There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Free Market’

There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Free Market’

The debates leading up to the election this year will no doubt invoke the “American value” of capitalism. But what, exactly, does that mean? And what should it mean? I’m no economist, but I took a few economics courses while earning an undergraduate...
Paying for Cheap Chocolate

Paying for Cheap Chocolate

One Halloween, my husband persuaded our kids to give away most of the candy they’d just collected while trick-or-treating. They were preschoolers and the house we were renting then had previously drawn teens with haunted tours. We’d run out of candy when a...
Child Labor Shouldn’t Haunt Halloween

Child Labor Shouldn’t Haunt Halloween

I can’t bring myself to be the Grinch who stole Halloween. I just can’t, even though I write about healthy food. I even eat (mostly) healthy food. Friends and colleagues expect me to have something to say about Halloween. But how can anyone condemn an...
The Spooky Side of Chocolate

The Spooky Side of Chocolate

This Halloween, many of the chocolate goodies handed out to American children dressed as goblins and witches will have a ghoulish history of their own. In the cocoa fields where many of these chocolates originate, West African children work grueling hours — some...