Turkish Delight

In any case, we are not mistaken for the emergence of "Turkish Delight" and the introduction of "Turkish Delight" by foreign travelers in the 18th century. The delights produced by Hacı Bekir, the owner and master of Kastamonu, the oldest candy store in Istanbul opened in 1777, also entered the sultanas, as well as to foreign diplomats. In the general meaning of the Arabs, "râhat-ı hulkum" and in our case, as the "comfort", "la-tulip" and then "lokum", this is just a word that defines this sweet food. While Turkish delight spread throughout the Balkans during the Ottoman period, the Europeans would follow the secret of Turkish delight. Conditorei des Orients, after the Greek King Friedrich Unger came to Istanbul in private and met with palace and market sweets, helvacis, confectioners and products, the German "Sweetheart" He will write his book. In the late 19th century, besides the Hacı Bekir company, which still maintains its reputation today, industrial type "comfort rooms" produced by factories of Ottoman Greek Cypriots such as Nomikos, Konstantinidis and Etnopulos of Istanbul were also exported abroad.

Turkish delight is a decent name. The French painter Pretextat Lecomte, who lived in Istanbul for a long time, published a book entitled "Art et Métiers en Orient" published in 1907 in Paris, "Lokum is a candy invented in Istanbul; and the delights which are also found elsewhere are just a dull copy of it ". Indeed, it is possible today to reach the Egyptian, Tunisian, Egyptian, Syrian, Macedonian, Cypriot varieties, and the flavor of the traditional Turkish delight.