I had no idea that the kebab, as we know it, is an Australian invention, or rather, an invention of the Turks who moved to Australia. But the Graun set me straight.
Apparently, it arrived here in the early 1980s, which was a surprise. I thought those twirling inverted pyramids of brown mystery meat had always been here. But no.
The doner kebab was brought to Australia by Turkish migrants, who began opening shops as early as the 1980s. And while there is little conclusive data, the community does claim to own a majority of kebab shops around the country.
Sahin says that the Sydney-style kebab is heavily influenced by other migrant communities in Australia, whether through the use of Lebanese bread and tabouli, or through condiments like barbecue sauce.
“Our kebab here is a concoction of all these cultures coming together in Australia. And the kebab is 100% a multicultural cuisine, it takes from everyone around it.
“This style of kebab is iconic, it’s unique in the world, and is a trusted food in Australia. You can’t get something like that in Turkey, or from other diasporas.”
The story was pinned to some odd controversy over an upstart ‘Berlin kebab’, which sounds appalling.
There is even a singular origin story to the ‘Sydney-style kebab’, the arrival in 1974 of Muammer Tüysüz, with $20 in his pocket
Tüysüz had worked in catering for the Turkish prime minister, and around 1974 attended a wedding in Australia that served doner kebabs. This got him thinking, and two years later, he imported his own machines and began operating a mobile kebab shop out the back of his station wagon.
His daughter, Melek Tüysüz, says this made him the first person to sell kebabs in Australia.
“He operated out of old Chinatown in Haymarket, in Sydney. It grew so popular, he then turned it into a truck that operated out of Flemington Markets weekly.”
Soon after, Tüysüz began operating at events like the Easter Show, where the sandwich exploded in popularity, and his business expanded rapidly.
I was first introduced to the kebab on the Sunshine Coast at a shopping centre that may still be there, but I'm not sure.
My most memorable kebab experience was in the food court at Pacific Fair when I just kept asking for more and more hot chilli sauce (rather than the dribble they had started doing) until the teenager behind the counter through a teary gaze of inhaling too much hot stuff and sheer exhaustion uttered the cry "I can't cover anything else in sauce!"
From memory, it could have done with a dash more sauce...
I also had no idea; Australia really punches above its weight innovating in so many areas. So many things we've gifted the world - wifi, Cochlear implants, the Hills Hoist, doner kebabs...
i was just thinking "damn you again Birmingham" stop posting these. But also making plans to do a home one for dinner sometime this week. I dont have the special made contraption but just use a halved onion with skewers in it and then the meat threaded on. Doing liberal basting whilst it cooks in the oven. Not the same but pretty tasty all the same. Especially if you do your own flat bread
the kebab, the integrated chip, the high heeled stiletto shoe, as well as the bagel-with-a-smear... all invented on the Isle of Manhattan in the late 1890s
just ask my great-great-grandmother who was there for all of it
one of these days, when the world is ready for it we must organize a foodie Olympics-scaled taste test in order to settle which version of various dishes is best in class
I had always assumed it was at least as much a Leb thing as Turkish - perhaps incorrectly. As for 80s, though, I recall being in London in 1979 and having a doner kebab there that was functionally identical to a normal Australian kebab, and carved from a twirling inverted pyramid, so not sure we have the priority quite as much as the article implies.
I first encountered the humble kebab in Wollongong in 1992, a pivotal event convincing me to move from Wagga. I assumed that the kebab had always existed but Wagga was just too conservative for such multicultural cuisine.
I never knew that, either.
I was first introduced to the kebab on the Sunshine Coast at a shopping centre that may still be there, but I'm not sure.
My most memorable kebab experience was in the food court at Pacific Fair when I just kept asking for more and more hot chilli sauce (rather than the dribble they had started doing) until the teenager behind the counter through a teary gaze of inhaling too much hot stuff and sheer exhaustion uttered the cry "I can't cover anything else in sauce!"
From memory, it could have done with a dash more sauce...
I also had no idea; Australia really punches above its weight innovating in so many areas. So many things we've gifted the world - wifi, Cochlear implants, the Hills Hoist, doner kebabs...
Well that's lunch for me decided.
i was just thinking "damn you again Birmingham" stop posting these. But also making plans to do a home one for dinner sometime this week. I dont have the special made contraption but just use a halved onion with skewers in it and then the meat threaded on. Doing liberal basting whilst it cooks in the oven. Not the same but pretty tasty all the same. Especially if you do your own flat bread
nonsense
the kebab, the integrated chip, the high heeled stiletto shoe, as well as the bagel-with-a-smear... all invented on the Isle of Manhattan in the late 1890s
just ask my great-great-grandmother who was there for all of it
one of these days, when the world is ready for it we must organize a foodie Olympics-scaled taste test in order to settle which version of various dishes is best in class
hummus hand sandwich
pizza (with not more than three toppings)
kebab
bagel
ice cream smashup
Outstanding read. Utterly recommend a trip to the legendary Jimmy’s Kebab van in Church Street Parramatta Sydney.
I had always assumed it was at least as much a Leb thing as Turkish - perhaps incorrectly. As for 80s, though, I recall being in London in 1979 and having a doner kebab there that was functionally identical to a normal Australian kebab, and carved from a twirling inverted pyramid, so not sure we have the priority quite as much as the article implies.
Prefer the ones in the frozen mother country. More often lamb and in a pita
Dammit. Now I'm hungry.
Ahhh, the late night lamb sandwich. A staple of homeward bound drunken fools for decades.
I first encountered the humble kebab in Wollongong in 1992, a pivotal event convincing me to move from Wagga. I assumed that the kebab had always existed but Wagga was just too conservative for such multicultural cuisine.
Would it really be mystery meat if kebabs were a Haitian invention...
So how are they different from Yiros, which I'm sure I remember in Adelaide in the 70s?
This should set you straight https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/you-say-kebab-i-say-yeeros/il62xzk6j, but I don't want to be accused of starting some Greek-Turkish or Turkish-Greek war.
this story brings a tear to my eye it does.