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Origin
Food historian Reay Tannahill suggests that the Persian confection ahbisa (a sweet jelly) was the ancestor of Turkish rahat lokum, the long name for the sweet.[1] According to the Ali Muhiddin Hacı Bekir Confectioners company of Istanbul, founded in 1777, lokum has been produced in Turkey since the 15th century. Originally, honey and molasses were used as sweeteners, and water and flour were the binding agents. The recipe for lokum as we know it today, using the new ingredients of sugar and starch, was invented and popularized by the Hacı Bekir company during the 19th century.[2]
Lokum was introduced to the west in the 19th century. An unknown Briton became very fond of the delicacy during his travels to Istanbul, and purchased cases of lokum, to be shipped back to Britain under the name Turkish Delight. It became a major delicacy not only in Britain, but throughout continental Europe.[3]
Name
The Turkish word lokum may come from lokma in Turkish or لقوم luqūm, the Arabic plural of لقمة luqma(t) 'morsel' or 'mouthful'.[4] Alternatively, it may have derived from Ottoman rahat hulkum or Arabic راحة الحلقم raḥat al-ḥulqum 'contentment of the throat'.[5][6] In Libya, for example, it is known as حلقوم ḥalqūm. In Bosnia, its name "rahatluk" clearly relates this etymology.
In English, it was formerly called "lumps of delight".[7]
Turkish Delight should not be confused with Turkish Taffy, a packaged nougat candy sold in the United States from the 1940s through the 1980s.
Around the world
In North America, Turkish Delight is not especially common, but it forms the basic foundation of the Big Turk (Nestlé, Canada) and Fry's Turkish Delight (Cadbury, United Kingdom) chocolate bars. It is also the basis for most of Liberty Orchards' line of confectionery, including Aplets & Cotlets. It is known in Brazil (called rahat) due to Lebanese immigration.
Armenian, Cypriot, Greek (called "λουκούμι", loukoumi), Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian (Albanian: "llokum", Bulgarian and Macedonian: "локум", lokum), Romanian (called "rahat"), as well as in some former Yugoslav states like Bosnia and Herzegovina (called "rahat lokum"), or Serbia ("ратлук", ratluk), Iranian and other Middle Eastern cuisines also have sweets similar to Turkish delight. In Cyprus, Turkish Delight is marketed in English as Cyprus Delight.
Protected geographical indication
Despite its worldwide popularity and production in several countries, at present, the only pending protected geographical indication (PGI) for such a product is for loukoumi made in Cyprus.[8]
In popular culture
Turkish Delight features as the addictive confection to which Edmund Pevensie succumbs in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Sales of Turkish Delight rose following the theatrical release of the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.[9]
The song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon and perhaps most famously covered by They Might Be Giants, mentions "now it's Turkish delight, on a moonlit night".
In the Broadway musical Kismet, Hajj and Lalume sing a song of "erotic discourse" about "Rahadlakum" ("'Tis sweet with the meat of the leechee nut/Combined with a kumquat and rind/The kind of confection to drive a man out of his/Mesopotamian mind!").
In an episode of The Powerpuff Girls, the Mayor is bribed to hand over ownership of the city so that crime can become legal. He refuses all initial cash offers, but gives in to a room full of Turkish Delight.
Madonna's 2008 album Hard Candy has a track called "Candy Shop" with the lyrics "I've got Turkish delight baby and so much more."
References
- ^ Tannahill, Reay (1995). Food in History, revised edition, Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-88404-6.
- ^ Hacı Bekir Efendi
- ^ Awarded a Silver Medal at the Vienna Fair in 1873.
- ^ Diran Kélékian, Dictionnaire Turc-Français (Ottoman Turkish), 1911
- ^ Maan Medina, Arabic-English Dictionary, 1973
- ^ Claudia Roden, A Book of Middle Eastern Food (Roden is Egyptian)
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ "Turks riled as Cyprus set to win EU trademark on Turkish Delight", International Herald Tribune, Associated Press (December 13, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-14.
- ^ Turkish Delight Sales Jump After Narnia Chronicles
External links
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