Invented to satiate pregnancy cravings, Dubai chocolate is a rare combination of creativity, flavours and social media success that has broken all industry records.

It was a cold, damp evening in Munich in December 2024, but the festive tunes and the twinkling fairy lights at the Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market) lifted my spirits. With a mug of glühwein (hot mulled wine) in hand, I made my way to the candy stall to get my usual supply of German Christmas cookies. But I stopped in my tracks when I realised that the longest queue was not for lebkuchen (gingerbread biscuits baked for Christmas) or the traditional stollen fruit bread, but for a new kid on the block: Dubai chocolate.

That was my first encounter with the viral chocolate in a land far from its birthplace. But by then, Dubai chocolate had already become a global sensation: a rich, sticky and unapologetically extra chocolate bar that had shattered industry records, won millions of hearts and was spreading like wildfire across the world.

A decadent milk chocolate bar filled with silky pistachio cream, earthy tahini and crunchy shards of knafeh pastry, the original Dubai chocolate was launched by Dubai-based FIX Dessert Chocolatier in 2022 when its British Egyptian founder, Sarah Hamouda, had an urge to create something unique to satisfy her pregnancy cravings for knafeh and pistachio. FIX called their creation "Can't Get Knafeh Of It".

Can't Get Knafeh Of It took the world by storm when TikTok influencer Maria Vehera posted a rapturous video of herself trying the chocolate bar inside her car in December 2023. The video quickly went viral, attracting more than 125 million views and scores of fans around the world who were willing to do anything to grab a bite. The bar became a craze and was promptly christened "Dubai chocolate".

In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, Yezen Alani, co-founder of FIX, described the international spotlight as "flattering and humbling". However, despite FIX's plans for global expansion, its Can't Get Knafeh Of It bar remains solely available in the UAE, pushing independent chocolatiers and multinational brands such as Lindt and Ülker to mimic the original and produce their own versions to meet global demand. These imitations, also known as "Dubai chocolate", have inundated supermarkets and neighbourhood bodegas all over the world.

Today, Dubai chocolate can be found everywhere, from the online shelves of UAE's food delivery apps and the brimming counters of Istanbul's sweet shops to the packed aisles of London's Lidl stores and the chaotic alleyways of Mumbai's flea markets. Global demand continues to skyrocket, resulting in worldwide stockouts and an international pistachio shortage. It has spawned waitlists at chocolate counters across Europe and the United States and inspired limited-edition collaborations with major brands like

© BBC