Chocolate makers show off Syria’s sweeter side FEATURE 04/19/2010

Chocolate makers show off Syria’s sweeter side

FEATURE

04/19/2010
DAMASCUS — Belgium and Switzerland may be the current kings of chocolate, but Syrian confectioners believe another country deserves to be up there too, and already they are feeding an international sweet tooth.

Syria’s traditional Arabic sweets are loved across the Middle East, and its people are famed for their culinary skills, with a rich cuisine built on the abundant produce of Damascus’ fertile green belt, the Ghouta.

But few realize it also makes first-class chocolate, with an export industry that is booming as the Syrian economy opens up to the world.

Despite long having had a reputation as the bad boy of Middle East politics, Syria is slowly emerging from international isolation. And among those taking the lead are Syrian confectioners.

“Why Syrian chocolate? Why not? What do countries like Switzerland and Belgium have that we in Syria don’t have to make chocolate?” Bassam Ghraoui, who heads Syria’s most famous chocolate maker, told AFP..... MORE


Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100419com3.html