Standards in the Questionnaire.....

A few minutes ago I startedtaking the survey, anda glaring flawstood out, which caused me to stop taking it. Here is the flaw:

Here I was, the maker and purveyor of fine chocolate, taking a survey which could very well impact the definition of "fine" chocolate (at least from a public marketing perspective) according to this new "International Awards" group. But who's to say that I have the right to decide whether good chocolate is defined by the inclusion (or exclusion for that matter)of vegetable fat, or lecithin, or vanillin, or any other ingredients for that matter?

Who's to say my chocolate is even any good? After all, I'm biased because it's MY chocolate. MY recipes are based on what MY customers want. I don't care about the rest of the world because I don't ship or deliver and can barely keep up with local demand. Who am I to say that because my customers don't want vegetable fat, that "good chocolate" for tropical climates shouldn't include a vegetable fat to make it more stable? Maybe to someone in Barbados, good chocolate is defined as a bar that isn't goo when they open it up.

We are all in business to sell our wares and pay our bills, and all of us who make chocolate and chocolate confections are proud of our creations. Some of us pay more attention to consumer demands than others. As a result, some of us make more money and can do more things with our craftsthan others. To ME, the true definition of good chocolate is that which is defined by our customers, and not a small subset of biased industry professionals (myself included).

I will be happy to participate in a competition such as this only when the end consumer is the judge, jury and executioner.

That's just my two bits for what it's worth.