Identity is a matter of layers. Obviously, any notion of Ottoman identity could be born only after the Ottoman state came into existence. But what about the period that preceded Ottoman rule over Anatolia? While ethnic and religious affiliations played a major part in situating any individual in society, the effects of a fairly rigid socio-economic hierarchy cannot be ignored. Yet in the absence of archival material (such as cadastral surveys and court records), this layer remains difficult for historians to investigate through traditional means. This paper proposes an alternative method to break down the social hierarchy as it was perceived and internalized by post-Byzantine Anatolians, using those scenes in contemporary narrative sources that depict individuals or groups offering and receiving food as charity. Some of its conclusions are quite obvious: the political elite, for example, is always depicted as giving, whereas the poor are always on the receiving end of such food exchanges. Much more interesting, however, is a closer examination of the modalities of this food transfer: Who, for example, is depicted as giving as an individual, and who appears to band together in order to offer charity? And where do the “religious professional”, from the dervish to the imam, stand in this respect? The resulting picture offers insight into a layer of identity that was at once deeply internalized and largely removed from any reference to state institutions or geographical borders.