Bersaq: The Kurdish Fried Bread of the Nomads

Mero Ranyayi
7 hours ago
3 min read

Bersaq: The Kurdish Fried Bread of the Nomads

Bersaq (also borsaq, beji, birjî) is a traditional Kurdish fried bread — small rounds of sweet dough made from flour, milk, sugar, eggs, and oil, shaped by hand and fried golden in hot oil. It comes from the Kurdish regions of Rojhilat — Kermanshah, Ilam, and Kurdistan Province — and has its own Wikipedia article identifying it as a traditional Kurdish pastry. The name bersaq is the Arabised form of the Southern Kurdish word berjiag, meaning "toasted" — the language itself encoding the cooking method. Bersaq exists in two forms: plain, eaten with tea or honey; and filled, stuffed with walnut powder, fennel, or dried mulberry. It is nomadic food — bread that can be made quickly over a fire with simple ingredients, perfect for mobile pastoral communities who needed something sweet, portable, and satisfying.

Key Takeaways

• Small rounds of sweet dough fried golden — made from flour, milk, sugar, eggs, and oil

• Two versions: plain (eaten with tea) and filled (walnut powder, fennel, dried mulberry)

• From Kermanshah, Ilam, and Kurdistan Province in Rojhilat — has its own Wikipedia article as a Kurdish pastry

• The name comes from Southern Kurdish berjiag meaning "toasted" — the language encodes the cooking method

Quick Facts

Kurdish Names: Bersaq / Borsaq / Beji / Birjî / Pişî (Southern Kurdish: بژی, برساق)

Type: Deep-fried sweet bread/pastry — nomadic heritage food

Ingredients: Flour, milk, sugar, eggs, oil; filled version adds walnut, fennel, or dried mulberry

Region: Kermanshah, Ilam, Kurdistan Province (Rojhilat)

How Bersaq Is Made

Flour, milk, sugar, an egg, oil, and a pinch of salt are mixed into a soft dough. The dough is kneaded until smooth and consistent, then wrapped and rested in a cool place overnight to rise. The next day, walnut-sized pieces are pulled from the dough, rolled flat but not too thin, and fried in hot oil until golden on both sides. For the filled version, the fillings — ground walnuts, fennel powder, or dried mulberry powder — are placed inside the dough before shaping and frying. The result is a puffy, golden, slightly sweet fried bread that can be eaten with tea, drizzled with honey, or dipped in date syrup. It is simple, portable, and deeply satisfying — the kind of food designed for a life in motion.

Nomadic Food, Kurdish Language

Bersaq is one of the few items in this series where the Kurdish etymology is explicitly documented. Wikipedia notes that "bersaq" is the Arabised form of the Southern Kurdish word berjiag or bershiag, a past participle meaning "toasted" or "fried." The cooking method is embedded in the name. This matters because it establishes bersaq as a Kurdish-language food term, not a borrowing from Arabic, Turkish, or Persian. The dish is documented in Kermanshah, Ilam, and Kurdistan Province — three of the most historically Kurdish regions in Rojhilat. Fried dough breads exist across Central Asia and the Middle East (the Kazakh baursak, the Mongolian boortsog), but the Kurdish bersaq is its own tradition, with its own name, its own fillings, and its own place in Kurdish pastoral life.

Conclusion

Bersaq is the sweet side of Kurdish nomadic food. Where nanê tîrî is storage bread for endurance and shifta is protein for energy, bersaq is pleasure — golden, puffy, warm from the oil, eaten with tea around a fire. Filled with ground walnuts or dried mulberry from Kurdish orchards, it represents a moment of sweetness in a life shaped by mountains and movement. That the name itself is Southern Kurdish — berjiag, "toasted" — tells you whose hands shaped the dough and whose language named it. Bersaq is Kurdish. The fire is Kurdish. The sweetness is earned.