Mehmet Aygun RIP

Mahmut Aygun was one of those unsung heroes who made life just that little bit better in one way or another. Some people create great art, others are great scientists; Mehmet Aygun, who died in Berlin at the age of 87, was a culinary master who ensured that drunks had something spicy to eat (and puke) after a night on the pop..

Known as the "kebab king" Aygun born in Turkey and moved to Germany at the age of 16 to open a snack stall. He invented the doner kebab nearly 40 years ago. Although kebab meat, consisting of roast lamb and spices, had traditionally been served with rice, Mr Aygun saw that the future lay in putting the meat inside a pitta bread.

Mr Aygun once said: "I thought how much easier it would be if they could take their food with them."The first of the new snacks was served on March 2, 1971, at Hasir, his restaurant in Berlin.It was called a doner kebab after the Turkish word "dondurmek" which means a rotating roast.

Mr Aygun went on to invent the yoghurt sauce often served with a doner kebab. In Berlin his death was greeted with sadness and one headline read: "Thanks, Mahmut!"

Mahmut Aygun, we salute you!

At one point Myr Aygun was challenged by a group from the United States which claimed that the kebab had in fact been invented in California in 1846. However, the Truckee Lake Society was deemed not to have put forward sufficient proof that the Donner Kabob (as they called it) used similar seasonings or served the meat in a pitta. Furthermore it was considered that the Doner should use lamb and not Long pig....