Lentilky

The original M&M's

Lentilkys are colorful chocolate dragees that resemble M&M's in their form, except that they appeared on the market first, as early as 1907. They were created in the Czech Republic and gained popularity as a European alternative to American M&M's, which entered the market in 1941. The creators of the Czech sweets were brothers Philipp and Rudolf Kneisl who later patented Lentilky.

The original packaging for the Lentilky. The name comes from the Latin word “lenticula,” meaning lentil.

Over the years, Lentilky became a popular candy in Poland as well, especially during the communist era when it was hard to get any sweets — back then they served as the main decoration for our grandmothers' cakes. As I think about it now, our grandmas were the prototypes of influencers, and their culinary experiments would have huge commercial potential today.

Source

After 133 years of the brand's existence, a new chapter has begun - with a decision by Nestle, which owns the original Orion company, to move production to Hamburg, Germany, to standardize the recipe (less sugar) and packaging (eco-friendly tubes) to those of Smarties candies.

Lentilky were a kind of national symbol of the Czech Republic, so all those that happened in 2020 were the subject of much public discussion and the announcement of consumer strikes. Business decisions affected the production location and the iconic taste of a product that Czechs and their geographic neighbors had known for generations. Thus, in a way, they closed the chapter of original Czech sweets and went in the direction of corporate standardization at the expense of consumer satisfaction.