The experience begins with the amazing texture as your teeth glide through layer after layer of delicately crisp pastry. The sweetness of honey enhanced by nuts and spices spins up your taste buds and your entire mouth begins to fill with wonder.
The majesty of Baklava does not end with its amazing taste and texture, nor even in the full sweet, yet savory, experience rewarded to the consumer of the dainty bouffage. So awesome is this rich, delicate delight that two cultures vehemently claim it as their own, cultures who both have contributed in great ways to civilization, the Turks and the Greeks.
There is, however, a third culture that arguably deserves a high degree of consideration for blessing the word with such a wonder, The Byzantine Empire. Support of this claim may be found in the book “Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization” by Lars Brownworth. The book does not speak of Baklava, per se, however, once you discover this rich culture and civilization, which is rarely taught about in schools, you will better understand.