Dubai Chocolate or Turkish Chocolate?

The product, which has been introduced as a new product, a new flavor for a while and introduced as Dubai Chocolate, is actually a flavor inspired by Turkish baklava, combined with shredded wheat, pistachio and tahini produced in Turkey and has been in production for a long time. Food Engineer Yeşim TekinHe said that it was not right to launch it as a Dubai product.

Food Engineer Yeşim Tekin, who produces traditional chocolate, reminded us of the fact that very special flavors specific to Turkish cuisine have been adopted by different countries over time, and said, “We must protect our own culture, traditions and the main elements of our culinary culture. Although chocolate is a product produced all over the world, flavors such as kadayıf and baklava are flavors that have continued from the Ottoman Empire to the present day. It would be unfair to our food culture to call chocolate made with tahini and pistachios inspired by baklava, Dubai Chocolate.”

Tekin stated that even those living in Dubai were not aware of a product called Dubai Chocolate, but that this name had become widespread in Turkey, and gave the following information:

“Our country has very special flavors and an important culinary culture that have come down from the past to the present. Many flavors that belong to us have been adopted by other countries’ cuisines. We should not forget these and we should protect our cuisine and culinary traditions. When we started chocolate production, we started out with traditional chocolate. We realized that the best pistachios, almonds, raisins and figs were already our products. When you use traditional methods, you get incredible products. Even if the effort to present these as products of a different country is not malicious, it means harming our culinary culture and core values.”

Similarly, Tekin stated that the homeland of Turkish delight is Turkey, and said, “Turkish delight, which has existed in Anatolia since the 15th century and has become famous around the world as Turkish delight, has many varieties such as mint and rose, baklava, kadayıf and chocolate-covered delights, and is a product of our cuisine.”

Tekin, who touched upon the price factor in addition to preserving our traditional tastes, reminded that this product, which is especially loved and wondered about by children but is not easily accessible to everyone due to its high price, causes its price to increase when it is called a Dubai product.

Source: HORECA TREND and Yeşim Tekin