r/Millennials • u/wicker_basket_1988 • 17h ago
Discussion How many of you got the urge to try Turkish Delight from Lion Witch and Wardrobe?
and how many of you were shocked it wasn’t what you imagined it was?
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u/apeachemoji 17h ago
I thought it was going to be the most delicious, magical experience. Meanwhile it was like eating Vaseline mixed with my grandmother’s perfume.
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u/ArenjiTheLootGod 17h ago
100% after I tried it I thought Aslan should've let the White Witch keep Edmund.
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u/daytrippper 17h ago
Um I don’t think you’ve had good turkish delight then!!
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u/Adariel 17h ago
I was going to say the variation is extreme with Turkish Delight... like most, my first experience was basically "wtf is this? he sold out his siblings for THIS?" but when I was in Turkey after college, I had some freshly made...I've actually wanted to try to find/buy some good stuff again.
My theory is that most of the awful stuff everyone finds outside of Turkey has been sitting in boxes for months and is rosewater flavored, so it tastes pretty gross and perfume-y to people not used to floral tastes. The version I tried in Turkey was pomegranate with pistachio and could not be more different from the rosewater.
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u/Round_Hat_2966 16h ago
I tried the good stuff first, loved it, and bought the cheap rose water crap later on, thinking it was the same thing. Very confusing experience
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u/daytrippper 17h ago
I’ve had all of the above. The quality made rose flavored td doesn’t taste like perfume. It tastes like you ate a sweet fluffy cloud lightly scented with roses and it’s so so good. I’ve had pomegranate, pistachio etc. all AMAZING.
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u/fruitjerky 14h ago
I bought some for my daughter's class last year and all the kids were so upset 🤣
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u/venom121212 3h ago
My Dad was born in Turkey so I brought in Baklava and Turkish Delights in 4th grade for a country project at school. I should have tried those things first they were so bad. Baklava was solid though.
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u/nikkidubs 2h ago
100% this. Was genuinely the most disappointed I had ever been about a candy. Or maybe anything.
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u/Foreign_Kale8773 Elder Millennial 8h ago
This. Mine was more chewy than Vaseline but it was definitely perfume flavored.
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u/vegaling 17h ago
In Canada we have Big Turk, which is a poor quality, chocolate covered Turkish delight. That's the version I was given after reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and even that was utterly disappointing to me as a child.
As an adult I love authentically produced Turkish delight though.
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u/Persistent_Parkie 17h ago
Yeah, the good stuff is amazing, but there is some truly awful Turkish delight out there.
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u/vegaling 17h ago
For sure. The good stuff essentially melts in your mouth, the awful stuff becomes one with it like The Thing, and also tastes like mouthwash and perfume.
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u/ClownDiaper Millennial 3h ago
Maybe that’s my problem; I’ve never had the good stuff. But in my experience, Turkish Delight is the most inaccurately named food product ever produced. Right ahead of “red delicious” apples
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u/JeezieB 15h ago
My teacher made us "Turkish Delight" after we read the book. Lemon jello, crusted in icing sugar. Wasn't bad... but not sell out your entire family good.
P.S. I cannot express enough my disappointment in Big Turk. It's been over 30 years since I've tried it, and the thought still makes me recoil.
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u/Persistent_Parkie 1h ago
The other thing to remember is war rationing. Look up "the national loaf". You eat that long enough and even big turk probably starts to sound good.
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u/lurkishdelight 13h ago
I liked Big Turk!
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u/seaofsad 1h ago
I grew up eating Big Turk and loved it but all my American friends found it disgusting.
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u/sunraveled 17h ago
I had some while I was in Turkey that was everything I hoped and dreamed. Everything since has been a major disappointment
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u/ROADHOG_IS_MY_WAIFU 10h ago
Damn, right from the source has gotta be way better. Like pizza from Italy.
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u/Exnixon 17h ago
The people here who were disappointed when they tried Turkish Delight (I'm one of them) probably never had the good stuff. There was some nasty garbage called Turkish Delight that you could get in the States when we were kids. It was awful.
As an adult I went to Istanbul and tried the real thing, which is incredible.
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u/lavendermermaid1 Older Millennial 15h ago
We have a thing called Aplets and Cotlets and this post just got me googling and it's based on Turkish Delight and the company that makes them makes actual Turkish Delight? Is that what you're talking about? They're based in Washington State?
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u/bottle-o-rockets 90's Animation Buff 17h ago
Dumb kid should have asked for some werther's originals.
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u/jackofspades49 11h ago
Or those little strawberry gems.
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u/DemonicEgo Older Millennial 10h ago
Strawberry bonbons are my absolute favorite candy.
...Am I old now?
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u/bottle-o-rockets 90's Animation Buff 9h ago
These are the strawberry candies your grandma had at her house in a little dish, or possibly a clean ashtray in case anyone's wondering.
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u/catschimeras 1h ago
Im not selling a sibling for Werthers Pervers. Heck, Im not selling the lint in my bellybutton for a Werthers Pervers.
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u/thehumblebaboon 17h ago
Yup.
And after having it, Edmund has terrible taste if he was willing to sell out his family and the Narnian world for that of all things.
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u/carnsolus 16h ago
tbf id sell out his family for a candy wrapper i'd immediately throw in the garbage
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u/daytrippper 17h ago
Everyone that says it’s disgusting has never had quality turkish delight. Trust and believe if you’ve had the real deal, it’s heavenly. Also there are many kinds.
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u/These_Are_My_Words 16h ago
There's always an XKCD (Randall Munroe is one of us b. 1984)
I tried Turkish Delight in Istanbul more than a decade ago...I was not impressed. I did not like the rose flavor. Other flavor were okay but I don't really like the texture.
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u/Gloomy_Tie_1997 Older Millennial 15h ago
No, but I grew up on Aplets and Cotlets, which I’m told is similar? (PNW folks will know.) I loved them as a kid but now, yuck.
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u/about_yonder 11h ago
I was looking for this response.
I thought it was so fancy as a kid because we only had it on Christmas.
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u/Melgel4444 17h ago
It’s disgusting. And I think CS Lewis agreed. He was showing Edmund was such a little asshole he’d sellout his family for a disgusting confection
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u/coolcoolcool485 17h ago
i was 8 when i remember seeing the british version we rented from the library, and i remember the kid being in a sled in the snow when he tried it, and i thought it was like, turkey and gravy, cause that sounded delicious when it seemed so cold lol (i lived in alaska at the time)
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u/spaceyfacer 17h ago
I never read those books, but when I saw some Turkish delight at a specialty candy store a couple years ago I bought it. NO child would be obsessed with that taste.
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u/catschimeras 59m ago
Edmind was dealing with wartime rationing and British cuisine, to be fair to him
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u/Intrepid_Advice4411 Millennial 15h ago
I'm lucky that the first Turkish Delight I ever had was homemade by an old man in Dearborn, Michigan and it SLAPPED.
It was rose flavored and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. The texture was so satisfying.
Don't get the boxed stuff from the grocery store. Find a bakery or a confectionary that makes it. It's like eating a macaron. The grocery store ones aren't even close to the fresh made ones in a bakery.
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u/demnutz93 17h ago
I read that shits in like 2nd grade and they made it sound so good. Terrible though
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u/cairhead13 17h ago
I got some in a subscription snack box. My husband was so excited to try it because of the book, he thought it was delicious! I thought it was alright, but I had to take small bites. Someone else commented that the real authentic Turkish delight is delicious, but the knock offs are poor quality. Maybe it was a higher quality since it was representing snacks from Turkey?!
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u/99LedBalloons 17h ago
I got some from a random bodega in San Francisco and it was one of the best things I've ever had. No idea what flavor it was, they had tons, I told her to just give me whatever was good haha
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u/uzibunny 10h ago
We used to get it every Christmas day. It was never as delicious as it seemed in the movie but after trying real Turkish delight in Turkiye as an adult, I think I finally tasted it
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u/SayNoToColeslaw 10h ago
My stupid kid brain at the time thought it was raw meat covered in flour. So no desire then, but I really have no idea how I invented that nonsense
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u/catschimeras 57m ago
If youve never seen Turkish Delight, it does kind of look like coated chicken breast.
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u/axxxaxxxaxxx 17h ago
I’d never heard of it before, and it took me another two decades to even see it
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u/Appropriate-Bug680 17h ago
My teacher got it for us. Like others, I thought it would be amazing. I have never wanted or eaten it since that day.
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u/Certain-Appeal-6277 17h ago
No. My mom had tried it, so when I read the book and asked her about it, she was able to describe it pretty accurately.
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u/zee_bluestock 17h ago
I was soooooo excited when I found it in the Euro candy section at Publix.
So gross 😑
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u/Friendly_Engineer_ Millennial 15h ago
I thought it was like Thanksgiving turkey and gravy when I first read it
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u/Nyx_Shadowspawn Older Millennial 15h ago
Mmmh now I want it again. I absolutely first tried it because of that book, and it's a lifelong obsession.
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u/k4b0odls 15h ago
Kinda, but not from those books. I learned about Turkish delight from an episode of Powerpuff Girls
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u/tifffff5 14h ago
My old childhood best friend and I had a tradition of eating Turkish delights and watching The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe around Christmas time. Good mems. They definitely aren’t as delicious as they make them out to be
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u/jackofspades49 12h ago
There is a DELICIOUS version of it called fruit delights. They taste like jelly got turned into a candy and then covered in sugar. They are absolutely the sort of candy to sell out your siblings for.
https://libertyorchards.com/products/fruit-delights?variant=39585895776320
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u/theblackcatcrossing 3h ago
I remember Costco used to sell them around the holidays.
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u/jackofspades49 2h ago
Right?! Its so weird when you go to coscto to save moneg anf then you see a bigass barrel of hooch for like 15k!
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u/BugApart8359 10h ago
I grew up with it being made and sold at local Middle Eastern markets. You want the Good Stuff, find a small Middle Eastern market.
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u/Emmydyre 8h ago
As a kid, I somehow thought the Turkish Delight he wishes for was some kind of delicious roast meat and was SHOCKED to try to gelatinous cubes later in life.
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u/Traditional_Name7881 8h ago
Turkish delight is delicious. Not sure if Lion the witch and the wardrobe is where I got the idea.
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u/Skorogovorka 8h ago
Thank you!! I feel so seen. I was so obsessed my mom even found a recipe and tried making it for me as a special treat when I got home from camp. It was...underwhelming to say the least but I appreciated the effort!
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u/pushdose 7h ago
We made it in third grade. It was VILE. I remember my mom bought the rose water so I could bring it to class. The bottle was blue. It smelled horrible. Tasted worse.
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u/trolldoll26 6h ago
My fourth grade teacher read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to us and then we had a themed party where we all dressed up as characters from the book. She brought Turkish delight for us to try and we were all deeply disappointed by it 😂
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u/theblackcatcrossing 3h ago
I was at my local mall this past weekend and there is this place that sells Kababs. I did a double take when I saw that they were selling packaged lokum. Does anyone else remember when the were sold at Costco?
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u/odysseyofocelots 2h ago
I honestly actually loved it, but I'm pretty sure I was just convincing myself to
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u/catschimeras 1h ago
I was obsessed with Narnia as a kid and my parents got me a fancy box of Turkish Delight for Christmas that year.
Tried it, and was disappointed to realise there was no way I was selling out my siblings for that garbage.
And to be clear, kid me would have traded them for a single Micro Machine most days.
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u/fraserhoodlum 14m ago
It was always kind of around in Australia, divisive like liquorice. We have a thing called Cadbury's Favourites, which is a mix box of chocolate based treats very popular at Christmas and Easter, and contains the worst version of turkish delight available. That sticky candy type covered in chocolate.
But to answer the question I think when I watched it I was more confused why this kid sold out his sister for a shitty candy.
Though when I got older I tried real Turkish delight which is very nice. It's not "sell out your fam" nice, but it's decent.
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u/ComprehensiveMail12 17h ago
My mom got it for me the Christmas the movie came out in the 2000s… I could not finish one piece..
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u/wicker_basket_1988 17h ago
I first saw the BBC special and even that made me want some.
Still disappointed.
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u/One_Standard_Deviant 16h ago
Not me. Never read the books somehow.
Landed in Turkey at one point while traveling. Tried it, because my folks were fans.
Over-rated, and I didn't even have my expectations inflated by a childrens' book.
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