The modern doner kebab: invented in Germany

By Andreas Schneider Sep 29, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - One of the most popular fast food dishes in Germany is the doner kebab. Its moist, grilled meat is served with salad, onions and sliced tomatoes in thick flatbread, often with a hot sauce.

This version of the traditional Turkish dish was actually created in Berlin by Kadir Nurman, according to the Association of Turkish Doner Producers in Europe (ATDiD). The association honoured Nurman at a recent doner trade fair in Berlin.

Nurman came as what was called a guest worker to Germany where he quickly realised there was a market for fast food - the revolutionary idea of 1972.

'He began by putting just meat in bread and later on he added salad,' says Tarkan Tasyumruk, chairman of the ATDiD. At first Nurman's fast food stall beside Berlin's central Zoo station was frequented mainly by fellow Turks until Germans discovered the delicious dish.

After that the doner kebab spread quickly. For many Germans the doner kebab is considered a typical Turkish speciality but in fact it's a German creation, according to Tasyumruk.

In Turkey kebab from the spit was traditionally served only once a week on a plate and mainly at royal occasions or gatherings of the well-to-do.

'Not until the dish was updated, so to speak, in Germany did the doner make its big breakthrough,' he says. It was the German version of the doner that lead to the dish being served in bread in Turkey.

Today, there are about 16,000 fast food outlets selling doner kebab in Germany. With over 1,000 outlets, Berlin is the 'Doner Capital'.

According to the ATDiD's figures there are 250 firms in Germany producing doner meat that supply 80 per cent of the market in the EU. Every day 600 tons of doner meat are prepared for consumption. Tasyumruk says German producers and fast food outlet owners sell about 4.7 billion dollars of doner kebabs a year.

After suffering due to food scares in Germany in recent years the doner kebab industry is launching a new safety program to win back consumer confidence. Fast food shop owners will only be allowed to display a safety approval badge if they have completed a course on hygiene and storage.

Kadir Nurman no longer owns a fast food shop. 'He didn't go on to build a doner kebab empire, as you might think,' says Tasyumruk.

Nurman, who was born in 1933, lives as a pensioner in Berlin. The industry has transformed dramatically since he laid down his slicing knife and there are now robots that can carve the meat from the spit.