Easter Eggs

Work is running a secret Easter bunny scheme, where you draw a name out of a hat and have to deliver an Easter egg to your recipient’s desk when they aren’t looking. My Eco Self has a dilemma about whether to participate, having read various studies which berate the chocolate companies for the excess packaging used for Easter eggs. The ratio of packaging to egg is high, with little improvement on the previous year, and with some organic brands being the chief offenders. My Eco Self is used to feeling guilt-free in the realm of chocolate, due to supporting a brand which is guaranteed Fair Trade, with a farmer representative at their board meetings. MES decides not to participate in the Easter bunny scheme, despite often feeling a little hungry around Thursday afternoons, in case someone buys me an egg which doesn’t meet my ethical standards. MES suggests to Food Neurotic Friend that we run secret Easter bunny between us, going for Easter eggs in a non-traditional normal chocolate bar shape. “Let’s look out for a new organic chocolate we haven’t tried before” I suggest. FNF readily agrees. My Eco Self loves the rarely glimpsed moments in life where FNF goes along with her brilliant ideas without a snappy retort. MES remembers that FNF has given up chocolate for Lent, promoted to all as a manly exercise in self-discipline. MES suspects that a not particularly spiritual FNF is covering up for the fact that he has developed a less macho awareness of a slight middle age spread due to recent over-consumption of organic and non-organic beer. MES feels slightly hungry when my colleagues on either side of her desk have Easter egg with their afternoon cup of tea. My Eco Self e-mails Food Neurotic Friend. “When will we do our swap?” A reply comes. “Good things come to those who wait.” MES is slightly confused until I see a commercial advertising a well-known beer. FNF’s interest in beer is undiminished despite the calorie count.