Edmund Pevensie Got Ripped Off

I tried Turkish Delight for the first time this weekend.

Turkish Delight, of course, is most famous as the candy the White Witch uses to tempt Edmund Pevensie in CS Lewis’s classic THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. I first heard of Turkish Delight when I read the Narnia books for the first time in 2004, but I never tried it until now.

I have to say…I was underwhelmed. Essentially it is a lump of viscous Jell-O powdered with sugar. Not bad…but not enough to tempt me to sell my soul to the icy Satan figure of another world. Edmund sold out his siblings for this? Granted, I know it was wartime Britain, with rationing and all. And it wasn’t really about the Turkish Delight, but Edmund’s willingness to keep malicious secrets and sell out of his family to this weird strange lady he met in the woods.

But still. He should have held out for cake. Or at least some pie!

-JM

UPDATE: A reader suggests that the Turkish Delight was actually a psychic mirror that let you taste whatever food you are most tempted to gorge yourself upon. In my case, that would be pepperoni bacon pizza with a french fry topping.