Armenians taught locals to bake kadaif in Turkey

Al-Monitor has prepared an article about kadaif (or kadayif or kataifi), a delicious dessert claimed by Turks, Greeks and Middle Easterners, which can be made into different shapes.

In the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, locals believe that the dessert was first baked in the Armenian houses of the cosmopolitan city in the 18th century, the article by Mahmut Bozarslan says.

As the dessert became popular, the Armenians taught it to the Muslim population in the 19th century, mainly migrants from Bingol, a small city to the north, who had come to Diyarbakir looking for jobs.

“My grandfather Riza Ansin learned the art of making kadaif from an Armenian chef called Agop,” Ahmet Altunay, the third generation of a family of kadaif makers, told Al-Monitor.

“After the Armenians left [Diyarbakir in the beginning of the 20th century], we took over the business. Nowadays, all the kadaif makers are from Bingol.”

He added, “When my grandfather died in 1990, he was 85 years old. Our family has been making and selling kadaif for more than 100 years now. My grandfather taught my father, and my father taught me and my four brothers. I am currently teaching my own children how to make kadaif. I take them to the shop the weekends and tell them to look and learn. They will end up running the business one day.”

Altunay’s business is growing, with a new branch in Ankara and prospects for another in Istanbul. He’s shipped kadaif all the way to the United States. “There was an Armenian who moved to New York from Diyarbakir. One day, he called and asked us to send to the United States 10 kilos of kadaif. We told him it would be too expensive, but he asked us to send it anyway. So we sent him 10 kilos of kadaif — the shipping costs were twice as much as the cost of the sweet. We send the dessert to most of the European countries. We have a customer who works with Boeing and we ship him his kadaif wherever he is.”