Late-Night Stand · Wrapped Sandwich

Döner Kebab

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The sandwich-style döner wasn't imported from Turkey — it was invented by Turkish immigrants in Berlin, and some surveys now find locals consider it more 'Berlin' than any traditionally German dish.

A döner kebab is meat roasted on a vertical spit, shaved off and packed into flatbread with salad, vegetables, and sauce, wrapped in foil or paper to eat on the go. Stands selling it stay open late into the night in every German city.

Why it's made this way: The sandwich version was developed by Turkish immigrants in West Berlin in the early 1970s, adapting spit-roasted meat into a portable, filled bread for fast lunch trade — a format that then grew into a multi-billion-euro industry across Germany.