In honor of Hanukkah, I made rugelach this week. Having never eaten homemade rugelach, I only had memories of dry, crumbly cookies. But the pandemic has instilled in me a desire to hold on to traditions – even ones I’ve never followed before. These small, crescent-shaped cookies are perfect for cold December evenings. They are flaky, crunchy, and just the right amount of sweet. (I gave some to a 90-year-old friend, Polly, who said they “tasted like Hanukkah.”)

Enough about rugelach – and on to this week’s ingredient: sugar. Sugar comes from both sugarcane and sugar beet. Unfortunately, both supply chains are rife with environmental and labor abuses, including forced and child labor. According to the US Department of Labor, sugarcane and sugar beet are both produced with forced and/or child labor in at least 20 countries across Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.