Doner Kebab - History

History

Before taking its modern form, as mentioned in Ottoman travel books of the 18th century, the doner used to be a horizontal stack of meat rather than vertical, probably sharing common ancestors with the Cağ Kebabı of the Eastern Turkish province of Erzurum.

In his own family biography, İskender Efendi of 19th century Bursa writes that "he and his grandfather had the idea of roasting the lamb vertically rather than horizontally, and invented for that purpose a vertical mangal". Since then Hacı İskender is known as the inventor of Turkish Döner Kebap. With time, the meat took a different marinade, got leaner, and eventually took its modern shape. The Greek gyro, along with the similar Arab Shawarma and Mexican Tacos al Pastor, are derived from this dish.