The “Turkish Cuisine with Centennial Recipes” program, organized in cooperation with the Esenler Municipality and the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, revealed the rich culinary culture of our country.
Esenler Municipality and Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, within the framework of “Turkish Cuisine Week” , which is celebrated simultaneously at home and abroad , He hosted the program “Turkish Cuisine with Centennial Recipes”. Dr. M. Emre Yapraklı was the moderator of the program held in the library of Kadir Topbaş Culture and Art Center. Istanbul Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Dr. Coşkun Yılmaz and researcher chef Vedat Başaran, who contributed to the unveiling of Ottoman dishes, attended. In the program, while the dishes of Turkish cuisine were introduced, refreshments were given to the participants.
WE HAVE A NATURAL KITCHEN CULTURE!
Istanbul Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Dr. Coşkun Yılmaz, drawing attention to our bond with our past , said, “This bond is not the discourse of the great Ottoman, the great ancestors. This is a spirit, this is a climate, this is a culture, this is manners. As they say, the ritual is business, the person’s words are irrelevant. The civilization you call Ottoman is a centuries-old past, a vast geography filtered through a cloak.
We naturally have a culinary culture. I am from the Black Sea, from Ordu. I remember my mother’s cooking. Those dishes have a smell, a soul, a taste. The kitchen is not just food. There is halal and haram. Work comes from feeding, it has health. There is an etiquette to sit down to eat, there is an etiquette to get up. Eating has its etiquette. The amount of food has its etiquette. There is etiquette to holding a spoon. In short, a vast geography and a broad culture. We can’t say food but not kitchen” .
WE CANNOT TELL OUR MEALS TO THE WORLD
Başaran continued his words as follows: “We We are a nation that has left its own geography aside. We like to live ourselves, but we do not enjoy telling the world. These have always been experienced as a problem in international organizations, but this is not intentional. Today, when we look at Kanuni’s and Abdülhamid’s menus, we see that half of the meals made for foreign guests consist of Turkish dishes.
Not all of them are Turkish dishes. There is a feeling of ‘let’s make them happy’ but it took a different direction. When we took up this business in the 90s, I was a person who came from England, studied at the Royal Academy, and had a master’s in cooking. I came to our country. When I lived there, I saw that the simplest flavor of our country was of higher quality than the most expensive flavor there. In other words, when you go to different parts of the world, you realize how lucky a nation we are, what a precious land we live in and how important values you have.
