Patent request for simit stirs new Turkish-Greek tension

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

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A move to obtain a patent for simit by the Istanbul Simit Sellers Chamber has drawn a bad reaction in Greece, daily Hürriyet reported today.

Istanbul Simit Sellers Chamber Chairman Zeli Sami Özdemir applied to obtain the patent for simit, a bagel-like pastry, but has met opposition from Greece, where daily Eleftheros Typos wrote that a new round in the Turkish-Greek debate over the ownership of food had begun following kardak and baklava.

The newspaper also said simit had been known since before Christ and was a popular food in Istanbul and Thessaloniki during Byzantine times. There are still many simit sellers along the Greek-Albanian border, the daily said.

In ancient times, mothers in Epirus told their sons that “I hope you will be a simit seller in Istanbul,” the newspaper said.