History & Heritage
07.10.2022
Who invented the baklawa?
It can be found on the menu of most oriental cuisine restaurants, from Tunisia to Central Asia… Baklawa is THE pastry par excellence of several countries of the former Ottoman Empire. But who really made it?
We all know this tasty oriental pastry made of phyllo dough, honey and dried fruits. It can be found in the gastronomic heritage of many countries including Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece and even the Balkan countries.
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But which region is at the origin? To tell the truth, we don’t really know, but there are three hypotheses, all of which place them in the pre-Ottoman period. The first links the cake to the flaky bread tradition of the Turkish peoples of Central Asia.
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The second considers baklawa as a Byzantine evolution of “placenta”, a Roman cake. The third finds a Persian origin in connection with “lauzinaq”, a flaky dessert that is the ancestor of qatayif. However, it was under the Ottoman Empire that baklava was first discovered in its present form!