Eat My Globe

A Skewered History: The History of Skewers & Kebabs

Simon Majumdar (“SM”):

Hey, April.

April Simpson (“AS”):

Yeah, Simon.

SM:

Do you know why did the kebab break up with his partner?

AS:

Oh I don’t know Simon. Why did the kebab break up with his partner?

SM:

Because the kebab was skewering with her heart?

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

[Laughter]

AS:

Oh. Make it stop.

SM:

Oh. What? Anyway. Okay, let’s start.

INTRO MUSIC

Hi everybody.

And, welcome to a brand-new episode of Eat My Globe, a podcast about things you didn’t know you didn’t know about food.

And, on today’s episode, we are going to be looking at skewers, the wonderful pieces of equipment, both large and small which are so useful for cooking meats, vegetables, seafood and fish.

Oh.

Something that many countries in the world now use from East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and areas of Europe.

We will see:

- how they came about

- what “skewer” means

- other words to describe them, and

- what other words might be used for them.

We will also try and answer that age old question – what is the difference between “kebab” with an “a” and “kebob” with an “o.” And, I will give you some ideas of what kind of skewered dishes you may want to try.

We have a lot to get on with so, let’s get started.

First of all, why don’t we do what we always do. Let’s look at the meaning of the term, “skewer.”

According to our chums at Merriam-Webster dictionary, “skewer” means

Quote

“a pin of wood or metal for fastening meat to keep it in form while roasting or to hold small pieces of meat or vegetables for broiling.”

End quote.

The word, apparently, originated as “skeuier” in Middle English and has been around since the 15th century.

I can only imagine that people had been putting meat and other ingredients on skewers or spears for a long time before we started using the word “skewers.”

In 2024, Sybil and I visited the island of Santorini in Greece. And, at the Museum of the Historic Thera, we saw what they basically described as, quote, “pair of firedogs with zoomorphic finials,” end quote. Basically, they were resting places on which skewers were placed to be grilled over fire. And, according to the museum label, these “firedogs” were from the Late Cycladic I period or 17th century BCE. And by the time the ancient Greek poet, Homer, wrote his epic books, “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey,” which had the Trojan War of the 12th or 13th century BCE as a backdrop, skewers had featured in the saga. Oh. Homer likely lived around the 9th or 8th century BCE.

Homer’s “The Iliad” describes cooking with skewers as follows:

Quote

“The thighs cut off, they doubled all, – wrapt twice in a caul of fat; and on these the choicest morsels in order they laid. Split wood, shorn of the leaf, formed the fire, –on which the holy offering flamed; and, o’er the whole, on skewers fixed, the sacred entrails they held. But when the fire had consumed the thighs :–The entrails are tasted by all. The rest, in pieces minutely cut, are transfixed, with spits, and roasted before the flame.”

End quote.

Ancient Rome, which lasted from the 8th century BCE to the end of the 4th century CE, also cooked things with skewers. The ancient Roman cookbook called,  “De Re Coquinaria,” and attributed to Apicius, contains several recipes involving skewers. Some of these recipes involving skewers included one for Stuffed Chicken or Suckling Pig.

Quote

“Bone [either] Chicken [or suckling pig] from the chicken remove the breast bone and the [upper joint bones of the] legs; hold it together by means of wooden skewers. . . .”

End quote.

And another recipe involves cooking truffles.

Quote

“Scrape [brush] the truffles, parboil, sprinkle with salt, put several of them on a skewer, half fry them. . . .”

End quote.

Doesn’t that sound great?

The ancient Chinese have also been skewering meat. Archaeologists found remains of kebabs in Ningxia in northwest China in the Changle Cemetery, which dates back to 202 BCE to 220 CE. Pictures from the dig show three wooden sticks, each with tiny morsels of sheep or goat meat still attached. And, apparently, ancient wealthy Chinese people depicted skewers in their loved ones’ tombs during that period.

The discovery of skewers, particularly kebabs, at the Changle Cemetery is even more significant because Ningxia, where the cemetery is located, was an important stop on the Silk Road. The Silk Road actually consisted of multiple trade routes between the city of Xi’an in north-central China and Europe, and used by traders from about 130 BCE to about 1453 CE. Traders also used the Silk Road not just to trade silk but other goods, ideas, cultures, beliefs, and yes, food and styles of eating them. So, I think that the discovery of kebabs in the Changle Cemetery plus the discovery of firedogs to cook skewers in ancient Greece suggest that the constant trade and immigration via the Silk Road allowed for the spread of skewers far and wide early on in human history.

One of the many routes on the Silk Roads passed through ancient Persia. History.com says

Quote

“At its height under Darius the Great, the Persian Empire stretched from Europe’s Balkan Peninsula—in parts of what is present day Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine—to the Indus River Valley in northwest India and south to Egypt.”

End quote.

Persia is based on an area called Persis, or modern day Fārs. The ancient Greeks then started to call people not from that area but also people from the greater region as “Persians.” The area of modern-day Iran includes the capital region of the ancient Persian Empire.

The reason I mention the Persian Empire is that the word, “Kebab” with an “a,” is thought to be a Persian word. And it is not surprising they would have this word as Iran has many, many types of kebabs including Shishlik or Shish Kebab, which is typically skewered lamb meats marinated in onions, olive oil and saffron – oh, I know – Koobideh, which is made with ground lamb, beef or chicken and mixed with onions; Barg, which is made with beef tenderloin or lamb shanks and marinated with onions, saffron, olive oil and spices; and Soltani, which is a combination of the Barg and Koobideh and means the King’s Kebabs. There are more types, of course. And just in case you want to understand their country’s affinity to kebab, they celebrate World Kebab Day, which is held on the second Friday of July. So there you go.

And just as an aside, “kabob” with an “o” is just a different spelling of “kebab” with an “a.”

While the word Kebab may have its roots in the Persian Empire, the dish itself is thought to have originated in Central Asia. Some also say the dish may have originated in Turkey. And this ambiguity is not surprising to me, as I will discuss later on. But, wherever it may have originated, we thank them for inventing it, and we thank the Silk Road for spreading it around.

So, what is Kebab? Our chums at Merriam-Webster define it as

Quote

“cubes of meat (such as lamb or beef) marinated and cooked with vegetables usually on a skewer.”

End quote.

In addition to the Silk Road, another way kebab spread around is through the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire began around 1300 CE and ended in 1922. The founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I, descended from Central Asian nomads who migrated to Iran and Mesopotamia, and then on to Anatolia, which is the Asian part of modern-day Turkey. At its peak, the Ottoman Empire included modern-day Turkey, southeastern Europe such as Hungary, Greece, and the Balkans, parts of Ukraine, the Middle East and the Mediterranean areas of North Africa. According to food historian Priscilla Mary Işın, the food of the Ottoman Empire is rooted in the food of Central Asia, Iran, the Middle East and Anatolia. Now you see why I was not surprised whether the kebab originated in Central Asia or in Turkey.

Anyway. The Indian Express spoke with Işın who noted that a French traveler in 1433 had written how the nomadic Turkish people roasted sheep meat on a spit. She said

Quote

“This method of eating roasted meat – taking slices as they cook – reflects a practical approach for travellers.”

End quote.

With the vastness of the Ottoman Empire, I can only imagine how easy it was to spread the kebab around.

Turkey still has kebabs rooted in Central Asia, such as Tandir Kebabs – which are seasoned lamb cooked in a tandoor or clay oven; and Cevirme Kebabi – which is a whole lamb – oh – cooked on a spit.

During the Ottoman times, we have a wonderful range of kebabs coming from the rule of Mehmed II – who lived from 1432 to 1481 CE. These were the specialties of the palace and included “Sut Kebabi,” which Türkiye Today describes in these rather mouthwatering terms,

Quote

“a dish where meat cooked on a spit dripped its juices into a pot of rice, enriching the flavor of the pilaf.”

End quote.

Oh, I am actually getting my mouth-watering right now. Oh gosh. 

And it also declares that all this shows

Quote

“the diversity and ingenuity of Turkish kebab culture.”

End quote.

In modern Turkey, we now have wonderful newer styles of kebabs such as the “Iskender Kebab,” which are thin slices of lamb served on top of a pide – or Turkish flatbread – then covered with tomato sauce, sheep milk butter and yogurt. The story goes that these were created in the Bursa area of Turkey in 1867 by a gentleman by the name of Iskender Efendi. He cut the lamb into layered strips and then piled them onto a spit so that diners in his family’s restaurant could get a taste of different parts of the lamb meat. He also decided to grill the meat vertically instead of horizontally so that the juices would not drip on to the fire.

The original Efendi restaurant is no longer there but his descendants have moved it about 100 meters from where it originally started, and still run the business today. Sybil and I dined at that restaurant, called Kebapci Iskender in Bursa, Turkey in 2024. It houses a little museum that includes a marble counter that was in the original restaurant when Efendi invented his Iskender Kebab, along with a small recreation of the original restaurant, and other exhibits. And I have to say that the Iskender Kebab, as would have been prepared by Iskender Efendi, was very delicious too. Although the abundant hot butter poured over it, while tasty, may have done something to my cholesterol levels.

“Adana Kebab,” from the city of Adana, and “Urfa Kebab,” from the city of Urfa, are both kebabs using ground meat mixed with spices and then grilled on a flat skewer. The main difference between the two is that Adana Kebab is spicy while Urfa Kebab is less so. But both are juicy, bursting with flavor, and delicious.

There are many more types of Turkish kebabs. However, perhaps the most famous of these is the “Döner Kebab.” The term, “döner,” is derived from the word, “dönmek,” which means to “turn or rotate” in Turkish. It is basically sliced, layered, and stacked meat roasted on a vertical spit.

In her book, “Bountiful Empire: A History of Ottoman Cuisine,” Priscilla Mary Işın notes that the earliest known writing about döner kebab was in 1666, and the first depiction of it was as a horizontal spit painted around 1616 to 1620.

And remember our friend, Iskender Efendi? His sliced, layered meat cooked on a vertical spit invention is the basis for his supporters’ claim that he invented the modern day döner kebab. Although, I should note that a photo from around 1853 shows a vendor with a vertical spit and that person was not our friend Iskender.

That’s Ke-BAD.

God...

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

I'd gone through nearly all of that and then I came across these horrible jokes.

[Laughter]

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

Immigration patterns in the 1960s and 70s led to the arrival of Turkish workers into West Germany. And one of these Turkish immigrants, Kadir Nurman, claimed that in 1972 in Berlin, he started selling döner meat – which could also be beef or chicken – and putting the sliced meat and some salad in a sandwich instead of on a plate. The Association of Turkish Döner Manufacturers in Europe recognized his role in the story of the döner kebab sandwich in 2011. But there are others who dispute Nurman’s claim. The truth is we won’t really know. I am pretty pleased that we have them, however.

The döner kebab sandwich became very famous in Germany with around 40,000 kebab restaurants. It has become one of their most popular take-out foods. According to Euro News,

Quote

“Kebab sales in Germany are estimated at €7 billion a year, with 1.3 billion doners consumed every year in the country.”

End quote.

[Sigh]

Wow, those numbers are SIZZLING.

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

I’m very sorry. Anyway.

The döner kebab sandwich which is now popular outside Germany. I have to say that coming from Britain, I have had many “döner” nights when drunk. It is perfect food for people to grab when they go home er, slightly worse for wear, shall we say. When it is ordered, the top most cooked part of the meat is taken from the grill using a large knife. It can then be served in a pita bread with salad and sauce. I particularly love the garlic sauce. Fantastic stuff.

As the skewers passed through the Ottoman Empire we begin to see them being taken up by many other countries that were under Ottoman control.

In Greece, döner is called “Gyro,” which also means “turning” or “rotating.” It typically uses ground meat or sliced meat layered into a skewer. And according to authors Aglaia Kremezi and Anissa Helou in their papers for the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2009,

Quote

“Greeks, in their most successful food marketing coup ever, managed to hijack the Turkish and Middle Eastern döner, making it known the world over as gyro.”

End quote.

In the Balkans, we have “Ražnjići,” which is their word for skewers. These are popular particularly in the former Yugoslavia in countries like Croatia and Kosovo, where chicken, pork, beef or vegetables, or a combination of both can be used and they are very popular at family barbecues.

In the Caucasus, which include Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, the skewers are called “Lyulya” or “Lula” or “Lule.” According to Taste Atlas, these skewers go back to the 2nd century CE during the time of the ancient Romans. The meat is usually ground lamb, fish or chicken mixed with onions and seasonings. This is worked by hand for a long time until the meat becomes malleable and will stick to the skewers.

Outside of the Ottoman Empire, we can also look at other parts of the world that also have skewers. Places like Peru, Brazil, India, the Philippines, Japan, China, and many other nations.

In Peru, traditionally, anticuchos were skewered beef hearts. The name is a pre-Columbian word that dates back to the Incan Empire, and also refers to their style of cooking. But the modern anticucho is influenced by the food for the enslaved brought in by the Spanish Conquistadors to Peru. Back then, the enslaved were fed offal, which they marinaded with vinegar, garlic, cumin and other spices. Today, these can be made with chicken, seafood, other beef parts, and vegetables. And, they are so popular today that the third Sunday of October is not only reserved for a religious holiday but also celebrates the anticucho. 

In Brazil, we see skewered meats like beef, chicken and lamb cooked over an open flame. Its history dates back to the 1500s and 1600s when the gauchos or cowboys herded cattle. There are plenty of restaurants or churrascarias in Brazil and even in the United States that offer Brazilian Barbecue. Servers bring a variety of skewered meat options to the table, and carve a serving from the skewers. One of my favorites is the Picanha steak, which is found by the tail and is similar to Coulotte steaks but with a fat cap that makes it – oh – so much more succulent.

In India, archaeologists in Rajasthan, unearthed the earliest known tandoor oven that dates back to 2,600 BCE. And, apparently, ancient Indians have been skewering meat and cooking them in a tandoor oven as far back as 800 BCE. But in terms of Indian kebabs, Indians have been cooking them since 1200 CE. This skewering as a means to cook food occurred well before the arrival of the Mughals – who were descended from the Central Asian conqueror Timur also known as Tamerlane. But, when the Mughals finally established their dynasty in India, they have brought dishes like Chicken Tikka and Seekh Kebab. By the way, “Tikka” is basically an Indian Kebab. And Seekh Kebab is basically a kebab using ground meat mixed with onions and spices and cooked in a flat skewer called seekh.   

In China, they have many types of skewers, and as I discussed earlier, they have been cooking kebabs since around 202 BCE. And “Shaokao,” or barbecue, has been very, very popular in modern day China. So popular they even have a city called, Zibo, anointed as the quote, “holy land of barbecue.” There, they eat skewered meats, usually pork belly, and eat them with a thin flatbread and spring onions. Xinjiang style barbecue is also popular, which the Muslim Uighurs from Xinjiang are known to cook.

Personally, I have eaten all kinds of skewers in Beijing including scorpions on a stick at the Wangfujing night market in Beijing, cumin rich skewers of lamb and leeks, fish skewers in the South of China in Yangshuo.

They were all GRILL-iant.

AS:

[Laughter]

SM:

Oh.

In the Philippines, the history of using skewers is a bit more uncertain. I know that they do make fantastic lechon, which is roasting a whole pig on a spit, typically made with a whole bamboo trunk. Writer Nick V. Quijano, Jr. suggests that natives have been cooking lechon long before the Spanish arrived. But details are murky.

But what about the history of one of my favorite skewers – the Filipino Pork skewers? I first tried them with my Filipino cousin the first time I went to Manila. Since then, when my wife and I go, I try to have them all the time. These are thin pieces of pork, cooked on thin bamboo strips used as skewers, they are soaked for a few hours, so they don’t burn during the cooking. They could also include other meats like chicken.

While some cuts of meat in the Philippines are quite conventional, some more unconventional cuts have unconventional names. We have things like Betamax for blood skewers because they look like Betamax tapes, or Adidas which are chicken feet, and Walkman for pig’s ears.

Are you SKEWER-ious to try these? Oh, this is my wife.

[Laughter]

Anyway. Filipino skewers in general are known as Ihaw Ihaw – or Grill Grill, in English. Pinoy Barbecue meats are typically marinaded in such things as calamansi – a Filipino citrus, Sprite or 7-Up, soy sauce and Banana ketchup.

The history for Pinoy Barbecue is also murky. But from what I can gather, Americans brought ketchup and soda to the Philippines but the locals did not have tomatoes, so they used bananas to make their ketchup, which they then added to their marinade. Adding these quote, “American,” end quote, ingredients was supposed to make the dish more delicious.

Moving on to Japan. There, they have “Yakitori.” Yaki means “to grill” and Tori means “bird.” According to the Japan Culinary Institute, the Japanese have been skewering birds for 1,300 years but due to a long ban on eating meat in Japan, yakitori really emerged around 1700 CE. It was not very popular at the time though because chicken was expensive. When it became more budget friendly in the 1960s, that’s when people started eating them more. These days, yakitori may also include skewered beef and lamb and even vegetables.

I know from my own time in Japan, this can mean one sits on crates by the train station in Ueno while waiting for your skewers. Or you could be in a fine dining Michelin starred place like Bird Land awaiting for the deliciously skewered meats. They’re usually cooked on a small grill over Binchotan charcoal, which, according to Epicurious are

Quote

“made from ubame oak, harvested from the mountain forests of Kishu. Binchotan is widely considered by chefs to be the best charcoal in the world, prized for being exceptionally long-burning, odorless, and smokeless.”

End quote.

Yakitori is typically basted with a soy sauce based sauce known as “Tare” as well as salt.

Yakitori uses all the parts of the bird so dishes could include more conventional items such as wings. But dishes could also include bits of crunchy chicken skin – my absolute favorite – and things like necks and cartilage, which are equally delicious.

Finally, let’s move on to the United States. Now, most of the dishes I’ve mentioned so far will be found in various communities in the United States. However, I wanted to talk about what the BBC calls

Quote

“The US love affair with food on a stick.”

End quote.

The BBC was looking at the USA’s passion for “Food on a Stick” at the Iowa State Fair in the 2016 campaign season. The fair apparently had “75 Foods on a Stick” available for people to buy. This included everything from a Pork Chop on a Stick, to Deep-Fried Brownies on a Stick, to Hard-Boiled Eggs and Honey on a Stick, to Salad on a Stick.

In perusing the Iowa State Fair’s website for all their “on a stick” offerings, I noticed they also have some fish and seafood dishes like “Walleye on a Stick.” They also have some vegetarian offerings such as “Veggie Gluten Free Corn Dogs” as well as lots of desserts, including “Cherry Pie (Deep Fried) on a Stick.” I have to say, that sounds rather good.

Now, each State fair will have other offerings. For example, at the Wisconsin State Fair, they apparently offer a Cool Ranch Doritos Pickle on a stick, which involves a dill pickle rolled in Cool Ranch Doritos crumbles. And it looks like the Texas State Fair offers a Churro Crumble Cheesecake on a stick, which has a NY style cheesecake covered in Belgian milk chocolate and rolled in churro crumbles and then topped with a dulce de leche sauce. Bloody heck. These seem to me like a very United States take on the kebabs we see around the world, and one of the reasons I love living here. Not that I go to State fairs very often.

So, there we have it. Skewers have lasted us from at least the 17th century BCE to the present day. Which is not something that we can say about most kitchen equipment. So, now, I am going to make some skewers. 

But what shall I make? Turkish Iskender kebabs. Oh. Filipino Pork skewers? Oh. Japanese Yaki-Tori? Tandoori chicken? Or even that fine sounding “pork chop on a stick?”

[Sigh]

So that is a WRAP on skewers.

See you next week folks.

AS:

[Laughter]

OUTRO MUSIC

SM:

Make sure to check out the website associated with this podcast at www.EatMyGlobe.com where we will be posting the transcripts from each episode, along with all the references and resources we used putting the episodes together, in case you want to delve deeper into each subject. There is also a contact button, so please do let us know if there are any subjects that you would like us to cover.

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Thank you and goodbye from me, Simon Majumdar, we’ll speak to you soon on the next episode of EAT MY GLOBE: Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Food.

CREDITS

The EAT MY GLOBE Podcast is a production of “It’s Not Much But It’s Ours” and “Producer Girl Productions.”

[Ring sound]

We would also like to thank Sybil Villanueva for all of her help both with the editing of the transcripts and her essential help with the research.