Turkey applies to the EU for protected status for the doner kebab – but Germans protest it as an ‘assault on their cultural identity’

A new piece of history awaits kebab lovers as Turkey and Germany rush to claim the famous grilled meat as their own.

Turkey has applied to have one of its best-known foods – the döner kebab – protected by the European Union, but Germany is having none of it, reports The times.

Turkey plans to register the name doner in Europe so that it can only be used by those who adhere to the registered production method. If the nation has its way, the kebab will receive the same protection as Italy’s Neapolitan pizza, Spain’s Serrano ham and French champagne.

While the spiced meat originated in Istanbul, some argue that it has also taken its place as a national snack in Germany, with around a third of Germans consuming at least one kebab per month.

Critics have labeled the bizarre back-and-forth a full-blown “global food war,” while some called it an “attack on Germany’s cultural identity.”

Meanwhile, Arif Keles of the Hisar Fresh Food kebab kiosk in Berlin told Stern magazine: “There is no doner in Turkey that is made the way we make it here,” The Times reported.

Perhaps even stranger is the proposal because it attempts to make all the slices of meat in a doner kebab exactly the same thickness.

Turkey demands very specific rules on how thin slices of doner meat should be, what the meat should consist of and a “certain standard” for its production.

If the entire proposal goes through the three-month procedure, it would mean that there would be an EU standard for what can be called döner a kebab. Something that restaurants and shops throughout Europe must adhere to.

Only large slices of beef and lamb ‘horizontally cut into cutlets with a thickness of 3 to 5 mm’ can be labelled as döner, while chicken cutlets in the poultry variant can be one to two cm thick.

Doner kebab, the classic meat dish, consists of thinly sliced ​​cutlets of beef, lamb or chicken, which are rotated on a stainless steel skewer over a fire, cooking the meat as it rotates vertically on its axis.

Before the meat is threaded onto the skewer, it is marinated in a mixture of yoghurt, pepper, tomato puree, herbs, spices and salt.

According to local media, Turkey wants the EU to protect the kebab in order to preserve the tradition the dish developed during its journey to Europe.

According to Turkey’s filing, Greece could be a third candidate for the doner’s naming rights (stock image)

According to the Association of Turkish Döner Producers in Europe, the value of the döner economy in Europe is estimated at as much as €3.5 billion (£2.9 billion).

Although somewhat linked to the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin, traditional specialties are not covered by the Geographical Indications framework, which provides the highest level of protection for foodstuffs across Europe. Euronews reports.

This increased level of protection is given to products that have a direct link to a geographical area, which is not the case for the traditional cooking technique of döner meat.

That is also why Parma ham has been given a geographical indication, while Jamón Serrano only has a protected status.

The specialty food label has previously sparked controversy, including when the use of the traditional term ‘prosek’ for a Croatian dessert wine was challenged by Italians for being too similar to Italian Prosecco.

As for Turkey’s donor, complaints may also come from neighboring country and cultural rival Greece.

“It is claimed that Greece was the first country in Europe where ‘Döner’ was introduced during a people exchange between Turkey and Greece in 1922. In Greece it was called ‘gyros,’” Turkey’s application said.

A tense consultation phase has now begun that will last three months, during which countries will be able to challenge the application.

Opinions on the application are divided, with some seeing the move as a positive one, while others question the origins of the dish.