They contain rice and beans supplied, free, as part of a midday-meal scheme for all who attend school.
If they squint, neighbors say, the farm tilled by David Abreu begins to look a little like home — his cilantro is as green, his bean supply as tidy.
But when The New York Times headlined, "Chocoholics Take Note: Beloved Bean in Peril," the Chocolate Manufacturers Association responded with this rather strained semantic offering: "cocoa bean supply is expected to increase steadily, but may not keep pace with demand.
The cocoa bean supply faces a variety of threats, explain authors Harold Schmitz and Howard-Yana Shapiro, both food scientists at candy conglomerate Mars.
Above-average rainfall in West Africa's cocoa-growing regions in the summer have increased the incidence of so-called black pod disease, which has reduced bean supplies.
The oil-extraction from coffee bean rate, now at 92% to 94%, means the project will begin next year, and this year's harvest will be affected, as coffee bean supplies are built up in anticipation.
New Yorkers drink more coffee than residents of almost any other city, and Haiti, Sorkin pointed out, grows enough beans to supply half of what we drink.
While his wife, Sarah, sewed dresses upstairs to augment their income, slaves in the brick basement roasted West Indies coffee beans to supply politicians, merchants and ministers with caffeine.
He pays attention to the international single-origin chocolate craze, though he thinks the future will return to blends of beans as supplies of fine cacao grow short.
Gorilla, which roasts its own beans and supplies hip and higher-priced shops throughout the city, has come to symbolize Park Slope's socially conscious, eco-friendly sense of itself.
