Easter offers food for the soul – but you may have to shell out for chocs
FOR many people, Easter is one of the most special times of the year, and a time to reflect on the meaning of their deep Christian faith – a faith which endures across Fermanagh and her neighbouring counties.
It’s also a time that can offer a great deal of spiritual food for thought, and indeed, you’ll find a number of our regular contributors sharing their thoughtful views on a range of Easter or Christian-related topics in this week’s edition, including Fr. Brian
D’arcy
Bernadette Mcaliskey Arlene Foster and Rev. Mark Gallagher
While Easter reflection offers some deep and enduring spiritual food for the soul, however, it’s also for many people a time for more earthly, simple pleasures, and for many Christians – and non-christians alike – the Easter period has become intrinsically linked with chocolate.
For many Christians, Easter marks the end of a period of devoted fasting or giving up treats; making a small personal sacrifice as a gesture of belief in and solidarity with Christ, followed by Easter’s promise of rebirth – a time to celebrate, rejoice, and end fasting, with chocolate (typically as an Easter egg) today deeply linked with Easter, as shop shelves groan under the weight of the seasonally shaped treat.
The treat of chocolate after an extended period of sacrifice could soon be a rarer treat for many people, however – and not just because of the cost of living crises.
Cocoa prices are currently soaring to new record highs following poor harvests caused by exteme weather around the world, including climate change and El Nino factors, hitting cocan bean-growing countries hard.
This week alone saw cocoa beans trade above €10,000 dollars (£7,900) a tonne on world commodity markets, with prices having already doubled in 2024.
According to a study by consumer group Which?, Easter eggs from popular brands cost at least 50 per cent more than a year ago while others have shrunk in size, with the overall price of chocolate having increased by 12.6 per cent in a year – significantly more than the 5.6 per cent rise seen on supermarket food and drink generally, according to Which?
With analysts warning that general food inflation this year is running at over 7 per cent – but chocolate is over 30 times higher than previous prices – Easter’s chcolate egg treats may be seen as an earthly luxury to forgo by this time next year.