The Right Bean: What Makes It Right?
If you think back to your childhood days, what frequently repeated phrase comes to mind?
From a young age, my parents always told me to “do my best”. Occasionally, the adage would lengthen slightly to become “do your best, no matter where you are or what you do.” Although one small individual doing her personal best may not seem newsworthy, when a company does their best it can bring remarkable change to people’s lives.
Rodelle not only has a passion for providing high quality vanilla beans and extract, but also a commitment to making their vanilla beans the right beans to choose. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Joe Basta, Rodelle’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Joe talked to me about the 
environmental and social possibilities that working with vanilla offers. For example, even though vanilla beans make a long trip from orchids growing in Madagascar or Uganda to a small bottle in your pantry, Rodelle considers the environmental and social impacts along the way. Internationally, Rodelle supports organizations like Conservation International and Fanamby to promote biodiversity and farmer livelihood in vanilla growing regions. Locally, Rodelle is powering their new facility mostly through wind energy (a renewable resource) and is a silver level member in the local Climate Wise program. In a very real and right sense, Rodelle is protecting and preserving the environment along many steps of vanilla’s journey.
Although I had only a vague familiarity with terms like “sustainable” and “social responsibility,” it turns out that things are far more complicated than I
had ever imagined. Rodelle, though, truly makes an effort to not only incorporate green practices, but also give back to the vanilla growers. For example they reinvest part of their profits back into social programs for the growers. These social programs help address the needs of the area, whether that is through AIDs and Malaria prevention or micro-financing opportunities.
There’s something refreshing about a company who puts into practice advice that every child hears: do your best, make the right decision. The fact that Rodelle makes these great decisions helps me to make my own. For example, I know that I want to use good products to make good food for my family and friends; knowing that I’m supporting a company who has a healthy track record of giving back and supporting the growers makes a simple choice like using Rodelle have a long-lasting effect. Some people call this conscious consumption, but it helps to also consider contextually conscious production.
The deliberate choice to support companies who have this type of global and social awareness can extend a simple act into a far reaching deed. For example, last weekend I made a batch of pumpkin cream-cheese brownies. The recipe calls for both baking cocoa and vanilla extract. Not only do I get to make something that tastes great and brings people I love together, but I’m helping to support Rodelle’s initiatives to give back to the growers and help Conservation International save animals like the Lemur. Who knew that whipping up a batch of pumpkin brownies could do so much good?
What conscious choice about consumption will you make today? In what ways do you incorporate childhood lessons into your life?
Laura
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Tags: conscious consumption, Conservation International, environment, pumpkin brownies, pure vanilla extract, quality, social responsibility, sustainable, vanilla
