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Custard Cream and Turkish Delight

When I was about 8, my mom read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe out loud to me.  I can still picture a stand alone wardrobe positioned to the right of the entrance of a stark whitewashed room across from a single window, through which the children travelled into a magical world.  

Beyond that, the only other thing I remember is the emphasis put on Turkish delight.  It was a really big deal in that book.

I was drooling listening to it being described and by the end of it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.  It seemed like a delectable treasure drenched in sugar that would be well beyond my expectations.

One day, my mom went to the city and came back with some Turkish delight.  It did not meet my expectations. The disappointment was staggering. What?  Sure it is drenched in sugar, but as far as I was concerned, there was a reason for that, it wouldn't be particularly edible without it.

"Edmund  was already feeling uncomfortable from having eaten too many sweets, and when he heard that the Lady he had made friends with was a dangerous witch he felt even more uncomfortable. But he still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight more than he wanted anything else."  The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

It turns out the reason the Turkish delight sounded so irresistible is that it was a magical concoction with which a wicked witch was plying vulnerable children.  No wonder I was convinced it sounded so great. It was a trick.

 Good thing I didn't go through that wardrobe. I'd have been sunk.
This weekend I have been devouring a cosy book set in modern day England.  The author keeps bringing up custard creams and tea cakes I just had to try them.  Unlike Turkish Delights, the tea cakes especially, were better than they sounded. 

 How about you?  What food have you been compelled to try after reading about it in a book?



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  1. Kate Hall1/28/2013 4:28 pm

    *just* this christmas, i tried turkish delight for the first time. i tried to get my kids in on the magical nature of the things... but to no avail... i have to say i was very very excited to take that first bite. i think i expected to be whisked away just as it touched my tongue...oh how i loved those stories...

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  2. MotherOfGooses1/28/2013 4:40 pm

    yes, i was expecting the whisking away too...however, those tea cakes, man. They are really like high class viva puffs (I don't know what the American equivalent is), but yes, reading someone else's impressions of anything in a book can carry me away.

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