Baklava was brought (along many others) by the Ottomans, and is prepared differently depending on the regions and cities. In Iranian cuisine, a drier version of baklava is cooked and presented in smaller diamond-shaped cuts flavored with rose water. The cities of and are famous for their baklava, which is widely distributed in Iran. Persian baklava uses a combination of chopped almonds and pistachios spiced with cardamom and a rose water-scented syrup and is lighter than other Middle Eastern versions. Baklava Baklava (, , or ; ) is a rich, sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped
Baklava over which dishes were originally Greek and which Turkish. Baklava, for example, is claimed by both countries. Greek and Turkish cuisine both built upon the cookery of the Byzantine Empire, which was a continuation of the cooking of the Roman Empire. Roman cuisine had borrowed a great deal from the ancient Greeks, but ' (and hence baklava) had a Latin, not a Greek, origin—please note that the conservative, anti-Greek Cato left us this recipe." Andrew Dalby identifies this, and surrounding dessert recipes in Cato, as coming from a "Greek tradition" and cites Antiphanes (fl. 3rd century BC) as quoted by