Tom's Podcast

We start with Chopin's Prelude #16 in B-flat minor.

The first day, we visited three lovely towns and eat our way through them.  These include:  Tricase Porto, where we ate really delicate seafood and a wonderful fennel cream soup.  The second day, we stayed in Lecce and visited a couple stores including a cheese store where we tasted squeaky nodoni.  That afternoon, we had an altercation with a local pigeon, who claimed rights to our pasticciotto.  On the third day, we visited Ostuni, the white city, and in the afternoon we drove back south to Gallipoli, a port with real character.  We had a fantastic seafood lunch and then witnessed thousand bemoaning the loss of one of the city's finest warriors who died in his mother's arms after choking on a meatball.  That was the theme of Gallipolli's Carnevale.

I then talk about progress starting our new store, established and run by Projet Espoir et Equite, our French version of Project Hope and Fairness, whose goal is to build chocolate factories in villages and then develop markets for the chocolate.  The podcast finished with Bach's Prelude #22 in B-Flat Minor.

Our successes are financially dependent.  Your donations ensure future success.  To donate, send a check to:

Project Hope and Fairness
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428. 

-OR-  go to projecthopeandfairness.org, pull down to Donate and follow the instructions

Thank You!  Tom Neuhaus, CEO of Project Hope and Fairness

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

My podcast #42 starts with Chopin's Prelude No. 8 in F#Minor.  This is a tricky thing that takes quite a lot of practice to get it sounding halfway decent.  But it's really gorgeous.

Today's podcast is about our first three days in Lecce, a town of 150,000 on the southern portion of the Salento peninsula, the heel of Italy's boot.  The first day, Thursday, is spent just walking around Lecce, visiting the Roman amphitheater--actually only half as the other half remains buried under a church.

On Friday, we visit one of the three doors to the city, built in the 16th century--Porta Rudiae, named after the people who lived in the town before Lecce.  There we shop for lunch ingredients--Frutti di Mare.

And on Saturday, we rented a car and drove into the countryside--to visit a lighthouse near Otranto, Santa Cesarea Terme, a small port with sulfurous waters, then we had lunch in a farmhouse Maseria le Stanzie.  After dessert, we visited a church, Santa Catarina d'Alessandra, known for its magnificent freschi and for the secret hidden in the altar.

We are making progress!  2023 will be a spectacular year for Project Hope and Fairness.  Not only are we starting a small business in Cordes sur Ciel that will be selling pastries, cakes, and chocolates, but we will be establishing a center for learning the ins and outs of chocolate production--in N'Douci, Côte d'Ivoire. 

I finish the podcast with Bach's Prelude in F#Minor--same key as the Chopin.  You'll appreciate the profound difference in tone between a prelude written by the father of Classical Music (Bach) and the father of Romantic Music (Chopin).   I played the Bach on the organ and the Chopin on the piano.  Bach had no piano as it had not yet been invented.

Our successes are financially dependent.  Your donations ensure future success.  To donate, send a check to:

Project Hope and Fairness
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428. 

-OR-  go to projecthopeandfairness.org, pull down to Donate and follow the instructions

Thank You!  Tom Neuhaus, CEO of Project Hope and Fairness

LISTEN TO PODCAST --> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1057903/12419532

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

This is the first of four podcast about Eve's and my trip to the Salento peninsula, the tip of the boot of Italy.   This podcast is about a three-day train trip to get there.  As usual, there's lots about food and history.

The podcast begins with Chopin's Prelude Number 3 in G Major and finished with Bach's Prelude Number 15 in the same key.  It's a fun academic exercise to hold one variable (the key the piece is written in) constant and compare the music by style--Classical vs Romantic.

I finish the podcast with a description of our latest progress in Côte d'Ivoire.  We have received two big grants totalling over $62,000 and we are excited about the future!  So join the podcast!  And donate if you can and help us make big progress helping the West African Cocoa Farmer.

To Donate either send a check to:
Project Hope and Fairness
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428. -OR-

go to projecthopeandfairness.org, pull down to Donate and follow the instructions

Thank You!  Tom Neuhaus, CEO of Project Hope and Fairness

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

When people ask me why I care so much about the social justice issues surrounding chocolate, particularly issues of child slavery and worst forms of child labor as well as environmental issues associated with the destruction of virgin forests throughout West Africa, my usual answer has been associated with a course that I taught as a professor at California State Polytechnic University.  However, recently I have re-thought that answer and decided that my mother Dorothy accounts for at least 50% of the reason for my passions.  This podcast is a conversation with my mother.

And as always,  just four news items regarding our progress.  Item 1:  SOCOPLAN, the agricultural cooperative in Depa, will export its first shipment of peeled cocoa beans and unsweetened chocolate to The Chocolate Chamber, a  chocolate business located in Cebu City, Philippines.  Item 2:  Project Hope and Fairness is also sending samples of chocolate, cocoa powder, and cocoa butter to eight major donors connected to Project Redwood, which supported the purchase of machinery for both cooperatives.   Item 3:  Our second partnering cooperative, SCAP, located in Pezoan, has received the tempering machine purchased with Project Redwood money, and is working on sending me a box of 50 wrapped bars in five different flavors, the first step toward selling village-produced chocolate bars in Europe.  And Item 4:  The website for European sales is espoir-equite.fr;  by the end of this year, it is my plan that 90% of the items sold on espoir-equite website will be made and wrapped for sale by these two cooperatives.  

Please consider donating to the cause.  We are making progress!  We expect 2023 to be a grand year.  But we can't do it without you.  Sending machinery, paying customs, and traveling to West Africa to make cooperatives succeed costs money.  Our mission is succeeding, thanks to your donations.

To donate, go to www.projecthopeandfairness.org and scroll down to Donate at the bottom, then click on any of the donate buttons.  It all goes into the same kitty.  Or, send a check to:

DONATIONS, PH&F
1298 Warren road
93428 Cambria, CA

Thank You!

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

As promised,  this podcast is about my trip to Paris, where I spent 5 days in the Ivoirian CCC (Conseil du Café Cacao) booth with David Logbo Zigro talking about our joint project to establish village-based chocolate making.

I begin the project with a lovely Ivoirian song to which people were dancing a sort of napkin dance (waving napkins in the air).  Then I talk about the history of the bean-to-bar movement and then about SOCOPLAN, the cooperative that David and I founded.  I also talk about the French non-profit, Projet Espoir et Equité which I founded in order to sell village-made chocolates.

Thursday, December 1 marks our umpteenth fundraiser!  It's going to be more exciting than ever.  Check out the details at:  projecthopeandfairness.org.  To reserve tickets, just go to the website and click on the donate button.  The first donate button is for reserving tickets.  Your name will be recorded and put on a list.  When you arrive at the front door, we will know that you have donated.

See you there!  Tom Neuhaus

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

The title of this podcast is a pun on doors and on the future.  I start by playing "Light My Fire" written by the Doors, and truly one of the greatest pieces in the history of Rock and Roll.  Then I talk about how Project Hope and Fairness represents a door to the future of the chocolate business.  And then I mention two big events:  my being part of the Ivoirian exhibit at the Salon du Chocolat, the world's biggest annual chocolate event, which happens in Paris and the second event is our upcoming fundraiser on Thursday, December 1 at the Monday Club in San Luis Obispo, CA, 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM.

And the next pun is on the future because I review the book, "Ministry for the Future," which has to do with our collective future here on planet Earth.  I finish the podcast with another Doors work of genius:  "Riders on the Storm."

I mention in the podcast that you can visit YouTube to see videos of cocoa and chocolate production in the mini-factory of SOCOPLAN, an agricultural cooperative in the village of Depa, Côte d'Ivoire.  

To watch cocoa videos, ---> https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtOMzkAdojOV_bfgZA-8p87Z5F9oST31B

To watch chocolate videos --->  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtOMzkAdojOXOgrHuYGKlpcKegPtEGzJC

And as always, please consider helping us help the cocoa farmer!  You can send a check to:

DONATIONS, PROJECT HOPE AND FAIRNESS
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428

-OR-  go to www.projecthopeandfairness.org, scroll down to Donate and click!  Et Merci!

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

In this podcast (actually #37--ignore the fact that I said Podcast #36), we compare six preludes in three keys:  C Major, A Minor, and G Major.  I begin the podcast, though, by telling you what's happening in the wonderful world of chocolate.  The exciting news is that David is going to Paris to be part of the Ivoirian booth!  And I'm going to Paris to see him and to talk to others in the Ivoirian booth as well as other chocolate makers from around the world.  The second news is that we need to raise money to buy SOCOPLAN which David is the CEO of a new melangeur, as the old one which we bought 2 years ago needs some new parts.  But we can't be content to sit still.  David is becoming known throughout Côte d'Ivoire for his chocolate.  And the nice thing is I taught him how to make chocolate back in 2013.  So in 9 years, he's become known in his own country and we are making real progress toward making cocoa farmers expert chocolate makers.  This reverses the colonial trend of treating Africans like victims, supplying raw product and depriving them of the knowledge with which they can pull themselves out of the commodity trap.  Please consider donating to help us buy a new machine.  We can either buy another one of similar size, which requires $11,000 or we can quadruple production for $22,000.  So, we quadruple for double the price.  Not a bad deal.

You can donate by sending a check to:

DONATIONS, PH&F
1298 Warren road
93428 Cambria, CA United States

Or go to www.projecthopeandfairness.org, pull down to Donate, and click on the second Donate button (General Funds)

Enjoy the music!  Tom Neuhaus, CEO, Project Hope and Fairness

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

In this podcast, I start once again with Chopin's Prelude Number 1 in C Major but I finish with Bach's Prelude #1 in C Major.  This is the first of 24 podcasts that starts with a Chopin prelude and finishes with a Bach prelude, allowing us to compare a romantic style with a classical style.

Today I am translating the Gastronomy chapter from Bien Manger Pour Bien Vivre and then making comments as they come to me.    De Pomiane talks about the origins of European art and then about the importance of understanding science in order to be a good cook.  I am consistently surprised with how much I disagree with him, and I believe it's because we come from two very different eras.

After finishing the Gastronomy chapter I talk a little about the latest progress in helping West African cocoa farmers become more economically and environmentally sustainable.  As always, we are very in need of donations in order to continue our mission.  Please consider making a donation.  This can be done by visiting our web site at projecthopeandfairness.org and pulling down to Donate, clicking on it, etc.  -OR- you can donate by sending a check in the mail to:

DONATIONS, Project Hope and Fairness
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428

Please make the check out to Project Hope and Fairness (PH&F)

Thanks so much.  Tom Neuhaus, CEO

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

In 1968, I was lent a copy of "Bien Manger Pour Bien Vivre" with the stipulation that I would get academic credit for translating it.  I did not do that.  Instead, as you know from podcast #34, I elected to cook 5 meals inspired by Julia Child's book, "The Cooking of Provincial France."  I have had that book for 56 years.  It has sat on my shelf wrapped in waxed paper because it is disintegrating into brown flakes.

This podcast and at least a dozen future ones I will finally make good on my promise--to translate from the French a book written by France's primary writer of food science at a time when the world was changing so rapidly.  This is an annotated translation, meaning that after I translate a section I then annotate it and make a podcast from it.

I hope you will find this interesting, as the author, Edouard de Pomiane was chief of laboratory at the world-renowned Institute Pasteur in Paris and wrote many articles in French newspapers as well as doing radio shows to popularise a scientific knowledge of food.  In a sense, he's France's Carl Sagan of the culinary world--starting in the 1930's and continuing to his death in the early 60's.

Don't forget how donate to Project Hope and Fairness!  We need your help more than ever.  Go to www.projecthopeandfairness.org, scroll down to Donate, click, and then choose the General Funds donate button.  Thanks for your support!

"See" you next week.  And enjoy! Tom Neuhaus

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

In this podcast, I describe how important Julia Child has been to my life as a foodie.  I describe four encounters:  one written, in which I read Julia's book The Cooking of Provincial France, one physical, in which I visit the taping of Julia's omelet show in between jobs in French restaurants;  one by phone, in which I am sitting in Judith Jones' office while she is talking to Julia; and the fourth physical again, in which I show off my new culinary software to Julia.   The first half of my professional life was devoted to the chemistry of food preparation and enjoyment, and Julia really contributed to my professional development.  So, hats off to a truly remarkable woman!

Toward the end of the podcast, I describe our current progress in developing two villages in Côte d'Ivoire as chocolate and cocoa producers.  If you like our work, please feel free to visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org and make a donation.  

Or send a check to:  

Donations, PH&F
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA, 93428.  

As you can imagine, doing things that completely alter how food has been produced  and distributed for 12,000 years requires a lot of effort and a lot of money.  

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org