The Public Radio International news program, The World, recently went on one of Istanbul Eats' culinary walks and filed a report about the six-hour strolling and eating experience. Text here, and audio here.
Turkey has set ambitious goals for itself in terms of diplomacy and economics, with initiatives in place to significantly raise the country's global profile. It appears that this ambition has also spread to the realm of olive oil, where Turkey is making serious strides. From an article posted on The Media Line website:
A decade after planting tens of millions of trees, Turkey expects next year to become the world’s second largest producer of olive oil, surpassing Italy, Greece, Tunisia and Syria, and cater to the growing market in the Far East.
“We have increased the number of trees in past 10 years from 90 million to about double that and so we are expecting an increase in production and in the very near future to be the number one producer of table olives and number two producer of olive oil in the world,” Metin Olken, Chairman of the Turkish Olive and Olive Oil Publicity Committee, told The Media Line.
According to Olken, Turkey produced 160,000 tons of olive oil in 2010 and expects a crop of 200,000 tons this year. Within two years it expects to surpass the half-million mark and by 2015, 700,000 tons. While becoming the prince of olive production, Turkey still falls well behind the king – Spain -- which makes 1.2 million tons, or over half of the world’s olive oil.
“We will take over from Greece, Italy, Tunisia and Syria,” Olken said.
Iftar, the meal that ends the daily Ramadan fast, has traditionally been a humble affair, a chance for family and friends to gather at home and celebrate. In recent year, though, Iftar has increasingly gone upscale, with individuals, businesses and public officials hosting large-scale, lavish catered affairs for hundreds of guests. In Turkey, where this trend has been especially pronounced, some groups are now asking if this is really the way Ramadan was meant to be observed. From Hurriyet:
If only one picture were used to depict the month of Ramadan, that image would likely be of an iftar, the traditional fast-breaking dinner, a ceremonial activity featuring a variety of dishes.
This picture is, however, now being challenged by one Islamic group and its supporters, who recently protested the glamorous and expensive iftars held in luxury hotels.
After breaking their fast on the street in front of Istanbul’s Conrad Hotel last week, members of the Labor and Justice Platform organized another protest dinner Saturday in the city’s well-known Taksim Square, which is bordered by three five-star hotels.
“We are against the waste of money during these dinners. Instead of spending that money on the [iftar] tables, patrons should give it away to their workers,” the group said in a statement. Members held up posters bearing messages such as “Fasting breaks capitalism and capitalism breaks fasting” and “Iftar menu: 318 Turkish Liras; Minimum wage: 658 liras.” “This is not just a protest against the iftars during Ramadan, but we did [the protests during this time] because these luxurious feasts have become symbols of a capitalist understanding that has grown in the last 15 years,” one of the participants, theologian and writer İhsan Eliaçık, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
"Turkey's for Life," a fun blog published by an English couple living in Fethiye, Turkey, has a great photo essay up about Ramadan pide. The very tasty flatbread is baked during the month-long Ramadan holiday and is a central part of the break fast Iftar meal. More here.
The narrow backstreets of Istanbul's historic Beyoglu district have long been the haunt of revelers, drawn to the area by its profusion of bars, cafes and restaurants. In summer, these establishments move the fun outdoors, setting up tables that often end up spilling into the street. But now it appears that Beyoglu authorities have decided to rein in the outdoor fun. From Hurriyet:
Members of the municipal patrol acted extremely rudely and abused restaurant owners and customers as they removed outdoor tables and chairs over the weekend in Beyoğlu’s Cihangir and Galata neighborhoods, according to restaurant operators.
Officers appeared without an official warning in prominent places throughout Cihangir, removing tables by force while customers were still sitting there and eating, Gökçe Bedo, the owner of a tavern told the Hürriyet Daily News.
“More than 20 officers suddenly gathered here and hit one of the customers who refused to stand up as she did not understand the reason for the operation,” said Bedo, adding that she was considering filing a complaint against the officers.
The owners have blamed the municipality for the attitude of the officers who carried out the operation; many have also added that they had not violated the rule that bans chairs and tables in front of their facilities.
Last Tuesday, the owners of cafes and restaurants in Galata neighborhood received a notice from the municipal patrol, saying tables and chairs outside restaurants and cafes should be removed.
Istanbul Eats, meanwhile, went down to Beyoglu's hopping Asmalimescit district (pictured above), usually filled with people drinking and smoking outdoors by early afternoon, only to find it eerily silent:
The New York Times's Frugal Traveller turns out to also be a shrewd traveller, heading down on his latest voyage to Turkey's culinary Mecca of Gaziantep, which sits in the heart of the country's pistachio growing region. The frug, Seth Kugel, gets down to business in Gaziantep, sampling the city's famous baklava and several of its other iconic dishes. From his report:
Back to the baklava. I tried about 10 places over five days, from cheap (around 18 Turkish lira a kilogram) to pricey (40 a kilo and up). (A kilogram is 2.2 pounds.) And while I would agree with Kamil — he said he buys the cheap stuff because the worst baklava in Gaziantep is better than the best baklava everywhere else — I could sense a real dedication to craft (and to customer service) at the more expensive places.
My favorite spot was Celebiogullari, which has three locations around the city. (I went to the one at the far eastern end of Gaziler Caddesi, a lively market area.) I ordered baklava variations that had higher pistachio-to-phyllo ratios, which delivered slightly less sugar shock and more explosive pistachio flavor.
The friendly young men on the staff were so intrigued by the American with the camera spouting random words of Turkish that they came over to sit with me and chat as I ate my triangle-shaped havuc dilimi and the green sushi roll-shaped fistik sarma. (Imagine American waiters simply plopping down uninvited next to a customer to talk.) When an attractive news anchor came on the flat-screen television, I pointed and said “fistik!” Big laughs! My first Turkish joke!
I have no idea how much I spent, because another customer, witnessing the scene, paid my bill for me: another bump for Turkish hospitality.
The Seattle Times has an article up about a creative new venture in Turkey that brings visitors into the country's southeast region for homestays in the area's rural Kurdish villages. The highlight of these visits seems to be the food, which is as fresh and local as can be. From the piece:
Before most people are awake, Pero Salva has baked a day's worth of bread over an open fire, milked the cows, fed the chickens and used a broom made from twigs to sweep the dirt walkway in front of the house she shares with her husband and three children.
As the roosters crow and a muezzin sings the Muslim call to prayer, we take our places for breakfast on the floor around a table fashioned from a sheet of vinyl spread over a woven rug. Men on one side. Women on the other.
Everything before us — tomatoes and cucumbers, cheese, yogurt, honey and sheets of warm bread — was made or grown by the family, our hosts for a one-night homestay in the village of Yuvacali in Turkish Kurdistan.
The Hurriyet Daily News has a good story up about a woman-run and operated restaurants in Southeast Turkey that has serious regional ambitions. From the article:
Cercis Murat Konağı Restaurant in Mardin is different from the city’s other eateries: Not only is it one of the first local establishments aimed at tourists, it is also owned, operated, and staffed exclusively by women. Now, the restaurant’s owner is planning to expand the business into the Middle East.
“The total turnover of our two restaurants has reached nearly 4.1 million Turkish Liras,” Ebru Baybara Demir, a Turkish businesswoman and the Cercis’ owner, said in a recent interview with the Ekonomist magazine. “We are in talks with a company from the Middle East to open Cercis restaurants in Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon.”
Planning a visit to Istanbul and worried about how to enjoy the city's culinary scene while keeping your kids happy? Istanbul Eats' latest advice column has the answer, here.
Istanbul Eats recently visited the Inebolu Pazari, an open-air food market that sets up shop once week on Sundays to sell goods from Turkey's Black Sea regions. One of the market's specialties are wild mushrooms. More here.
