If you want to start a food fight, just ask people what are the world's great cuisines? Culinary lore identifies three. Two seem obvious. The third is a bit of a puzzle. What's the third great cuisine? It's not Indian, Japanese or even Italian. It's Turkish. Food commentator Bonny Wolf makes a case for why Turkish food is a delight.
Fusion Cuisine from the Very Beginning
Think about it: The Ottoman Empire covered three continents for 600 years. They controlled the spice trade. Ottoman rule extended from Budapest to Baghdad and much of the Mediterranean basin. For a few thousand years, Turkish nomads had been moving through central Asia toward the Middle East. Then, at the end of the 13th century, one group of the Ottomans set up a permanent camp in what was then Constantinople, now Istanbul. By then, there had been culinary cross-fertilization from Asia, the Islamic world and bits of Europe. Talk about fusion cuisine. For example, the Turkish Uyghur started a kingdom in the 8th century in what is now China. It’s likely that Turkish manti, lamb-filled dumplings, are an adaptation of some kind of Chinese potstickers. Try them 1,300 years later, served in a garlicky yogurt sauce. Still delicious!
Fresh, Local Produce
If you are part of the local food movement, you know that locally grown food is fresher, better-tasting, more nutritious, and provides a healthier diet than typical supermarket food. The Turks are natural locavores. They are committed to eating food that is produced or grown within their local community. Everything is fresh and in season. Fish is cooked the very same day it's caught. The simplest restaurant serves a fresh salad of olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and bitter greens sprinkled with powdered sumac. Street vendors carry on their heads piles of freshly baked, sesame-covered simits a cross between a bagel and a soft pretzel. Carts are loaded with glossy black mussels served with a squirt of lemon. Women sit in restaurant windows making crepes to be filled with spinach, cheese or meat. Meyhanes are like traditional taverns where waiters come to the table with platters of small plates - pickled sea bass, bulgur salad with red pepper paste, Albanian fried lamb livers, zucchini fritters. It's all washed down with anise-flavoured raki, the Turkish national drink. Everything, all day, is accompanied by tea. Oceans of tea are served in tiny glass cups. French and Chinese cooking deserve to be worshipped. So does the eclectic, habit-forming cuisine of Turkey. Enjoy authentic Turkish dining experience from
Sahan Mezopotamian Street Food.
Visit Us at Sahan Mezopotamian Street Food Instagram: sahan.mezopotamian (02) 964 991 67 35-39 Auburn Road, AUBURN, NSW 2144, Australia Source: NPR
