The popular is at risk doner kebabfollowing Turkey’s request to the EU to legally regulate what can be on the plate when served in restaurants.

According to the Berlin-based Association of Turkish Döner Producers in Europe, the döner kebab industry annually generates around €2.3 billion in Germany alone and €3.5 billion across Europe.

“From the government to the streets, everyone is eating doner kebab,” said Deniz Buchholz, a restaurant owner in Berlin.

The word “döner” comes from the Turkish verb “dönmek”, which means “to turn”. The meat is grilled for hours on a spit and then sliced. In Turkey, the dish was originally made of lamb and sold only by the plate. But in the 1970s, Turkish immigrants to Berlin chose to serve it in a pie and tweaked the recipe to make it special for Berliners.

“They realized that Germans like everything about bread,” said Buchholz, who grew up in Berlin and has Turkish roots. “And then they said, ‘OK, let’s put this dish on a bun,’ and that’s how the Berlin-style doner kebab came to be.”

In April, Turkey applied to protect the doner kebab under a regime called “guaranteed traditional specialty”. This is a subcategory of products PDO (protected designation of origin) that applies to products of a specific geographic region, such as Champagne from its namesake region in France, but can affect kebab owners, their individual recipes and their customers throughout Germany.

Under Turkey’s proposal, beef should come from animals at least 16 months old. It would be marinated with specific amounts of animal fat, yogurt or milk, onion, salt and thyme, as well as black, red and white peppers. The finished product is sliced ​​from the vertical spit into pieces 3 to 5 millimeters thick. The chicken doner will be regulated in a similar way.

The European Commission must decide by tomorrow, September 24, whether to accept 11 objections to the Turkish request, including from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. If he accepts them, Germany and Turkey will have up to six months to reach a compromise. The European Commission has the final say.

“We took the request from Turkey with some surprise,” Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture told The Associated Press. “The kebab is part of Germany and the diversity of its preparation methods reflects the diversity of our country. This must be maintained. For the benefit of its many fans in Germany, we are committed to ensuring that the doner kebab remains as prepared and eaten here,” the ministry said.

Turkey is asking for the exclusion of various elements of the dish, such as certain vegetables, turkey and certain types of beef, all of which are of course very popular in Germany.

“The kebab belongs to Germany. Everyone should be allowed to decide for themselves how it is prepared and eaten here. No directives from Ankara are needed,” Cem Ozdemir, Germany’s federal minister for food and agriculture, who also has Turkish roots, wrote to X.