FORKLORE : Loose Meat

A connection between “Rosanne” and the steppes of Central Asia? “Pshaw,” you may say. But follow along.

The idea of chopping meat is universal. Some cuisines prefer to make chopped meat into meatballs, others into loaves such as pa^te. The Turkish-speaking peoples have traditionally fried it loose, stirring constantly so that the little fragments of meat separate.

Turkish nomads took this technique with them wherever they wandered in the Middle Ages. That’s why you find dishes and stuffings called kiyma (Turkish for “chopped”) in Greece and India, in Syria, Iran and western China. And though not under that name, you apparently also find kiyma in the Midwest.

In 1934, Ye Olde Tavern in Sioux City, Iowa, started serving a dish (called “tavern,” after the restaurant) of loosely fried hamburger meat on a bun. It is now a standard feature of Midwestern dining under such names as Tastee and Maid-Right (though not all restaurants are willing to credit Ye Olde Tavern with inventing it). A couple of years ago it achieved brief national fame because it was featured at the Iowa restaurant owned by Roseanne and Tom Arnold (they called it loosemeats).

The proprietor of Ye Olde Tavern was a Lebanese named Abraham Kaled, and his “tavern” was simply a kiyma . Rosanne, say something nice to the medieval nomads.