Foreigners usually associate Germany with sausages of all kinds. But when it comes to simple meals, the doener is Germany’s favorite food. Although it is a Turkish invention, Germany sports more doener stalls than McDonald’s or Burger Kings combined. There are about 17,000 doener stalls in the country, 1,000 in Berlin alone.
What is a doener?
The word doener comes from the Turkish verb doenmek, which means to rotate. Today’s German doener is a variation of the original Turkish doener kebab, which has been in existence for many centuries. Way back in the 19th century, a cook named Iskender Efendi from the city of Bursa, Turkey, came up with the idea of serving kebabs. He placed chunks of lamb on a spit and roasted them horizontally. He served the meal on plates along with rice and tomatoes.
German doeners, on the other hand, are a take-away item. A 2- to 3-foot stack of seasoned, marinated chicken, turkey or beef (rarely lamb) is layered on a vertical spit, which slowly rotates in front of a heating element. The outer layer of the meat cooks while the inside layer remains frozen. Only the crisp outer edges of the meat are sliced off the constantly rotating skewer. The meat is then heaped onto a piece of charred flatbread and topped with various chopped vegetables and a spicy or yogurt-based sauce.
Who brought the doener to Germany?
Most people agree that a Turkish-born immigrant to Berlin created the first German doener. This man not only adapted the popular Turkish dish to the German palate but he also turned the meal into a handheld snack for the Berliner-on-the-go. Two Turkish-born guest workers in Germany vie for the title of having “invented” the German doener.
Kadir Nurman – doener inventor no. 1
The most likely candidate to have “invented” the German doener is Kadir Nurman. In 1960 – at age 26 – Mr. Nurman left his native Turkey for Germany and worked as a guest worker for Daimler in Stuttgart. Six years later he moved to Berlin. In 1972, he set up a fast food stand near Berlin’s busy Zoo station and sold his first doeners. When he realized that busy Berliners prefer to take their meal with them rather than eat it at the stand, he turned his doeners into a moveable feast. He also invented the vertical rotating spit. His doener caught on and by the 1990s became a German fast food favorite. But because he never patented his inventions, Mr. Nurman did not profit from the doener’s success. Although his contribution as the inventor of the doener was officially recognized by the Association of Turkish Doener Manufacturers in 2011, Mr. Nurman died a poor man in 2013, living only on his meager social security income. http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/doener-erfinder-kadir-nurman-ist-tot-a-930140.html
Mehmet Ayguen – doener inventor no. 2
Mehmet Ayguen also claims to have invented the doener. Like Kadir Nurman, Mr. Ayguen was born in Turkey and immigrated to Germany. While both men had their start as poverty-stricken guest workers, Mr. Ayguen made good. He moved to Berlin in 1976. He was 16 years old. Initially, he drove a taxi, worked as a dishwasher and finally worked for Mr. Nurman at his doener stand (so says Mr. Nurman). At this point the assertions are getting foggy. Mr. Ayguen claims to have served his first doeners in 1971 at Hasir, his family’s restaurant in Berlin. He would have been 11 years old at the time and supposedly still lived in Turkey.
Whether he invented the doener or not, Mehmet Ayguen’s is a success story. He and his five brothers started as paupers and ended up as multi-millionaires in their country of choice. Today, the Ayguen brothers own eight restaurants and three hotels in Berlin as well as five hotels in Istanbul and a luxury resort somewhere else in Turkey.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: doener, Mehmet Ayguen, nadir nurman
