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Explore The Taste And Preparation Of Turkish Food

18.10.2014 12:43

Recently I joined a dozen or so British tourists on an adventure tour called “Walking the Turquoise Coast.” The tour was exactly that! Since it was referred to as a “gentle” walking tour, we only walked parts of the “Turquoise Coast.” The tour agency, Explore! provided us with a young and enthusiastic Turk, Zeynep, as our tour guide, and she made sure that each evening we also explored a variety of Turkish food. Turks place a great emphasis on the presentation of food. You will usually find a dish that will make your mouth water! Turkish dishes use garlic, tomatoes, dill, parsley, red and green peppers and, of course, olive oil. When Western visitors ask me about cooking a Turkish dish, I usually recommend expats not to try to cook a Turkish dish if you plan to serve it to Turkish guests. The response you get may disappoint you. A few of my friends can confirm this advice. I wonder how many of you reading this have had a similar funny experience... One story in particular I remember we

Recently I joined a dozen or so British tourists on an adventure tour called “Walking the Turquoise Coast.” The tour was exactly that! Since it was referred to as a “gentle” walking tour, we only walked parts of the “Turquoise Coast.” The tour agency, Explore! provided us with a young and enthusiastic Turk, Zeynep, as our tour guide, and she made sure that each evening we also explored a variety of Turkish food.
Turks place a great emphasis on the presentation of food. You will usually find a dish that will make your mouth water! Turkish dishes use garlic, tomatoes, dill, parsley, red and green peppers and, of course, olive oil.
When Western visitors ask me about cooking a Turkish dish, I usually recommend expats not to try to cook a Turkish dish if you plan to serve it to Turkish guests. The response you get may disappoint you. A few of my friends can confirm this advice. I wonder how many of you reading this have had a similar funny experience…
One story in particular I remember well, which a good friend of mine shared with me, is about how she made zucchini patties (mücver). It proves my point about trying to cook local food. My friend said the terrible cookbook sold to tourists had the wrong translations into English and called for "kabak." She dutifully gathered together the onion, flour, white cheese, dill, parsley, egg and pumpkin that the book said she needed. Not having a food mixer, she grated 400 grams of pumpkin by hand. She finished an hour later with a very sore arm. When she served the dish to her neighbors, their reaction was not what she expected. "This is interesting," they said. "It's sweet! We have something like this called mücver." They obviously thought she was serving them a foreign dish! "This is mücver," she protested. She said they replied, “But that needs zucchini, not pumpkin!" The translator had written the wrong word for “kabak”: zucchini = kabak, pumpkin = bal kabağı.
Don't worry! The majority of cookbooks published about Turkish food more recently are more professional, and the translations are usually accurate. I must confess I have had a similar experience. I bet some of you have too!
My visitors are always surprised to learn how expensive meat, especially beef, is in Turkey. Lamb is the most popular meat. Beef, often grilled as a kebab, is common. Chicken, especially prepared with walnuts, paprika and garlic is popular. Fish is expensive but a key ingredient. Meat is prepared according to Islamic (Halal) rules. Pork, ham, bacon and other pig products are banned in a halal diet. You may find them at an exclusive restaurant or five-star hotel, but they are not generally available in Turkey.
Rice is usually served, sometimes with currants, pine nuts and other spices. Much of the fruit and vegetables eaten in Turkey are grown in Turkey. While travelling around the countryside along the Turquoise Coast, we saw rows and rows of greenhouses. This is the largest concentration of greenhouses in Turkey, covering hundreds of thousands of hectares. Several tons of greenhouse vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and zucchinis are produced here annually. In Turkish dishes, garlic and olives are used widely, as with much cuisine of the Mediterranean region. Food tends to be seasonal, due to the use of fresh ingredients.
Tourist are always pleased to find that snacks can be purchased everywhere, almost round the clock! Kiosks and buffets are at the roadside, itinerant sellers carry trays of pastries on their heads, push carts or elaborate mobile kitchens display their wares: from sesame seeds to sweet corn, from simit (sesame-coated bread rings) to kokoreç (grilled sheep's intestine), from fish sandwiches to meatballs, all are available on the street.
If you are planning a trip to Turkey, be sure to sample the wide range of meze (cold starters), which usually come on a tray on which 10 or so varieties will be shown to you. Typical selections include stuffed vine leaves or peppers (dolma), cheese, vegetables such as egg plant or okra in olive oil, spicy tomato paste, egg plant and yogurt paste, chickpea paste (humus), potato salad and cracked wheat in tomato and chili sauce (kısır). Also try the two most common types of salata (salad): One is çoban (shepherd's salad), made of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, and another is mevsim (seasonal salad), which consists of lettuce, grated carrots or red cabbage, tomato and cucumber slices, sweet corn and green peppers.
Don't be shy when it comes to choosing Turkish food: You can often inspect the kitchen and point to what you want.
A Turkish saying reads: “First appeal to the eyes, then fill the stomach.”

CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON (Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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