This November 17 food holiday celebrates the sweet and flaky pastry known as baklava.
Especially popular in Mediterranean communities, the flaky dessert is made with layers of phyllo dough intermixed with chopped nuts, spices and honey or syrup.
The origins of baklava date back nearly 3,00o years to the Assyrian Empire, where people layered unleavened flatbreads with chopped nuts and honey.
The baklava we know today emerged during the Ottoman Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Baklava Day is observed globally, but Turkey, Greece, and countries across the Middle East have strong cultural ties to the dessert.
