Odds are that you have enjoyed feasting on Chapli Kebab - if not in Peshawar then at a restaurant run by an ethnic Pashtoon in your city. But do you where its name comes from?

Those with a rudimentary understanding of Urdu have often wondered about the origins from the word and whether it has any etymological connection to the word chapal, which is Urdu for slipper.

This question has flummoxed a lot of people including Germany’s Ambassador to Pakistan Alfred Grannas, who enjoyed the delicacy during a recent trip to Peshawar.

“I enjoyed one of the most fresh and flavorful kebabs of my life right here in Peshawar,” the ambassador tweeted along with a picture. At the end of the tweet, the envoy asked Twitter for help to understand the origin of the name. The question included the slipper emoji.

Twitter did what it does best, with the envoy’s timeline flooded with responses ranging from serious to facetious.

Here is one that had quite a few of us chuckling.

“Once a child was crying and asking for ‘Kabab’ and then his mother used a special weapon to make his kabab which got the shape of ‘chapal’,” wrote user with the handle Razillahi.

A few others alluded to violence in their explanation but we believe they were trying to have a laugh at the envoy’s expense. [Good like with the visa application!]

In one user’s opinion, a foreigner raising the question was indeed telling.

Journalist Muniba Kamal took it a step further with a question of her own as she salivated at the sight of the Germany ambassador enjoying the juicy kebabs.

Another user wanted the the envoy to have kehwa or traditional green tea post Chapli kebab dinner.

There were also those who flaunted their German or sought assistance from the envoy on their visa application.

The most reliable explanation came from columnist Mohammad Taqi, who uses the handle mazdaki.

“Chapli is supposed to mean flat which differentiates it from the sausage-like seekh kebab that was more of a central Asian thing,” he tweeted in response.

User Saqib Chaudhary’s explanation concurred with what user with the handle @mazdaki wrote.

User Muhammad Raza had a rather curious take, saying that the name owes its origins to a typographical error.

“It is derived from the knee bone (pattela or shin bone). It is called “Chapni” by the local people. Due to a typographical error, it became chapli from chapni because both words are local.”

From the pages of history

The cuisine has traveled through different eras and regions. It is extremely popular in the Middle Eastern and Central Asia as well as Pakistan, where is is held in reverence in the northern parts.

According to Qari Javed Iqbal’s book on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s history and culture, the people of India were vegetarians, with Turks, Ghaznis, Afghans, and Mughals invaders introducing meat to the region.

The Mughals introduced this dish by adding different spices to the minced meat of cow or buffalo. They also made eating meat part of the culture. Peshawar being their first habitat, the dish got a regional color.

Many others acquainted with the language agree that kebab is a Persian word that means to cook meat or minced meat on a skewer or pan.

Back in the day, soldiers from Turkey, Iran and Central Asia were known to wrap meat around their swords, which they would later roast.

Kebabs are common across Turkey, Iran and Central Asia. In some countries, it is served on a skewer or as donor kebab (Turkey). In the MIddle East, kebab is likely to be served with bread.

In the Subcontinent also, there are dozens of types of kebabs. There is Bihari kebab, Gola kebab, Shami kebab, and more.

One of those is Chapli kebab - arguably the best of the lot.

Do you agree?