Posted on 01/20/2009 5:55:38 AM PST by canuck_conservative
Mahmut Aygun, was suffering from cancer and died in Berlin at the age of 87. Known as the "kebab king" he was born in Turkey and moved to Germany at the age of 16 to open a snack stall. He invented the doner kebab nearly 40 years ago. Kebab meat, consisiting of roast lamb and spices, had traditionally been served with rice but in a moment of inspiration Mr Aygun saw that the future lay in putting the meat inside a pitta bread. That allowed customers who had been drinking to wander off into the night with their food and eat it as they stumbled home. Mr Aygun once said: "I thought how much easier it would be if they could take their food with them." The first of the new snacks was served on March 2, 1971, at Hasir, his restaurant in Berlin. It was called a doner kebab after the Turkish word "dondurmek" which means a rotating roast. Mr Aygun went on to invent the yoghurt sauce often served with a doner kebab. The subsequent popularisiation of the doner kebab in the UK led to many traditional fish and chip shops going bust. In Berlin his death was greeted with sadness and one headline read: "Thanks, Mahmut!"
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I used to see those rotating in ‘chippies’ in the UK. They grossed me out. Some really like kebab, though.
>>. Mr Aygun went on to invent the yoghurt sauce<<
Same as on Gyros, right?
When I was in Sydney, they sold these on the street!
“...That allowed customers who had been drinking to wander off into the night with their food and eat it as they stumbled home....”
Has it ever! It’s become a ritual in the UK as well as much of the commonwealth - drunks lined up at the Kabob shop at 3AM!
Gross, perhaps, but nothing beats a doner kebab at 11:00 at night after the pubs have closed. I doubt too many tears were shed over the traditional fish and chip shops going bust.
Because of the very close political and cultural ties between NZ and Turkey (due to WW-I and Galipoli), there are literally hundreds or thousands of kebab shops everywhere. Doner Kebabs are considered authentic New Zealand cuisine.
I prefer them to hamburgers, actually. You could eat them all day and not put on an ounce of fat: they are actually good for you.
Mmmmmm!
True. But, I still miss the days of stumbling out of the pub and quelling ‘the munches’ with some good ol’, hot chips doused in vinegar and salt! :)
I prefer the “Halifax [Nova Scotia]-style” donair, which uses a sweet sauce - grew up on those, and they’re still really tasty.
Invented 1973, according to Wikipedia ...
Here’s a fun wee video: it’s in French and it’s all about the Doner Kebab. The French isn’t at all challenging: http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=wJV6Akwxlo8&feature=related
Sounds like Olga’s! Yum!
Is this related to khal-khalash?
(You know, the stuff that goes with Mountain Dew or crab juice...anyone?)
Why would anyone think that Germany would be a good place to move to in order to open a snack stall in 1938?
Just when I thought “music” couldn’t get any worse than rap, and you have to introduce me to French rap.
Thanks a lot!!
> Just when I thought “music” couldn’t get any worse than rap, and you have to introduce me to French rap.
> Thanks a lot!!
(grin!) As I understand it, there is a neat story behind that video. All of the people in the video are the kebab guy’s regular customers. And he made up this kebab song just for fun.
There was a record company upstairs from his kebab shop who heard his wee tune and liked it, and apparently offered him a music contract...
...or so the story goes. The video makes all of those thousands of hours of French class during school in Canada all seem worthwhile, ay! It took me many many years — well into adulthood — to appreciate being bilingual.
I watch 'You Are What You Eat,' an English show where this nutritionist helps people lose weight. They show what the person has eaten for the last week - apparently the English diet is full of Donner Kabobs, which I'd never heard of until the show. These folks are huge and the nutritionist doesn't ever say - "Oh, Donner Kabobs, that's fine. You keep eating those." : )
I thought hubby was going to go into mourning when I read this to him this morning. The Doner Kebab is his most favorite food. He discovered it the day he got off the plane in Germany. He took the Princess and me to get our first the day we landed in Germany. It became a weekly ritual that every Saturday we could, we went to a little stand at the end of an alley in the market area of town. That guy knew us well. Since moving back to the states, he’s tried every Doner place he’s come across, but he’s not found the real thing yet.
We haven’t tried any place in the DC area yet. Maybe the weekend after next...I think that’s the soonest we will venture back into the downtown area again as a family.
“I prefer the “Halifax [Nova Scotia]-style” donair, which uses a sweet sauce - grew up on those, and they’re still really tasty.”
Oh, man, I’d kill for some KOD (or Roberts, or any other number of places) donair some times. I eat a bunch every time I’m down there. Around here we get gyros, which are pretty similar, although the seasoning is different, and the sauce definitely not the same (although still good). Some places around here purport to sell something they call a donair, but it just isn’t the same. Still, there are compensations - we’ve got a great selection of authentic Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Carribean (roti are great!) and other restaraunts around here. I don’t think I could get a roti or find a decent dim sum place in Halifax, although if you don’t mind going out of your way a little, there is a surprising variety of food available down there now.
> These folks are huge and the nutritionist doesn’t ever say - “Oh, Donner Kabobs, that’s fine. You keep eating those.” : )
(grin!) That’s because, being typical Poms, they probably batter-and-deep-fry their Doner Kebabs.
They’re one of the few fast-food things that my nutritionist approves of: much better for you than the quintessential Kiwi meat-pie-and-tomato-sauce for lunch. She says no sauces and order chicken not lamb or beef. Admittedly, that spoils some of the fun so, naturally, I pay no attention to that. Life’s too short for a fat-free diet.
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