The Big Baklava Debate – Turkish or Greek?
If you go to Turkey or to Greece, you will come across a delicious pastry dessert that you simply have to try. This is not going to do anything for your waistline, that’s a given, but it will tickle your taste buds for sure!
We are of course talking about Baklava.
Now, there is a little bit of debate about whether baklava actually came from and whether it is indeed belonging to Turkey or to Greece. Before we wade in on the debate, let’s talk about what baklava is, and why it is so damn delicious!
What is Baklava?
Baklava is small, but one piece is never going to be enough! It is a pastry kind of dessert, and it is made of a flaky pastry which is layered upon each other. In the middle of this pastry you will find a filing of crushed nuts, including pistachios. As more layers of flaky pastry are added on top, a sticky syrup is poured over the top, which really is the icing on the metaphorical cake!
There are many different types of baklava, but we have just described the classic version that you will see everywhere. It comes in many different shapes and sizes, but the most traditional version is a small square, and you’ll see huge trays divided into small squares sitting in bakery and pastry shop windows. There are also triangle shapes, circular shapes, large sausage shapes, and everything in-between – there is no hard and fast rule to the size and shape, it just needs to taste delicious!
Yes, baklava is calorific, but you will not care about that once you’ve had a taste of the sticky sweetness. You can eat it alone, or you can eat it with ice cream, which really adds to its appeal. This is most often served after dinner, usually with cay, or tea, or it can simply be enjoyed just for the hell of it! Family gatherings and large celebrations usually feature baklava in Turkey, when visitors will purchase a large amount, usually by the kilo, to take to the family’s house as a gift. An expensive gift sometimes, but a very well received one!
You don’t have to buy such a large amount, as you can simply buy just a few squares if you want to. Four squares of baklava in Turkey will cost you around 7-10 lira, depending on where you buy it from. It’s best to get it from a dedicated bakery shop, and not a supermarket, as the quality will be infinitely better!
Turkish or Greek?
So, let’s put our part of the argument forth on whether baklava is indeed Turkish or Greek.
Obviously, if you go to Greece, they’re going to say it’s Greek; if you go to Turkey, they’re going to say it’s Turkey. In actual fact, you’ll find baklava in other countries aside from these two, and across the Middle Eastern region you’ll find this delicious treat in various different forms. The bottom line is that baklava was created during the Ottoman Empire’s rule, and that was based in Turkey. The first servings of baklava were thought to have been made in the kitchens of Istanbul’s opulent Topkapi Palace as a delicious dessert for the sultans of the empire. For that reason, surely baklava is Turkish?
Well, yes, but Greece did take it and adopt it into its own type of form, so you could argue that it’s a little of both …
At the end of the day however, does it really matter? I don’t really care where it came from, I just know that I love it, my waistline doesn’t love it, but my taste buds win over that so I keep consuming it! The Greeks can lay claim is they wish, whilst the Turks probably have a little more evidence in their favour. Despite that, visitors to both countries continue to enjoy the wonder of this sticky, sweet, and wonderful dessert.
