turkey scraps bid for doner kebabs to get 'speciality' status like champagne

Turkey had tried to impose the same protections on doner kebabs as the French have on Champagne (Alina Rudya/Bell Collective/Getty Images)

Turkey has abandoned plans to force strict rules on EU kebab shops over what constitutes a doner kebab,ending a dispute with Germany over the beloved dish.

The country had tried to get ‘Traditional Speciality Guaranteed’ status for the meaty delicacy,which would have seen strict rules slapped on the types of ingredients used and serving methods.

The doner kebab,which ranks in the top five of the UK’s takeaway favourites,would have had the same status as French Champagne if Turkish officials had succeeded.

Similar measures are in place to protect the traditional formats of Spain’s Serrano ham and Italy’s Neapolitan Pizza.

The attempt had sparked outrage in Germany,where the meaty delicacy is popular (Ina Fassbender/AFP)

While British kebab shops would have been unaffected,Germany’s kebab industry would have suffered after years of evolution in what a doner looks like in the country compared to the Turkish original.

Turkey’s proposal included specifications that the slices of beef and lamb famously included in the dish would need be cut to a thickness of between 3mm and 5mm.

Traditionally,doner kebabs are produced by marinating the meat in a mixture of pepper,tomato puree,herbs,spices,salt and yoghurt.

Germany’s variant on the doner kebab is significantly different from the Turkish original (AFP/Getty Images)

The meat is then placed on a vertical skewer that it is turn rotated against a fire,with thin slices pared back from the skewer as it cooks from the outside in.

But doners in Germany often use veal in a flatbread with vegetables like red cabbage,pickles,onions and sauces.

History of the doner kebab

Turkey’s proposal included rules that the meat could not be cut more than 5mm thick (Adam Berry/Getty Images)Doner kebabs have been around for centuries,but became popular in the UK in the 1940s as immigrants from Turkish,Cypriot and Kurdish communities arrived.The first doner kebab shop opened in London’s Newington Green in 1966 – marking a new era of the British takeaway.Kebab used to be eaten with rice – but Mahmut Aygun,the inventor of the modern doner kebab,is said to have served the first slices of meat into a flat bread from his Berlin restaurant ‘Hasir’.The rest was history – the kebab became an easy meal for people to grab and go,and it’s become a highly lauded option for those on late nights out.Turkish officials had argued the doner should be seen as a national dish that spread to Europe through migration,but Germany said its variant had become part of its own national cuisine.According to the Association of Turkish Doner Producers,Europe’s doner kebab economy is thought to be worth an estimated £2,900,000,000 annually. After Turkey abandoned the attempt,former German food and agriculture minister Cem Özdemir,who is of Turkish descent,said there was no need for the rules.‘The doner belongs to Germany,’ he said,per the BBC.The German food and agriculture ministry said last year that it had noted the Turkish bid ‘with some astonishment’.Per BZ-Berlin,Erdogan Koc,spokesperson for the German Kebab Producers’ Association,said: ‘We are pleased that the kebab variety in Germany has been preserved and can be expanded even further.’