Uta Beyer is a German who lives in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she works on economic cooperation projects. She's also a fantastic photographer with a keen and frequently whimsical eye. Her blog, Georgia Unlimited, has some great images, particularly a series of shots (like the one above) that take a very loving look at butchered pigs for sale in Tbilisi's main meat market.
I asked Uta to give a little bit more information about the photos. Here is what she had to say:
I recently had the chance to meet Daniel Roy, a disillusioned video game maker from Canada who is currently traveling around the world, trying to find the nexus where slow food meets slow travel. He is blogging about his culinary experiences over at his blog, called The Backpack Foodie.
Daniel and I had a breakfast of kaymak (clotted cream) and honey the other day at the famous shop of Pando in the market of Istanbul's Besiktas neighborhood, where we talked about his travels and his impressions of Turkish food culture. Here are his answers to some questions:
1. Why did you decide to launch Backpack Foodie?
I created The Backpack Foodie at the onset of my one-year trip around the world. I love food whether I'm at home or on the road, and I always felt food was one of the most vivid and important experiences I had wherever I traveled. The real reason I created this blog was to write about people, and culture, in a way that was neither patronizing nor filled with traveling clichés. Food was the perfect excuse.
2. What is the blog's approach to food culture?
Food for me is the clearest, most vivid expression of a culture. Food is the result of a people's geography, their history, and their cultural and religious experiences. Sharing a meal is one of the most intimate experiences there is: you sit around a table and engage in one of the most crucial practices required for your survival. And eating someone else's food is an act of great vulnerability: you are placing in your mouth ingredients that you don't know, and trusting your host with providing a pleasant experience which won't make you ill. So food is very intimate.
Publicly, Turkish officials express their continued support for a rapprochement process with Armenia, despite Yerevan having recently suspended the ratification process for peace protocols signed with Ankara last October. But observers say that political considerations are making it very difficult for Turkey to move forward on the issue.
Anyone who has been to Turkey knows that there's no shortage of meat dishes on offer in the country. Which might help explain why the government may be getting ready to intervene in what appears to be a growing meat crisis. While the price of red meat has been dropping in other countries in the region, in Turkey it's on the rise. That's bad new for any government. From a report in Today's Zaman:
A growing shortage of red meat is the reported cause of the extraordinary price increases in the market. Some parties have suggested that the government lift a ban on red meat imports, instituted eight years ago as a result of the mad cow disease scare, while others say the best solution to address the current shortage would be an increase in stockbreeding. Turkey currently does not allow imported meat into the country out of safety and health concerns.
Some papers reported on Saturday that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had ordered the “handling of the red meat issue,” which could mean that red meat dealers will face state intervention in the market. Soon after the news broke, the price of red meat saw a slight decline. Amid discussions over a prolonged “price crisis” in the domestic red meat market, Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker signaled on Saturday that the government could finally intervene to re-establish balance in the markets.
Eker said his ministry has discovered that “some speculators played with the prices” and would intervene to re-establish balance in the market. He said the Ministry of Agriculture had granted red meat dealers one week to reduce the prices to “favorable levels,” adding: “We began a comprehensive market survey three days ago; this will be completed within a week. We will define what steps will be taken based on the results of the survey.”
Wine being ladles out of a kvevri, a clay vessel used to age Georgian wine
CNN's website has a report by correspondent Ivan Watson that takes a look at both the past and promising future of Georgian wine. Georgia, of course, is considered by many -- Georgian in particular -- to be the birthplace of wine. After going through a rough patch in recent years after an embargo was put in place by Russia, once the main export market for its wine, Georgia is now trying to market its wine in other parts of the world, with boutique wineries and improved methods.
You can find Watson's report, which includes a visit to one of the several new small-scale wineries that have recently opened up in Georgia, here.
Jan Agha, a baker in Taloqan, Takhar, Northern Afghanistan
This wonderful image of a young Afghan baker was a recent winner in an ongoing photo contest that being run by Istanbul Eats (you can find a larger version of the photo here).
The photographer, Chris Strickland, is currently working in Afghanistan with The HALO Trust, which is removing mines and unexploded ordinances in the north of the country.
I wrote Chris asking him to provide more details about the baker and the photo. This is what he said:
The Photograph was taken in Taloqan, Takhar, Northern Afghanistan. The baker is called Jan Agha and is a 22 year old Tajik from Taloqan.
In a country where many still rely on subsistence farming to survive, bread is the main part of the Afghan staple diet and is a part of every meal. Afghanistan's agriculture is predominantly rain-fed 'lalmi' land and the main crop is wheat. A good winter and spring rainfall is essential for a good harvest which in turn keeps food prices for essentials such as bread at an affordable level.
I was drawn to the bakery because it was actually a dark uninviting room, but I could smell the bread and hear the activity, and as a curious photographer, I naturally popped my head in. I was then of course presented with an inviting bakers oven and there was a lovely shaft of light coming through from a vent in the roof.
Afghans being Afghans bought me some tea and a chair, and I hung around for half an hour or so, and just before I left I took this image.
The patterns on the bread, the cloak about to be placed to protect the bread, and of course the light bringing it all to life.
Giorgi Lomsadze's great Eurasianet story about Georgia's attempts to obtain trademark protection for khachapuri, "the cheese-filled Georgian pastry that has a lip-smacking fan base throughout the former Soviet Union," is not the first such effort in the region.
A few years back, the kebab makers of Adana, a city on the southern Turkish coast known for its, well, kebab, managed to obtain the trademark for "Adana Kebab" and have the name listed with the Turkish patent office. They also managed to have their city's famous export be given geographical protection in Turkey, much like only sparkling wine from Champagne can be called "Champagne" (although based on the thousands of kebab stands and grill houses in Istanbul serving Adana kebab, it would appear that enforcing the designation is a bit tough.) The Adana Chamber of Commerce, even has a whole section on its website devoted to explaining the city's kebab laws, with even a list of "certified" Adana kebab makers.
Meanwhile, the ongoing political battle between Greek Cyprus and Turkey has, in recent years, spilled over into the culinary realm, with the two countries arguing about which was the one to invent baklava. You can read about the sticky situation, yet another one of Cyprus's unresolved issues, here.
Ciya Sofrasi in Istanbul, where keme (the "Mesopotamian Truffle") is now being served
Via Istanbul Eats, a post about the springtime return of keme, AKA "The Mesopotamian Truffle." From IE's post:
Impossible to cultivate and with a season that spans only a few weeks, this specialty of southeast Turkey is worth seeking out, with a taste that's like an earthy cross between a Portobello mushroom and a very delicate potato. Last year, we got our keme fix at Kadikoy's excellent Çiya Sofrası, where it is grilled on a skewer and served like a kebab (as well as incorporated into several other dishes).
In this morning's edition of the English-language Today's Zaman, though, we learned about another place in Istanbul that also serves keme, Kübban Gaziantep Mutfağı. We're not familiar with this place, but the article (you can find it here) makes it sound very promising.
The good news? The article -- at least in the print edition -- gives an address. The bad news? It's all the way out in Güneşli, a neighborhood on the western outskirts of Istanbul.
