Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Dubai chocolate
Chocolate bar filled with kadayif and pistachio cream From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Dubai chocolate (Arabic: شوكولاتة دبي) is a style of chocolate bar filled with kadayif (chopped filo pastry) and a pistachio-tahini cream. It was created in 2021 by Fix Dessert Chocolatier, an Emirati chocolatier in Dubai.[1] Dubai chocolate was popularized in 2024 by influencers on social media, especially those on TikTok, and has since been imitated by vendors worldwide.
Remove ads
Description
Dubai chocolate is a milk chocolate bar, filled with a sweet pistachio-tahini cream and kadayif (chopped filo pastry).[2] The consistency of the filling ranges from finely ground to a paste,[3] the experience of eating is one of a contrast between creamy textures of the pistachio and tahini, and the crunch of the kadayif.[2]
Creation
Summarize
Perspective
Dubai chocolate was invented in 2021 by Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian engineer living in Dubai.[2][4] At the time, Hamouda was pregnant, and through her food cravings she came to imagine a combination of chocolate, pistachio, tahini, and knafeh, a Middle Eastern dessert made of kadayif, syrup and a soft cheese. At home, Hamouda worked on developing a bar, before contacting Nouel Catis Omamalin, a Filipino culinary consultant who had trained as a pastry chef.[2] In his account of Dubai chocolate's creation, Omamalin said the pair wanted to create a chocolate bar with the flavour of a dessert. As his favourite Arabic dessert was knafeh, and because he thought it would have an appealing crunch and nostalgic value, Omamalin suggested a chocolate bar using its flavours. Together, they developed the chocolate, forming a partnership and the online shop Fix Dessert Chocolatier,[5] which in 2022 launched "Can't Get Knafeh of It".[6]
Can't Get Knafeh contained pistachio, tahini and kadayif, and was covered in yellow and green patterns.[6] Bars were made by hand, the interiors piped; a team working six to eight hours would produce 25 bars a day. Omamalin, who had by the launch left the partnership, kept working with Hamouda, saying he was doing so "as a friend".[5] Over the following year, they continued to modify the recipe, until early 2023 when Hamouda said they had "finally... nailed it".[2] Each bar was sold for £16 (US$19.72), initially at a rate of one per week.[6]
![Thumb](#/media/File:"Dubai-like"_chocolate_from_South_Korea.jpg)
With a small marketing budget, Fix relied on social media influencers to promote the chocolate, who tasted and reviewed it on camera. The interior's bright colors have been credited with some of the product's success, as the visual appeal created is important on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.[3] It first gained popularity in 2024.[7][4] Further demand came from consumer perceptions of the product being mysterious.[3]
Dubai chocolate gained popularity as manufacturers were facing high costs in producing cocoa and pistachio products. Due to the product's composition, manufacturing Dubai chocolate allowed them to keep costs down. Dubai was viewed as a trendy location among young people, particularly with social media influencers.[3]
Remove ads
Expansion
As the product gained popularity, large scale manufacturers such as Lindt began to produce and market them as Dubai Chocolate. In Germany, an importer of a clone of Fix Dubai Chocolate issued a cease-and-desist letter to the manufacturer Lindt, Aldi and Lidl because it was not produced in Dubai.[8] While geographical indications are in principle protectable under the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, the United Arab Emirates has not signed the agreement.[9] According to most legal scholars, the term "Dubai chocolate" is already a generic trademark in the EU market and does not contain any geographical indication.[10]
In January 2025, a German court in Cologne decided that Aldi has to stop selling its product named "Alyan Dubai Handmade Chocolate" on the ground it might mislead consumers that the chocolate has been produced in Dubai while it is actually produced in Turkey.[11] In the UK, the popularity of the Lindt variety of the chocolate was such that the supermarket chain Waitrose imposed purchase limits of two bars per customer.[3]
Studies and allergens
A study by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Consumer Protection tested eight imported samples of 'Dubai chocolate', five from the United Arab Emirates and three from Turkey. It found that all eight samples were considered "defective". Five of the products sampled contained fats other than cocoa butter, which is not permitted in products labelled "chocolate" in Germany. The study also found that five samples, all from the same producer in the UAE, were "unfit for consumption" due to contamination in the manufacturing process (they contained excessive levels of a substance that is considered a probable carcinogen, resulting from the use of low-quality palm oil). All three samples from Turkey were found to contain traces of undeclared sesame, usually as tahini, which may be dangerous for people allergic to sesame. A screening also revealed high levels of mold toxins (aflatoxins) in the pistachio component in one sample.[12][13]
Remove ads
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads