Fairtrade Fortnight: How you can get involved

What do you usually have for breakfast? We’re guessing it involves either tea or coffee – and probably a banana! Are we right? If so, you might be interested to read this... “Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half of the world.” – Martin Luther King The Fairtrade Foundation are borrowing the very essence of Martin Luther King’s thought-provoking statement for their Fairtrade Fortnight breakfast campaign, which is happening right now. Over the next two weeks (29th Feb-13th March) they are raising awareness of how your breakfast is likely to include coffee Kenya, tea from India, and bananas from Columbia. The key message is to choose Fairtrade options wherever possible. This means that the farmers growing the produce are paid and treated fairly, and can provide for their families. As part of the Fairtrade Fortnight breakfast campaign we held a mid-morning breakfast at our office and shared with our team the difference choosing Fairtrade products means for others. Emma baked banana bread using Fairtrade bananas and Becky made chocolate brownies using Fairtrade cocoa. We all had a taste of the treats, served with a little Fairtrade coffee that Emma choose to match our breakfast perfectly (she’s worked in the coffee industry so knows her pairings!). Here’s the best bit: you can also hold your own awareness breakfast – with friends and family, or simply doing so quietly at home on your own. If you’d like to, you can even set up a breakfast event to raise both Fairtrade awareness and funds to donate to the foundation. All you need to do is to sign up to ‘Make Your Breakfast Count’ on the Fairtrade Fortnight website. Let us know if you do hold a Fairtrade Fortnight breakfast – we’d love to see what you bake, bring or serve. For a little recipe inspiration, check out Jo’s Fairtrade Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies and our yummy Fairtrade Banana Cake. Oh, and of course, here’s the all-important hashtag: #FairtradeFortnight