Empire

Baklava has no homeland—only a history of layering, borrowing, and erasure.

Dolma isn’t Turkish, Armenian, or Azerbaijani—it’s Ottoman. And that’s why it’s politically radioactive today.

Muhammara wasn’t a state—it was a loophole in imperial cartography, closed when oil made ambiguity too expensive.

Japan’s first modern university wasn’t built—it was renamed, rechartered, and retrofitted from shogunal schools.

A drink named for monks’ habits, perfected by Austrian baristas, standardised by Italian machines—and now served everywhere as if it were born in Florence.

Said didn’t just critique Orientalism—he showed how literature serves empire.

Moussaka isn’t Greek heritage—it’s an empire’s echo chamber.