylvania instead. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, but did not complete his degree, dropping out in 1988 during his senior year.[2] [3]

Grenada Chocolate Company

Fair Trade

Mr. Green founded the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999.[4] Its slogan was "tree to bar". Joining with a friend from Eugene, Oregon, Doug Browne[5] he studied chocolate production in San Francisco. Working in Cottage Grove, Oregon, the men restored old machines from Europe and built new ones themselves. By the late 1990s they had shipped everything to Grenada.

Working with small cocoa farmers in Grenada and as many as 50 factory employees during peak operations, and Grenadian co-founder Edmond Brown, all of whom earned the same salary. By keeping the processing and packaging of chocolate within Grenada, he appears to have created the first and only chocolate-making company in a cocoa-producing country.[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Sustainable manufacturing

Mr. Green dried cocoa beans in the sun; built, maintained and powered the machinery to make chocolate; packaged the finished product; and cobbled together an international network of distributors, including volunteer cargo cyclists in the Netherlands.[11] [12]

International recognition

In 2011, the company received recognition from the State Department for its "contribution to the sustainable growth of rural economies by establishing Grenadian products in international markets; pioneering agritourism; outstanding environmental conservation efforts; and promotion of organic farming."

Fairtransport

In 2012 the company delivered tens of thousands of chocolate bars to Europe on a sail-powered Dutch ship, the Brigantine Tres Hombres,[13] operated by a company called Fairtransport.[14] A team of volunteer cyclists in Amsterdam helped handle distribution on the ground.[15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Mr. Green called it "the first carbon-neutral trans-Atlantic mass chocolate delivery."

In 2008, 2011 and 2013, the Academy of Chocolate in London awarded silver medals to Grenada's dark chocolate bars.[20] A documentary film about the company, "Nothing Like Chocolate,"[21] directed by Kum-Kum Bhavnani,[22] was released in 2012 and has been shown at film festivals.[23] [24] [25]

Life and death in Grenada

By the mid-1990s he had moved to Grenada, where he initially lived in a remote hut he had built himself. It, too, relied on solar energy, in part to power Mr. Green's passion for music. He was electrocuted while working on solar-powered machinery for cooling chocolate during overseas transport.[26] [27] [28] [29] [30]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The chocolate world of Mott Green, Food Programme - BBC Radio 4. BBC. 27 June 2017. FoodProgramme-20130616-TheChocolateWorldOfMottGreen.mp3
  2. News: Yardley. William. Mott Green, a Free-Spirited Chocolatier, Dies at 47. 14 July 2015. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 9 June 2013.
  3. Web site: Bittersweet: remembering Mott Green - Caribbean Beat Magazine. 1 September 2013. caribbean-beat.com. 27 June 2017.
  4. Web site: The Grenada Chocolate Company. The Grenada Chocolate Company. 27 June 2017.
  5. http://drceranic.com/s/GCCcase101-8k36.pdf Tara L. Ceranic, Ivan Montiel, Wendy S. Cook. Grenada Chocolate Company: Big Decisions for a Young Social Enterprise on a Small Island
  6. Web site: The Grenada Chocolate Company. www.facebook.com. 27 June 2017.
  7. Web site: Making Chocolate in Grenada - EX-PATS™ Ep. 8 Full - Reserve Channel. Reserve Channel. 7 March 2013. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  8. Web site: Radical Chocolate - the story of the Grenada Chocolate Company. NZdotCoop. 26 February 2012. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  9. Web site: Grenada - From Squatter to Chocolatier - Ep. 8 Part 1/3 EX-PATS - Reserve Channel. Reserve Channel. 7 March 2013. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  10. Web site: Belmont Estate & The Grenada Chocolate Company. Zerina Phillip. 14 January 2015. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  11. Web site: Sustainable delivery of Grenada Chocolate to Carriacou. Grenada Chocolate. 8 December 2011. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  12. Web site: Mott Green, Grenada Chocolate on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. Grenada Chocolate. 8 November 2011. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  13. Web site: Tres Hombres Fair Transport for Grenada Chocolate. Vimeo. 27 June 2017.
  14. Web site: About Fairtransport - Fairtransport.eu. fairtransport.eu. 27 June 2017.
  15. Web site: chocoladeboot.nl. wayback.archive.org. 27 June 2017. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20120605230150/http://www.chocoladeboot.nl/. 5 June 2012.
  16. Web site: TheChocolateTales. YouTube. 27 June 2017.
  17. Web site: Grenada Chocolate - thegrenadachocolatetales.com. wayback.archive.org. 27 June 2017. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20120407092443/http://www.thegrenadachocolatetales.com/category/grenada-chocolate/. 7 April 2012.
  18. Web site: AVRO Community. wayback.archive.org. 27 June 2017. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20120711195633/http://community.avro.nl/Radio_8/b/treshombres/default.aspx. 11 July 2012.
  19. Web site: Mott's Blog at Sea. mottontresshombres.blogspot.com. 27 June 2017.
  20. Web site: Interview With Mott Green, The Grenada Chocolate Company. WCG YouTube. 3 April 2012. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  21. Web site: Nothing Like Chocolate (2012). imdb.com. 27 June 2017.
  22. Web site: Kum-Kum Bhavnani. IMDb. 27 June 2017.
  23. Web site: NOTHING LIKE CHOCOLATE TRAILER.mov. Kum-Kum Bhavnani. 10 April 2012. 27 June 2017. YouTube.
  24. Web site: Nothing Like Chocolate – a Documentary Film by Kum-Kum Bhavnani. www.nothinglikechocolate.com. 27 June 2017.
  25. Web site: Nothing Like Chocolate Trailer. Kum-Kum. Bhavnani. 14 March 2012. 27 June 2017. Vimeo.
  26. News: Mott Green. The Telegraph. 13 June 2013.
  27. Web site: Doug Browne Remembered. dougbrowneremembered.blogspot.com. 27 June 2017.
  28. Web site: Mott Green, Jewish Anarchist Chocolatier, Dies Aged 47. Aviel. Luz. 4 June 2013. 27 June 2017. Haaretz.
  29. Web site: Mott Green, Founder of Grenada Chocolate Company, Dies in Tragic Accident. lisaparavisini. 3 June 2013. repeatingislands.com. 27 June 2017.
  30. Web site: Business Grenada - Mott Green founder of Grenada Chocolate Factory past away. wayback.archive.org. 27 June 2017. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20130608092720/http://www.businessgrenada.com/mott.html. 8 June 2013.

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