Sesame halva is popular in the Balkans, Far East, and the Mediterranean.
Its key ingredient is tahini (sesame paste), sweetened with glucose, sugar, or honey, with various additions–pistachios, chocolate, cocoa, and vanilla or orange scent.
The emergence of American sweetened and carbonated beverages on the market has made kombucha or sour bread an unpopular relic.
Western corporations have succeeded, within fifty years, in completely displacing from our culture a beverage that was regularly consumed in central and eastern Europe for hundreds of years.