Turkey wants to regulate Germany's beloved döner kebab street food

BERLIN (AP) — Beef and chicken glisten as they rotate slowly on vertical spits before they are carved off in razor-thin strips. Two cooks slide from a sizzling griddle to a warm toaster in a practiced dance. Mounds of fresh tomatoes, cabbage and red onions shine in a colorful tableau.

The scene at Kebap With Attitude in Berlin’s trendy Mitte neighborhood is typical of any street-side stand or restaurant where cooks pile the ingredients into pita bread to create the city’s beloved döner kebab.

But the snack's status could be in jeopardy if the European Commission approves a bid by Turkey to regulate what can legally take the döner kebab name.

In the balance is an industry that generates annual sales of roughly 2.3 billion euros (nearly $2.6 billion) in Germany alone, and 3.5 billion euros (nearly $3.9 billion) across Europe, according to the Berlin-based Association of Turkish Döner Producers in Europe.

“From the government to the streets, everyone is eating döner kebab,” Deniz Buchholz, the owner of Kebap With Attitude, said as waiters ferried steaming orders from the kitchen to hungry lunchtime customers on a rainy Monday afternoon.

The word “döner” is derived from the Turkish verb “dönmek,” which means “to turn.” The meat is grilled for hours on a spit and sliced off when the meat becomes crisp and brown. In Turkey, the dish originally was made of lamb and sold only on a plate. But in the 1970s, Turkish immigrants in Berlin opted to serve it in a pita and tweak the recipe to make it special for Berliners.

“They realized that the Germans like everything in the bread,” said Buchholz, who was raised in Berlin and has Turkish roots. “And then they said, ‘OK, let’s put this dish into a bread’ and this is how it came to döner kebab Berlin-style.”

In April, Turkey applied to have döner kebab protected under a status called “traditional specialty guaranteed.” It’s below the vaunted “protected designation of origin” that applies to geographic region-specific products, like Champagne from its eponymous region in France, but could still impact kebab-shop owners, their individual recipes and their customers throughout Germany.

Under Turkey’s proposal, beef would be required to come from cattle that is at least 16 months old. It would be marinated with specific amounts of animal fat, yogurt or milk, onion, salt, and thyme, as well as black, red and white peppers. The final product be sliced off the vertical spit into pieces that are 3 to 5 millimeters (0.1 to 0.2 inches) thick. Chicken would be similarly regulated.

The European Commission must decide by Sept. 24 whether 11 objections to the application, including from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, have merit. If they do, Germany and Turkey will have up to six months to hammer out a compromise. The European Commission has the final say.

“We have taken note of the application from Turkey with some astonishment,” Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“The kebab is part of Germany, and the diversity of its preparation methods reflects the diversity of our country — this must be preserved. In the interests of the many fans in Germany, we are committed to ensuring that the doner kebab can remain as it is prepared and eaten here," the ministry said.

It appears that vegetables, turkey and some veal kebabs — all of which are popular in Germany — would no longer be allowed under Turkey's application because it does not specifically mention them, causing confusion in the German food industry.

“The kebab belongs to Germany. Everyone should be allowed to decide for themselves how it is prepared and eaten here. There’s no need for guidelines from Ankara,” Cem Özdemir, Germany’s federal food and agriculture minister who also has Turkish roots, wrote on social platform X.

Buchholz of Kebap With Attitude said he isn’t worried about possible regulations.

Although he said it might be a way to keep the quality high for the traditional döner kebab — he believes it has lapsed in some places — he added that shop owners might have to harness Berlin’s legacy of creative solutions to keep their expanded menus.

“We will go the Berlin way and we’ll find a solution to name it different,” he said, like calling it a “veggie sandwich.”

Döner kebab impacts the political sphere, too. Anger over kebab costs that have risen into the double-digits led the Die Linke, the Left party, to ask German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for a “price break” that would have subsidized the street food and set a maximum price for customers. Scholz declined, but took to social media to explain that increasing food costs come in part from soaring energy costs — which are fueled by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

And German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier engaged in “döner diplomacy” when he brought a third-generation kebab-shop owner, as well as a full skewer of meat, to Turkey in April. The trip was the first official visit there by a German president in a decade, even as Turkey’s populist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is seen as having increasingly authoritarian instincts. Erdogan's reputation has made some Turkish citizens who own kebab shops in Germany fearful of speaking out against the proposed regulations for fear of facing reprisals when they go home.

In its objection, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association wrote that Turkey’s proposals differ from typical German preparations for döner, and that the regulations could lead to economic problems for kebab shops — as well as potential legal challenges.

The German döner kebab economy should not be held to Turkish rules, the association said in a statement.

“The diversity of the kebab must be preserved,” the association said.

People eat doner in the outdoor area of a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People are seen through the window of a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People eat doner in the outdoor area of a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Turkish doner cooks prepare doner kebabs for customers in a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Turkish doner cooks prepare doner kebabs for customers in a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A doner chef prepares doner kebabs for customers in a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Doner chef Hvesley Silva cuts doner kebab in a doner kebab restaurant in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People stand in the line to buy doner kebab in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

People stand in the line to buy doner kebab while the Turkish cook prepares the doner kebabs, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando’s tourism machine began grinding to a halt Tuesday with at least three major theme parks and the main airport announcing closures ahead of Hurricane Milton ’s expected hit as a major storm in Florida.

Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld will all close their theme parks and respective entertainment facilities on Wednesday, with the latter two also closed on Thursday and Disney likely to remain closed.

Universal also canceled Halloween Horror Nights scheduled for both days.

The theme parks join Orlando International Airport, which said it would cease operations Wednesday morning. The airport is the nation’s seventh busiest and Florida’s most trafficked.

Disney World had said earlier in the day that it was open and planned only to close its campgrounds and rental cabins ahead of the storm.

The only indication at Disney Springs that a hurricane was coming had been the closure of a hot air balloon ride. “Closed due to hurricane,” an electronic sign read. “Stay safe.”

All the other stores and restaurants in the outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex inside the resort were open and doing brisk business.

Milton, which is expected to come ashore Wednesday, threatened to ruin the vacations of tens of thousands of tourists at Disney World.

Nicole and Zeb Downs arrived on Monday after a 21-hour drive from Arkansas, expecting a 12-day Florida vacation with their three young sons. By Tuesday afternoon, they were contemplating packing up their car and heading back.

“We are disappointed but it’s kind of out of our hands at this point,” said Zeb Downs as he strolled with his family along a still-bustling Disney Springs shopping and restaurant district at the park resort.

Neither of them had experienced a hurricane before and weren’t sure they wanted to try it.

The Orlando area is the most visited destination in the United States due to Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and other theme parks, attracting 74 million tourists last year alone.

October is also among the busier times for theme parks because of Halloween-related celebrations, which have become major money generators over the past couple decades. Universal Orlando hosts “Halloween Horror Nights,” with ghoulish haunted houses based on slasher films and other pop culture horror, and Disney has its tamer “Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.”

While Disney rarely shuts its doors — save for dangerous hurricanes in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Sept. 11 attacks — its hotels are often havens for coastal residents fleeing impending storms. A check of Disney World’s online reservation system on Tuesday morning showed no vacancies.

Those lucky enough to get a hotel reservation have gotten unexpected treats during past storms. During Hurricane Irma in 2017, guests at a hotel on Disney property found themselves stranded with actress Kristen Bell, who voiced the role of Anna in the beloved Disney film, “Frozen.” While in Orlando, the actress found time to sing songs for evacuees at a nearby hurricane shelter.

Once a hurricane passes, the theme parks try to return operations to normal as quickly as possible. After Hurricane Charley charted a devastating path through Orlando in 2004, Disney World had utility vehicles picking up downed tree limbs and clearing roads on its property within an hour in the pitch-dark night.

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.

Tourists at Icon Park walk by the Orlando Eye ferris wheel that was closed as Hurricane Milton threatened Florida, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Calm weather greets tourists strolling past the various shops at the Disney Springs entertainment complex as Hurricane Milton threatens Florida, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Calm weather greets tourists strolling past the various shops at the Disney Springs entertainment complex as Hurricane Milton threatens Florida, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

FILE - Guests at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World brave wind and rain as bands of weather from Hurricane Debby pass through Central Florida, Aug. 5, 2024, in Bay Lake, Fla. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, file)