Camel's Milk Chocolate

This post definitely brings a whole new twist on that old Madison Avenue line: "I'd walk a mile for a Camel." In the current issue of Harper's magazine, Negar Azimi writes an article called "Dubai Is for Flamingos." Here's an excerpt:

Just off the road to El Ain, a few kilometers from the densely zigzagging skyline that marks "downtown Dubai," is the world's first producer of camel-milk chocolate. ... [Al Nassma] operates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the vice president of the UAE ...

Van Almsick, the general manager of the firm, is a German-born chocolatier who once served as director of Cologne's chocolate museum.

... "The newspapers write about Iraq and Afghanistan and all these sufferings, but people have had enough. They need chocolate! We all need it. It is something related to our childhoods," he says, biting into a piece of chocolate shaped like a camel.

"And camel's milk has higher-than-average levels of vitamins B and C — iron, too."

... [Al Nassma] is faring well. Since its launch last October, van Almsick has attracted many customers, among them several luxury hotels in the region and the Saudi royal family. Soon you will be able to buy his chocolates from Harrod's, in London.