BAKLAVA WAR INTENSIFIES BETWEEN TURKS AND GREEKS

Ya Libnan, Lebanon
May 15 2006

Beirut & Istanbul- The Baklava war ( in Lebanon Baklawa) intensified
between the Turks and the Cypriot Greeks. Turkish baklava producers
are protesting Greek Cypriot claims that the sweet dessert is their
own national creation, with support for their protest coming from
State Minister and EU Chief Negotiator Ali Babacan in the EU General
Secretariat.

Plans for a press conference are underway for Monday May 16, and
tomorrow a protest in which banners proclaiming “Baklava is Turkish,
we will not allow the Greek Cypriots to feed it to the world” are held
is planned for Istanbul. The owner of renowned baklava producer “Haci
Sayid Baklava,” Halil Dincerler, had this comment on the situation:
“Baklava is Turkish, what the Greek Cypriots are presenting is just
a copy. We will go all the way to Brussels, and we will let the EU
ministers taste real baklava.”

Another comment on the international food fight was made by the
President of the Baklava and Dessert Producers Foundation, Mehmet
Yildirim. He said that it was time for Turkey to stand up and claim its
national treasures, and recalled that the Turks had brought baklava
with them all the way from Central Asia. Yildirim also said that
there were documents which proved that baklava belonged rightfully
to the Turks.

To help our readers Ya Libnan did some research on Baklava to determine
the real origin of this dessert and to help stop this sticky war!

The History of Baklava THE ORIGIN:

Like the origins of most recipes that came from Old Countries to enrich
the dinner tables of dessert lovers, the exact origin of baklava is
also something hard to put the finger on because every ethnic group
whose ancestry goes back to the Middle East has a claim of their own
on this scrumptious pastry.

Recipe for Baklava

It is widely believed however, that the Assyrians at around 8th century
B.C. were the first people who put together a few layers of thin bread
dough, with chopped nuts in between those layers, added some honey and
baked it in their primitive wood burning ovens. This earliest known
version of baklava was baked only on special occasions. In fact,
historically baklava was considered a food for the rich until the
mid-19th century.

In Turkey, to this day one can hear a common expression often used by
the poor, or even by the middle class, saying: “I am not rich enough
to eat baklava and boerek every day”.

REGIONAL INTERACTIONS:

The Greek seamen and merchants traveling east to Mesopotamia soon
discovered the delights of Baklava. It mesmerized their taste buds.

They brought the recipe to Athens. The Greeks’ major contribution to
the development of this pastry is the creation of a dough technique
that made it possible to roll it as thin as a leaf, compared to the
rough, bread-like texture of the Assyrian dough. In fact, the name
“Phyllo” was coined by Greeks, which means “leaf” in the Greek
language. In a relatively short time, in every kitchen of wealthy
households in the region, trays of baklava were being baked for all
kinds of special occasions from the 3rd Century B.C. onwards. The
Armenians, as their Kingdom was located on ancient Spice and Silk
Routes, integrated for the first time the cinnamon and cloves into
the texture of baklava. The Arabs introduced the rose-water and
cardamom. The taste changed in subtle nuances as the recipe started
crossing borders. To the north of its birthplace, baklava was being
baked and served in the palaces of the ancient Persian kingdom. To
the west, it was baked in the kitchens of the wealthy Roman mansions,
and then in the kitchens of the Byzantine Empire until the fall of
the latter in 1453 A.D.

THE PERFECTION:

In the 15th Century A.D., the Ottomans invaded Constantinople to
the west, and they also expanded their eastern territories to cover
most of ancient Assyrian lands and the entire Armenian Kingdom. The
Byzantine Empire came to an end, and in the east Persian Kingdom lost
its western provinces to the invaders. For four hundred years from
16th Century on, until the decline of Ottoman Empire in 19th Century,
the kitchens of Imperial Ottoman Palace in Constantinople became the
ultimate culinary hub of the empire.

The artisans and craftsmen of all Guilds, the bakers, cooks and pastry
chefs who worked in the Ottoman palaces, at the mansions of Pashas
and Viziers, and at Provincial Governor (Vali) residences etc.,
had to be recruited from various ethnic groups that composed the
empire. Armenian, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Assyrian and occasionally
Serbian, Hungarian or even French chefs were brought to Constantinople,
to be employed at the kitchens of the wealthy. These chefs contributed
enormously to the interaction and to the refinement of the art of
cooking and pastry-making of an Empire that covered a vast region to
include the Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Persia, Armenia,
Iraq and entire Mesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and the
Mediterranean and Aegean islands. Towards the end of 19th Century,
small pastry-shops started to appear in Constantinople and in major
Provincial capitals, to cater the middle class, but the Ottoman Palace
have always remained the top culinary “academy” of the Empire, until
its end in 1923.

Here, we must mention that there’s a special reason for baklava
being the top choice of pastry for the Turkish Sultans with their
large Harems, as well as for the wealthy and their families. Two
principal ingredients, the pistachio and honey, were believed to be
aphrodisiacs when taken regularly. Certain spices that were added to
baklava, have also helped to fine-tune and to augment the aphrodisiac
characteristics of the pastry, depending on male or female consumer.

Cinnamon for females, and cardamom for males and cloves for both sexes.

>>From 18th century on, there was nothing much to add to baklava’s
already perfected taste and texture. There were however, some
cosmetic modifications in shaping and in the presentation of baklava
on a baking tray (called Sinii). The Phyllo dough (called Youfka)
which was traditionally layered and cut into squares or triangles,
were given a “French touch” in late 18th century. As the Empire
began opening itself to Western cultural (and culinary) influences,
the General manager (Kahyabasi) of the Imperial Kitchen didn’t miss
the opportunity to hire Monsieur Guillaume, a former pastry chef of
Marie Antoinette, who in exile at the Ottoman Turkish Palace after
learning how to bake baklava, created the “dome” technique of cutting
and folding of the baklava squares which was named “Baklava Francaise”
(French Baklava) after the nationality of its creator.

Based on the above history it is clear that Assyria is the origin of
the Baklava

The Assyrian empire stretched from Southern Lebanon in the south to
the Zagros mountains in the north( bordering present day Iraq and Iran)
and included areas of present day Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq.

The heartland of Assyria is the area that is now dominated by the
Kurds.

Baklava , in fact has been the sweetest unifying dessert between
all the countries of the Middle East and the Mediterranean sea. Each
country makes it its own way but they are all sweet and sticky.

Lebanon has been the leader in promoting Baklava throughout the
world. Lebanese baklava bakers such as Samedi were the first to
Franchise it in the Gulf region, Europe and throughout the Middle
east. In the United States the most famous Baklava is made by Shatila
in Michigan.

As Lebanon continues to promote this dessert it will become the
ultimate original Baklava.

Turkey and Greece therefore should stop this crazy Baklava war, because
they both copied the dessert, but Lebanon did a better job at copying.

One baker told me after hearing the history of the dessert ” You know,
I never though about this before, but since Lebanon was at one time
part of the Assyrian empire…perhaps Lebanon was the origin of this
dessert and the Assyrians copied it from us and then passed on the
recipe to the Turks and Greeks !!”

I was not surprised to hear this from the Lebanese baker and will
comment no further since we had enough wars in Lebanon and we don’t
want to start another one with Turkey and Greece.