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When I first read The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, I had no idea that turkish delight was supposed to be some sort of candy. I thought it must have something to do with turkey, like maybe unlimited hot turkey dinners or something. I remember thinking, “Boy, this kid really likes turkey.”
I was young.
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So CLIFFY, tell us: What is turkish delight, anyway? What does it taste like?
Well I am not cliffy, but I can answer (at least give my own tastes). Normally I have had it as a chocolate in those sampler chocolate boxes you get, and it tastes like some of the less tasty ones you normally get in those boxes (you know there is always going to be one or two chocolates in the sampler you do not like the taste of). A little to gelatinous for my tastes.
It’s a gel made out of, presumably, bean curd, sugar, and lard. The kind we got had walnuts in it. It’s very similar to a lot of desserts from eastern cultures such as moon cake, although it’s not as good as that IMO.
–Cliffy
Ack! Please don’t fight my ignorance where Turkish Delight is concerned!
Oh, I agree totally - it is just that, as a young adult, I didn’t have sufficient perspective to get past the initial reaction of “hey! That’s not right!” and appreciate that it was written in a different time.
I loved the books as a kid, I mean really LOVED them. Recently, I went and bought them all again. I still love them, only now I feel like the undercurrent of Christianity in them is so strong I must have been totally blind not to see it before. but when you’re a child I guess you don’t see things that way.
I, too, had some Turkish Delight as a child. I got rose-flavored (!) and I ate the whole box on Christmas Day and then threw up. Never had it since.
And by the way, The Horse and His Boy is BY FAR THE BEST one in the series. With Dawn Treader and Silver Chair second and third.
It’s definitely good stuff, Dung Beetle, just not great. (Moon cake, OTOH – that’s awesome. Especially the white lotus with pine nuts.) Anyway, I’m not sure someone with your cognomen should be so distressed by the ingredients in a comestible. 
Where we got ours, they were also selling rose-flavored turkish delight, as well as with pistacio and hazlenut.
Horse and His Boy, Ghanima? Really? I always liked that one least.
–Cliffy
Have you ever read it as an adult? It’s a lot more subtle than the others, and I don’t think that I really picked up on a tenth of it when I read it as a child. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite (that would be Voyage of the Dawn Treader), but now that I understand it more, it’s certainly very good.
It’s a prequel, of course. Even CS Lewis wasn’t immune to the telling-how-this-world-was-created yen.
’’Aslan, Aslan. Dear Aslan,’’ sobbed Lucy. ’’At last.’’
’’Welcome, child,’’ he said.
’’Aslan,’’ said Lucy, ’’you’re bigger.’’
’’That is because you are older, little one,’’ answered he.
’’Not because you are?’’
’’I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.’’
Hey, don’t knock it til you’ve tried it! I guess the same could be said for Turkish Delight.
I also like The Dawn Treader most.
I love Turkish Delight(Fry’s makes the best). I’m surprised everyone here doesn’t love it. You can get it at the international part of most grocery stores.
You sure? I think it’s mostly geletine. The stuff i’ve had is anyway…
When I was like 20, but not since. I was thinking of rereading the series (in part because of this thread), but I just bought a ton of used books last weekend so I’ve got to read at least some of them of Mrs. Cliffy will kill me.
–Cliffy
The Turkish Delight one of my professors handed out in class when we were reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was like rectangular gumdrops, but coated with confectioner’s sugar instead of granulated sugar. It was the rose flavored kind–it was funny eating something that smelled and tasted like perfume.
I read them when I was a kid, and reread them a few years ago as an adult. I enjoyed them almost as much the second time, since I was able to notice things that I either missed or went over my head as a kid.
Read them. In fact, whenever you get interested in reading something, just go ahead and read it. You’ll (almost) never be disappointed.