WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.879 Usually when we think about a recipe, we picture 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:07.320 this highly rigid, almost scientific formula. 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:09.679 Right, like a strict set of rules. Exactly. You 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:11.599 have a list of ingredients, precise measurements, 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:14.060 a very strict set of instructions. It's binary. 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:17.059 You follow the steps, you get the dish, you miss 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:20.739 a step, and well, you ruin dinner. Yeah, it feels 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:23.269 like a very closed system. And that's comforting 00:00:23.269 --> 00:00:25.850 in a way, because we like to believe that if 00:00:25.850 --> 00:00:28.070 we just follow the rules, the outcome is totally 00:00:28.070 --> 00:00:29.890 guaranteed. But then you step into the world 00:00:29.890 --> 00:00:32.030 of traditional comfort foods and suddenly that 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:34.729 rigid formula just completely falls apart. Oh, 00:00:34.789 --> 00:00:36.869 it shatters. Right. We're looking at a culinary 00:00:36.869 --> 00:00:40.630 landscape that is constantly shifting underneath 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:44.869 our feet. So today, we are taking a single Wikipedia 00:00:44.869 --> 00:00:47.570 article and exploring the hidden depths within 00:00:47.570 --> 00:00:50.240 it. we were going on a deep dive into a traditional 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.700 Balkan dish called makitsa. Or makitsi, if we're 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:56.600 using the plural. Okay, let's unpack this. Because 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.240 for you listening, whether you consider yourself 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:01.780 a massive foodie or you just love a really good 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:04.959 cultural exploration, This unassuming breakfast 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.700 staple holds some genuinely surprising secrets 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.099 about how we categorize the very things we eat. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:12.599 It really does. And we aren't just reading off 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:15.060 a recipe for you to try at home. We are using 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:18.579 this one incredibly beloved comfort food as a 00:01:18.579 --> 00:01:21.780 lens to explore regional history, linguistics, 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.299 global culinary connections, and how human beings 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:28.319 celebrate the biggest moments in their lives. 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:30.659 Yeah, it's so much more than just a quick breakfast. 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:33.280 Right. But before we can map out how this dish 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:35.519 connects to the rest of the world, we need to 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:37.500 understand its anatomy. Like, what actually is 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:40.299 Mekitsa? Well, at its most basic foundational 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:43.239 level, Mekitsa is a traditional Bulgarian breakfast 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.099 dish. It consists of a kneaded dough, critically 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:48.180 featuring yogurt as a core component, which is 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:50.079 then deep fried. OK, deep fried yogurt dough. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.680 It sounds amazing. Oh, it is. And the standard 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:54.939 modern ingredient list is beautifully simple, 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:58.640 honestly. It's just flour, eggs, yogurt, a leavening 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:02.799 agent of some kind, water, salt, and oil for 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:05.019 the frying. So what really caught my eye in our 00:02:05.019 --> 00:02:07.260 source material wasn't just the ingredient list. 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:10.860 It was the name itself. The etymology here is 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:13.680 so revealing. Oh, absolutely. The name Mekitsa 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:17.120 comes from the Slavic root word mek, which translates 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.080 to sauced. and then you add the Slavic feminine 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.780 suffix. It's sada. So if you translate it literally, 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:26.479 you are eating a dish called softness. What's 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.219 fascinating here is that literal translation. 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.580 It speaks volumes about the emotional connection 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:32.659 people have with this dish. Yeah, I mean, eating 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:35.580 softness. Exactly. In many languages, feminine 00:02:35.580 --> 00:02:38.400 suffixes denote something nurturing or diminutive 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.219 or deeply comforting. By embedding the very texture 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:45.560 of the food, that pillowy, tender interior into 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:48.400 the name itself and feminizing it, they've established 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:51.060 it linguistically as the ultimate comfort food. 00:02:51.210 --> 00:02:53.330 I find that fascinating because we usually name 00:02:53.330 --> 00:02:55.789 our foods after their ingredients, right? Like 00:02:55.789 --> 00:02:58.069 beef stew, or after the region they come from, 00:02:58.189 --> 00:03:00.050 like champagne, or even after the person who 00:03:00.050 --> 00:03:02.909 invented them. Right, like a sandwich. Yes. But 00:03:02.909 --> 00:03:05.289 here, you are literally eating a physical concept. 00:03:05.389 --> 00:03:07.689 It's like naming a dish Crunch or, I don't know, 00:03:07.849 --> 00:03:11.430 Warmth. It's pure texture as identity. And that 00:03:11.430 --> 00:03:14.590 conceptual identity is apparently so strong that 00:03:14.590 --> 00:03:17.650 it completely transcends borders, even as the 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:20.680 specific naming conventions tweak slightly depending 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.419 on where you are on the map. Yeah. So in Serbia, 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:26.180 for example, you'll find them called Makik or 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:29.180 Makika in the singular. OK. And if you go down 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:32.280 to North Macedonia, it's known as Makika or sometimes 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.659 Petiljika. But that core root, the promise of 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:38.340 that comforting softness, remains the anchor 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:41.620 across the entire region. The texture is its 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:44.860 entire identity. But the pursuit of that namesake 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:47.460 softness is where things get really complicated 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:49.479 in the kitchen, right? Oh, heavily complicated. 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:52.020 Because this is such a fundamental everyday staple, 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:54.580 the methods used to achieve that perfect texture 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:57.719 kind of fracture along regional lines. You would 00:03:57.719 --> 00:03:59.759 assume everyone making the same dish wants it 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:01.800 to be soft, so they must all make it exactly 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.360 the same way. You'd think so, yeah. But geography 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:06.560 dictates the recipe just as much as tradition 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.240 does. Let's look at the preparation method. The 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.270 process starts normally enough. You let the dough 00:04:13.270 --> 00:04:16.689 rise, you tear it into small balls, and you spread 00:04:16.689 --> 00:04:19.110 them to flat rounds before dropping them in a 00:04:19.110 --> 00:04:22.170 hot oil. Standard crying procedure? Right. But 00:04:22.170 --> 00:04:24.910 there is a crucial non -negotiable step mentioned 00:04:24.910 --> 00:04:27.610 in the sources. The shaping of the McKitsey must 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:31.350 be done with wet hands or hands coated in vegetable 00:04:31.350 --> 00:04:33.790 oil. which tells us everything we need to know 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:36.110 about the hydration level of this dough. It's 00:04:36.110 --> 00:04:39.209 super wet. It is incredibly sticky. In baking, 00:04:39.490 --> 00:04:42.110 when a dough has a very high ratio of liquid 00:04:42.110 --> 00:04:44.750 to flour, it becomes basically impossible to 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:46.569 handle with traditional methods. Right, like 00:04:46.569 --> 00:04:49.189 imagine trying to roll out dough that is essentially 00:04:49.189 --> 00:04:52.550 the consistency of thick glue. If you use a wooden 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:55.129 rolling pin and a dusting of flour, you're going 00:04:55.129 --> 00:04:57.670 to incorporate way too much dry flour, ruin the 00:04:57.670 --> 00:04:59.269 texture, and probably end up with half the dough 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:02.750 just stuck to your counter. Exactly. The wet 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:05.569 or oiled hands act as a barrier. They prevent 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:08.050 the dough from sticking to the cook while maintaining 00:05:08.050 --> 00:05:11.310 that incredibly high moisture content. And you 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:13.449 need that moisture because when that wet dough 00:05:13.449 --> 00:05:16.430 hits the boiling oil, the water rapidly turns 00:05:16.430 --> 00:05:19.839 to steam. That creates air pockets that guarantee 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.779 the softness on the inside while the outside 00:05:22.779 --> 00:05:25.899 gets all crispy. So it's a very tactile, hands 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:29.120 -on cooking experience. It sounds like you are 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.800 essentially trying to shape a fragile water balloon 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:34.699 made of flour. That is a perfect way to describe 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:36.819 it. You really can't be precious about it. But 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:39.439 what really surprised me is how the leavening 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:41.459 agents and the dairy completely change depending 00:05:41.459 --> 00:05:43.259 on what town you're standing in. Oh, the regional 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:45.660 rivalries are great. Right. Like, if you're in 00:05:45.660 --> 00:05:48.139 Solistra, the recipe calls for yogurt and bread 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:51.959 soda. But if you travel to a village near Starzagora, 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:54.779 they swap the baking soda for yeast, but keep 00:05:54.779 --> 00:05:56.920 the yogurt. Yeah, and what's fascinating here 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:59.620 is that we are looking at a snapshot of historical 00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:02.139 agriculture and chemistry. How do you mean? Well, 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.439 if a village had a strong yogurt -making tradition, 00:06:04.579 --> 00:06:07.360 they had a constant supply of acidic dairy. Baking 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.899 soda requires an acid to activate and create 00:06:09.899 --> 00:06:13.139 bubbles. So yogurt plus baking soda equals a 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:15.819 fast, immediate rise. That makes sense. But if 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.500 you head to Ado's, they throw a complete curveball. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:21.379 The sources say they use yeast, but they swap 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:23.899 out the yogurt entirely and use milk instead. 00:06:24.029 --> 00:06:26.370 Which suggests a completely different rhythm 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:30.170 of daily life. Yeast takes time to ferment and 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:32.329 rise, unlike the instant chemical reaction you 00:06:32.329 --> 00:06:35.449 get from baking soda. Right. And milk isn't acidic 00:06:35.449 --> 00:06:38.250 enough to activate baking soda anyway. So in 00:06:38.250 --> 00:06:42.029 ADOS, they lean on a slower biological fermentation 00:06:42.029 --> 00:06:45.129 process to create those air pockets. OK, but 00:06:45.129 --> 00:06:48.120 the historical anomaly in the sources. is what 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:49.699 really stopped me in my tracks. Because wait 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:52.120 a second, the defining characteristic of this 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.300 dish is supposed to be the yogurt dough, right? 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:56.879 That's the modern standard, yes. But the oldest 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.600 known recipe for Makitsa uses only yeast, flour, 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:04.279 salt, sugar, and water. Water is the sole wet 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:07.069 ingredient. There is no milk. And there was no 00:07:07.069 --> 00:07:09.189 yogurt at all? Nothing, just water. It's like 00:07:09.189 --> 00:07:10.930 finding out the original chocolate chip cookie 00:07:10.930 --> 00:07:13.029 didn't actually have chocolate in it. Let me 00:07:13.029 --> 00:07:15.269 theorize here for a second. Was yogurt just too 00:07:15.269 --> 00:07:17.629 difficult to keep from spoiling in certain eras 00:07:17.629 --> 00:07:19.990 before modern refrigeration, meaning they had 00:07:19.990 --> 00:07:22.850 to rely on just water? That is a highly logical 00:07:22.850 --> 00:07:26.110 deduction, honestly. Early iterations of everyday 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:29.009 peasant foods had to rely on the absolute bare 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:31.490 minimum of ingredients that wouldn't spoil easily. 00:07:31.790 --> 00:07:34.449 Because water and flour are shelf -stable. Exactly. 00:07:34.779 --> 00:07:37.480 But the evolution to include yogurt later on 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.079 wasn't just about taste or availability. It was 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:42.759 fundamentally chemical. Oh, really? Yeah. The 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.800 acidity in yogurt actively breaks down and tenderizes 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:49.040 the gluten network in wheat. Gluten is what makes 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.639 bread chewy. And chewiness is the enemy of softness. 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:55.300 Precisely. If your goal is ultimate softness, 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:58.240 you don't want a chewy dough. As dairy became 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:00.939 more reliably stored or produced daily, cooks 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:03.819 incorporated yogurt to literally engineer a softer 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:06.629 dough. The lactic acid physically weakens the 00:08:06.629 --> 00:08:09.670 protein bonds. Wow. So the recipe evolved to 00:08:09.670 --> 00:08:11.889 physically better match its own name. It did. 00:08:12.069 --> 00:08:14.629 The pursuit of softness actually drove the culinary 00:08:14.629 --> 00:08:17.329 innovation. That completely shatters the idea 00:08:17.329 --> 00:08:19.490 of traditional recipes being locked in stone. 00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:21.949 They adapt to the resources, the chemistry, and 00:08:21.949 --> 00:08:24.129 the tastes of the era while still clinging to 00:08:24.129 --> 00:08:26.069 their historical identity. It's the absolute 00:08:26.069 --> 00:08:29.209 definition of a living, breathing, cultural artifact. 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:32.460 And that evolution leads us perfectly into a 00:08:32.460 --> 00:08:34.820 realization that really zooms out our perspective. 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:38.120 Because Mikudza, even with all its regional chemistry 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:40.019 quirks in Bulgaria and the surrounding areas, 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:42.899 it doesn't exist in a vacuum. No, not at all. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.000 If we analyze the ingredients and the cooking 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.059 methods, we can place this dish on a massive 00:08:48.059 --> 00:08:51.179 global family tree of breads and fried doughs. 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:53.740 Let's start with Europe. The source material 00:08:53.740 --> 00:08:57.000 draws direct comparisons to two distinct dishes. 00:08:57.100 --> 00:08:59.659 Right. First, there's the Hungarian langos, which 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:02.000 is another deep -fried flatbread from a neighboring 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.279 European region. That's a straight line. But 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:05.919 then it compares it to the British Yorkshire 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:08.440 pudding. Which sounds weird at first, but the 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:10.919 mechanism of cooking is incredibly similar there. 00:09:11.340 --> 00:09:13.899 Yorkshire pudding isn't deep -fried in a vat, 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:15.840 obviously. It's baked in a puddle of screaming 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:18.460 hot beef fat or oil. Oh, right. But the batter 00:09:18.460 --> 00:09:21.320 relies on eggs, flour, and a high volume of liquid 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.539 to create a rapid expansion of steam. The sensory 00:09:24.539 --> 00:09:27.750 goal is identical to Mekitsa. You want a crisp, 00:09:28.110 --> 00:09:30.730 structured exterior holding together an airy, 00:09:30.889 --> 00:09:33.889 soft, almost custardy interior. But the connection 00:09:33.889 --> 00:09:36.490 that really blew my mind was the Indian subcontinent. 00:09:37.070 --> 00:09:39.129 The sources point out that McKitsey share the 00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:41.690 exact same ingredient profile and essentially 00:09:41.690 --> 00:09:45.529 the exact same taste as non -flatbread. The parallels 00:09:45.529 --> 00:09:48.730 there are undeniable. You have the flour, a leavening 00:09:48.730 --> 00:09:51.309 agent, and critically the use of a fermented 00:09:51.309 --> 00:09:54.409 dairy -like yogurt to chemically tenderize the 00:09:54.409 --> 00:09:57.220 dough exactly like we just talked about. So what 00:09:57.220 --> 00:09:59.720 does this all mean? Because here is the crucial 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:03.940 divergence. Naan is famously baked. It is slapped 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:06.659 against the insanely hot inner wall of a traditional 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:10.019 clay tandoor oven. Right. Makitsi, with the exact 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.600 same starting materials, is dropped into a vat 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:16.320 of boiling oil. To me, it's like witnessing culinary 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.860 parallel evolution. You give two entirely different 00:10:18.860 --> 00:10:21.080 cultures thousands of miles apart the exact same 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.679 building blocks. But simply changing the heat 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:26.659 source, a clay oven versus a vat of hot oil, 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:29.139 creates two entirely different cultural staples. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:30.980 And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:10:31.179 --> 00:10:33.120 the choice between baking and frying isn't just 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:35.240 a matter of preference. It's often dictated by 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:37.820 fuel and infrastructure. Building and maintaining 00:10:37.820 --> 00:10:40.940 an incredibly hot clay oven requires permanent 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:44.419 space, specific materials, and a massive amount 00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:46.740 of consistent fuel. Whereas frying just requires 00:10:46.730 --> 00:10:50.169 an iron pot in a fire. Precisely. Frying is fast. 00:10:50.409 --> 00:10:53.429 It seals the dough immediately. And from a historical 00:10:53.429 --> 00:10:56.669 survival standpoint, frying food and fat imparts 00:10:56.669 --> 00:10:59.690 incredibly dense calories, which were vital for 00:10:59.690 --> 00:11:02.389 agrarian societies doing intense manual labor. 00:11:02.490 --> 00:11:05.129 Right. You needed the energy. Yeah. We are endlessly 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:07.470 tinkering with the alchemy of dough and heat 00:11:07.470 --> 00:11:10.330 globally. The choice alters a food's texture, 00:11:10.850 --> 00:11:13.110 its shelf life, how it is used to scoop up other 00:11:13.110 --> 00:11:15.600 foods, and its ultimate place in a meal. which 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.500 is reflected in how Wikipedia categorizes Makitsa. 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:21.059 When you look at the metadata, it sits alongside 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:23.720 this massive global taxonomy of fried doughs. 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:25.620 It's listed right there with sweet variations 00:11:25.620 --> 00:11:27.940 like Spanish churros, American funnel cakes, 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.059 and French beignets. All the classic. But it's 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:32.419 also categorized with savory giants like Indian 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:35.990 samosas and Native American fry bread. It just 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:39.009 highlights how universal this concept is. We 00:11:39.009 --> 00:11:41.409 all independently looked at a bowl of wet sticky 00:11:41.409 --> 00:11:44.190 flour and decided that dropping it into boiling 00:11:44.190 --> 00:11:47.129 fat was a universally good idea. It is perhaps 00:11:47.129 --> 00:11:49.830 one of our most unifying human traits. Truly. 00:11:50.590 --> 00:11:53.669 But understanding where Makitsa fits into this 00:11:53.669 --> 00:11:56.789 global caloric family tree brings us back down 00:11:56.789 --> 00:11:59.490 to Earth. to the intimate personal ways people 00:11:59.490 --> 00:12:01.269 actually consume it today. Yeah, back to the 00:12:01.269 --> 00:12:03.690 breakfast table. Exactly. Because it's one thing 00:12:03.690 --> 00:12:06.090 to say it's chemically related to naan, but it's 00:12:06.090 --> 00:12:07.950 another thing entirely to sit down at a table 00:12:07.950 --> 00:12:10.889 in Sofia and actually eat it. And its versatility 00:12:10.889 --> 00:12:13.590 is key to its popularity as a breakfast item. 00:12:13.789 --> 00:12:16.149 It acts as a phenomenal delivery system for whatever 00:12:16.149 --> 00:12:18.190 flavors you have on hand. Right. You can go the 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:20.129 sweet route, which is incredibly popular, dusting 00:12:20.129 --> 00:12:23.210 it heavily with powdered icing sugar or slathering 00:12:23.210 --> 00:12:25.399 it with fruit jam or local honey. But you can 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:27.700 also take it in a completely savory direction. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:30.159 Yeah. A very traditional garnish is Cyrene, which 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:34.179 is a brined white cheese similar to feta. I can 00:12:34.179 --> 00:12:36.879 imagine the sensory contrast there is spectacular. 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:39.960 You have this piping hot, oily, incredibly soft 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.480 dough, and you pair it with a cold, sharp, salty, 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:46.019 crumbly cheese. Oh, it's amazing. And the sources 00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:48.379 even note that it can be eaten alongside more 00:12:48.379 --> 00:12:51.799 yogurt. doubling down on that tangy, lactic flavor 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.779 profile that tenderized the dough in the first 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:56.139 place. It's the ultimate customizable breakfast. 00:12:56.659 --> 00:12:58.659 But it's not just the casual Tuesday morning 00:12:58.659 --> 00:13:02.340 food either. In North Macedonia, this simple 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:04.980 fried dough takes on a massive, almost sacred 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:09.000 cultural weight. We are talking about the newborn 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.740 tradition. Yes, this is a fascinating sociological 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:14.440 practice. In North Macedonia, Mekika is prepared 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:17.000 the week after a baby is born as a celebration 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.639 to welcome the new life. Now, tradition strictly 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:21.940 dictates that this celebration and the physical 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:24.139 frying of the dough should take place in the 00:13:24.139 --> 00:13:25.759 actual house where the baby is going to live. 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:27.940 Right. It's meant to bless the home. Bless the 00:13:27.940 --> 00:13:31.379 home. Exactly. But the sources note a very specific 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:34.620 modern shift. Nowadays, this celebration mostly 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:37.539 happens in restaurants. It's a significant logistical 00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:40.000 pivot for a long -standing domestic tradition. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:41.899 And here's where it gets really interesting to 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:44.679 me. I initially looked at that shift and thought, 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:48.710 are we losing something vital? When we outsource 00:13:48.710 --> 00:13:51.250 traditional home cooking to a commercial banquet 00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:53.690 hall, it's a common fear Yeah, right. We were 00:13:53.690 --> 00:13:56.529 taking this intimate domestic tradition Meant 00:13:56.529 --> 00:13:58.590 to bless the baby's physical home with the smells 00:13:58.590 --> 00:14:00.909 and warmth of cooking and we were commercializing 00:14:00.909 --> 00:14:03.649 it Yeah, but then I actually pictured the logistics. 00:14:03.649 --> 00:14:05.809 We just talked about earlier the sticky dough. 00:14:06.090 --> 00:14:09.929 Yes We were talking about wrestling highly hydrated 00:14:09.929 --> 00:14:13.230 thick glue with oiled hands managing a massive 00:14:13.230 --> 00:14:16.149 vat of boiling spitting oil and doing that for 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:18.840 dozens of neighborhood guests trying to do that 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.399 in a tiny modern apartment kitchen while a one 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:23.960 week old baby is sleeping in the next room. I 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:26.879 mean that sounds less like a blessing and more 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:30.409 like a severe safety hazard. It's chaos. And 00:14:30.409 --> 00:14:32.970 this raises an important point about how traditions 00:14:32.970 --> 00:14:35.889 actually survive in the modern world. Adaptation 00:14:35.889 --> 00:14:38.509 is survival. It's easy to mourn the loss of the 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:41.129 flour -dusted home kitchen, but the modern world 00:14:41.129 --> 00:14:43.490 is busy, homes are smaller, families are spread 00:14:43.490 --> 00:14:45.990 out, and expecting sleep -deprived parents to 00:14:45.990 --> 00:14:49.110 man a vat of boiling oil is a lot to ask. The 00:14:49.110 --> 00:14:51.509 venue has changed to accommodate modern convenience 00:14:51.509 --> 00:14:54.259 and basic safety. So outsourcing it to a restaurant 00:14:54.259 --> 00:14:56.299 is actually a preservation mechanism. Exactly. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.559 The home might have been the original symbolic 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:00.759 center, but the core symbol is the food itself. 00:15:01.139 --> 00:15:03.820 They haven't swapped the mekika for a generic 00:15:03.820 --> 00:15:06.370 store -bought sheet cake, you know? Sure. The 00:15:06.370 --> 00:15:09.669 core human desire to use this specific dish to 00:15:09.669 --> 00:15:13.049 literally use softness to welcome a new soft, 00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:15.830 fragile life into the world remains entirely 00:15:15.830 --> 00:15:18.389 intact. The restaurant is merely providing a 00:15:18.389 --> 00:15:20.590 safer, larger vessel for the community to gather 00:15:20.590 --> 00:15:24.230 around that same ancient symbol. The symbol outlasts 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:27.429 the specific kitchen it was cooked in. That is 00:15:27.429 --> 00:15:29.600 an incredible journey. I mean, we started with 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:32.759 a simple sticky mix of flour and water, watched 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.860 it evolve to include yogurt for chemical tenderness, 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:38.460 followed it through linguistic naming conventions, 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.340 traced its global family tree connecting to the 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:44.179 Tandoors of India, right up to the modern restaurant 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:46.539 tables where families welcome their newest members. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:49.279 Every dish is a document of human history if 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:51.639 you know how to read it. I love that. But before 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:54.200 we let you go, there is one last puzzle hiding 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:55.919 in our source material that I want you to chew 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.820 on. Oh, lay it on me. When you look at the Wikipedia 00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:02.159 data provided in our sources, Makitsa is categorized 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:05.659 heavily into two entirely separate, massive lists 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:08.940 at the exact same time. It is listed squarely 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:11.840 under Donuts, Fritters, and Sweet Fried Doughs. 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:13.860 Which makes logical sense when you observe people 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:15.679 eating it covered in powdered sugar and strawberry 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.879 jam. Sure. But it is also listed right alongside 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:22.500 naan and pita in the massive category of flatbreads. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.480 It leaves us with a taxonomic paradox. Where 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.480 exactly do we draw the line? Oh, right. Like, 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:30.720 if you eat it with honey, does it become a donut? 00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:33.779 If you wipe up a savory stew with it or cover 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:36.059 it in white cheese, does it magically transform 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:38.899 into a flatbread? This highlights a much larger 00:16:38.899 --> 00:16:41.419 issue with how we view food. Why do we even try 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:43.259 to categorize these things so rigidly in the 00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:46.519 first place? Because we like boxes. Well, historically, 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.019 food taxonomy wasn't developed for the consumer 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:51.360 or the chef. It was developed for the state. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.139 Wait, really? Yeah. We categorized agricultural 00:16:54.139 --> 00:16:56.580 products for taxation, for international trade, 00:16:56.659 --> 00:17:00.360 for tariffs. Is this item a basic bread staple 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:03.039 subject to price controls to feed the poor, or 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.140 is it a luxury pastry subject to a luxury tax? 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.619 Wow. I never thought about it like that. We assumed 00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:12.559 food categories exist just to... like organize 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:14.940 the aisles of a modern grocery store, but it 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:17.839 actually stems from trade and taxation. Exactly. 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:20.859 Makitsa predates our modern obsession with putting 00:17:20.859 --> 00:17:23.759 everything into strict binary boxes for administrative 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.920 ease. It operates entirely on its own historical 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:30.259 terms. It refuses to be just one thing. It exists 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:34.319 perfectly as this shape -shifting bridge between 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:37.539 breakfast, dessert, and bread. And sometimes, 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:39.940 the most fascinating things happen when those 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:42.579 rigid categories just completely break down and 00:17:42.579 --> 00:17:45.420 we're left to simply enjoy the messy, delicious, 00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:47.779 ever -evolving softness of it all. Thank you 00:17:47.779 --> 00:17:49.119 so much for joining us on this Deep Dive. It 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.740 was a pleasure. And thank you for listening. 00:17:51.099 --> 00:17:51.779 We'll catch you next time.