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A pastry of thin, phyllo-like sheets layered with chopped nuts and bound with sugar or honey syrup, eaten today across the Ottoman Turkish, Greek and wider eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern table. Historians trace it to at least three candidate roots, the Byzantine and Greek placenta-cake and koptoplakous tradition, the medieval Arabic confection lauzinaj, and the Central Asian Turkic tradition of layered breads, and the pastry most likely reached something like its familiar form in the Ottoman imperial kitchens of Topkapi Palace.
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Disputed
Origin RegionEastern Mediterranean / Middle East (Ottoman Turkish and Greek roots both claimed) 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountHistorians propose three competing root traditions: the Byzantine and Greek placenta cake and koptoplakous, the medieval Arabic confection lauzinaj, and Central Asian Turkic layered breads; a recognizably Turkish form is generally placed in the Ottoman court kitchens of Topkapi Palace. Origin Period, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks the word's earliest attestation in English, borrowed from Ottoman Turkish; an earlier reference appears in a poem by the 15th-century mystic Kaygusuz Abdal, and the pastry's own deeper roots are older still and contested (see origin-region). Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Baklava (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistoryQuote, History
The three main proposals for the original roots of baklava are the Greek placenta cake, the medieval Arabic confection lauzinaj, and the Central Asian Turkic tradition of layered breads.
1. Baklava (Wikipedia)
WikipediaEtymologyQuote, Etymology
baklava is first attested in English in 1650
Open Questions (1 open question)
Which culinary tradition, Byzantine and Greek, Arabic, or Central Asian Turkic, is baklava's true ancestor?
Food historians propose three competing root traditions for baklava: the Byzantine and Greek placenta cake and koptoplakous, the medieval Arabic confection lauzinaj, and the Central Asian Turkic tradition of layered breads. A recognizably Turkish form is generally placed in the Ottoman court kitchens of Topkapi Palace, but which, if any, of the three earlier traditions is its true ancestor is unsettled.
What would resolve this A securely dated medieval recipe or description linking one of the three candidate traditions unambiguously and exclusively to the layered, syrup-soaked form recognizable as baklava today, or ruling the others out, would settle the question; historians currently weigh three plausible ancestors rather than one confirmed line.
Culinary history / Ottoman and Byzantine studiesBaklava (Wikipedia)
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