Swiss chocolatier serves up Middle Eastern flavors as ‘Dubai chocolate’ craze hits Europe

AACHEN, Germany (AP) — Hundreds of curious shoppers, some equipped with camping stools and rain gear, lined up for hours on a drizzly Thursday in the western German city of Aachen. They weren't waiting for the latest phone or luxury handbag release: they were after a taste of a new chocolate bar.

Swiss chocolate giant Lindt has drawn the crowds with a new treat — a confection known as “Dubai chocolate” that features a crunchy mixture of chocolate, pistachio cream and knafeh, a crispy filo dough that is better known for its use in baklava.

Lindt executives want to show the nearly 180-year-old Swiss chocolatier can mix it up with a product first concocted by an Emirati upstart and expand the boundaries of a centuries-old industry largely dominated by European companies.

“It’s a hype, a trend on social media, with people waiting in long lines,” said Zi Cheng Lai, 23, student from Malaysia, after exiting the Lindt store in Aachen on Thursday. “We want to try it out here and be part of it.”

After crossing a rope line to enter the Lindt store, Lai and others were welcomed by staffers in white cooks’ outfits and matching chef hats who held out sample squares of chocolate. They could then move on into the store to buy a single bar per person — each bearing a unique number, to add a flavor of exclusivity.

The sweet treats were first introduced in 2021 by startup FIX Dessert Chocolatier in the United Arab Emirates. They have since grown in popularity, helped by influencers on Instagram and TikTok.

Lindt on Saturday began releasing a limited number of 1,000 of the novel chocolate bars in select shops in Germany. A similar campaign is set to start this weekend in Switzerland, after a reported outcry in the Alpine country that the Swiss were being left out.

ChocoSuisse, an industry association, is hopeful that the fusion of Middle Eastern treats and traditional chocolate will make chocolate more appealing to palates beyond Europe, the world’s biggest chocolate market for many generations.

“It’s a good thing if more people start to like chocolate and regularly eat chocolate — it expands the market in places like Asia and the Middle East,” said Roger Wehrli, the director of ChocoSuisse, which counts most of the Swiss industrial chocolate makers as members.

The patrons generally seemed satisfied at the Aachen shop, even at a relatively high price of 14.99 euros (about $15.85) per bar. Some said they just wanted to be part of the trend.

“It’s juicy inside but also crunchy -- I think it’s the strands of the angel hair,” said 20-year-old student Esko Rieck, who raved about the treat's texture after waiting for more than three hours to get inside. “I’m here because I’ve never been at such a release event, and I wanted to experience the release of a limited edition.”

Thai student Thanapon Kunlawatwimon, 26, got hold of bar number 429 out of the 1,000. “It’s like, ‘OK, I finally got it.’ So I’m happy now.”

Associated Press Writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

People queue outside a Lindt chocolate shop to buy limited bars of 'Dubai Chocolate', in Aachen, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Niemann)

Student Esko Rieck poses with a bag containing a limited bar of 'Dubai Chocolate' after he bought it in the Lindt chocolate shop, in Aachen, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Niemann)

A bar of the limited 'Dubai Chocolate' lays on a table at a Lindt chocolate shop, in Aachen, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Niemann)

Service employees offer "Dubai Chocolate" in a Lindt shop to customers, during the sell of limited bars of the Chocolate in Aachen, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Niemann)

People queue outside of a Lindt chocolate shop to buy limited bars 'Dubai Chocolate', in Aachen, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Niemann)

Service employees offer "Dubai Chocolate" in a Lindt shop to customers during the sell of limited bars of the Chocolate, in Aachen, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Niemann)

BERLIN (AP) — German soccer club St. Pauli is leaving the social media platform X, saying it has become a “hate machine” that could influence upcoming German elections.

The left-leaning Hamburg-based Bundesliga club said Thursday said it was ending its activities on the platform formerly called Twitter, and that it was encouraging its 250,000 followers there to switch to Bluesky, a rival social network championed by former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey.

“The reason for the withdrawal: owner Elon Musk has turned a room for debate into an amplifier of hate that can also influence the German federal election campaign,” St. Pauli said in a statement on its website. “Since Musk took over Twitter … he has turned X into a hate machine. Racism and conspiracy theories spread unhindered or are even curated. Insults and threats are barely sanctioned and sold as supposed freedom of expression.”

St. Pauli’s statement was illustrated by a photo of a sticker showing a fist smashing a swastika, beside the club’s emblem and a slogan saying its fans are against right-wing politics.

St. Pauli noted that Musk supported Donald Trump during the U.S. presidential election “with the help of X,” and that “it can be assumed that X will also promote authoritarian, misanthropic and right-wing extremist content in the (German) federal election campaign and thus manipulate public discourse.”

Germany looks set to hold early parliamentary elections on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner, ending a fractious alliance between three political parties.

St. Pauli is the first German top-level club to say it is leaving X following the U.S. election result. British newspaper The Guardian said Wednesday it would no longer post content on the network, describing it as a “toxic media platform.”

Bluesky on Wednesday said its total users had surged to 15 million, up from roughly 13 million at the end of October.

St. Pauli said it would leave its content from the past 11 years on X "as it has historical value" but won't make any new posts.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - St. Pauli's fans invade the field after their team won 3-1 during a second division, Bundesliga soccer match at the Millerntor Stadium, in Hamburg, Germany, May 12, 2024. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP File)