Germany and Turkey are at odds over the status of doner kebab, with the dispute erupting as Berlin moves to block Ankara’s bid to grant this type of grilled meat the same protected status in the European Union as Spanish serrano ham or Neapolitan pizza.
The conflict began in April when Turkey filed an application to register the name “doner kebab” as a “guaranteed traditional specialty” across Europe. This designation would mean only those adhering to specific production methods and meat specifications could use the label.
Germany argues that such a designation would create significant bureaucratic hurdles and raise the price of kebabs, leading to its veto just before the legal deadline.
If Ankara’s bid succeeds, only beef and lamb meat sliced horizontally into 3-5 mm thick cutlets could be sold as doner kebab, while chicken cutlets could be thicker, and minced meat would be entirely banned.
The age of the animals and the slicing knife would also need to meet various specifications, as would the spices used for marinating the meat, according to the application sponsored by the International Kebab Federation in Istanbul, which asserts that the dish is an integral part of Turkey’s culinary heritage.
The stakes are high, with kebab sales in Germany amounting to around €7 billion annually. It is estimated that one in three Germans eats at least one doner kebab a month, though this is becoming increasingly costly for their wallets.
Both Turkey and Germany, which has a Turkish diaspora of 2.7 million people, claim to be the birthplace of the doner kebab. Its bicultural significance sparked a spat during German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s state visit to Istanbul in April when he appeared with a doner kebab skewer.
The new European regulations would represent “intervention in the German market with tangible economic impact,” stated the German Ministry of Agriculture, led by Cem Özdemir, a politician of Turkish descent.
“It is an attack on German cultural identity,” said Berlin sociologist Eberhard Seidel, who has written a book on the history of the doner kebab.
The two countries now have six months to find a compromise, or the European Commission will have to resolve the dispute. Although Turkey is not part of the European Union, non-EU countries can also register products within the EU.