At the Table: Food and Family around the World - Ken Albala (2016)

Turkey

Aylin Öney Tan

Turkey is a country at the crossroads of many cultures with an ever-changing dynamic young population. It is not easy to pick a standard family to represent all, especially if one considers that the country is like a bridge connecting Asia to Europe, flanked by Iran on the east and Greece on the west. Even the regional differences and the seasons will pretty much alter what is on the table, not to mention the social background of that particular family. A rural countryside table might still be a low table on the ground with simple fare shared from central serving dishes eaten with spoons or wrapped in flat bread with no individual servings. However, in cities and towns, people have dining furniture as a main feature of the house; actually the life of a typical housewife revolves around the dining table and the kitchen. Religion does not really affect what is served on the table, but alcohol is nonexistent among devout Muslim families, which is actually a majority. Even if the men have drinks outside home, drinking it is not generally a family thing except in bigger towns or coastal regions. Pork is not on the menu either; though it is not legally prohibited, it has never been a common food in this region even for non-Muslim communities.

Albala

A Turkish family in Ankara enjoys a weekday dinner after a day of hard work by the parents at the hospital and the boy at school. Everything on the table is home-cooked from scratch, and all ingredients are seasonal. The leftovers will probably extend to the next night's dinner. (Courtesy of Aylin Öney Tan)

Food to be put on the table is almost always prepared at home from scratch. Vegetables, salad greens, and fruits are often bought from weekly neighborhood markets or sometimes supermarkets in big towns and cities. The neighborhood markets are held on a certain day of the week, and besides vegetables and fruits, many items such as cheese and olives, household items such as kitchen utensils, and even clothing are available. Usually the market day is the day out for women, so simpler cooking is done at home. Canned products are not much used except for the wide use of canned tomato and pepper paste, which seems to appear in most dishes. In a typical family, whether the mother is working or not, the cooking is done by her, sometimes with the help of daughters. In extended big families, it would be all the women in the house who take care of the cooking; in cities, people tend to hire home help for cleaning, ironing, and cooking. It can be said that cooking at home is still confined to women, though men take pride in their open-air grilling skills, which is pretty much the same all over the world since the time of hunters and gatherers! The housewife also often buys the food, though men can take care of some special purchases such as meat and special sweets, including the much-loved baklava. Classically, in Turkey the women are the nurturing fertility goddesses, and the men are providers of the sustenance.

Our example is a bit different from the classical family pattern; it is an example of the changing society, a modern core family living in the city, with both parents holding university degrees and holding regular jobs. Uğur and Tuncay Özçelik are both medical doctors living in Ankara. The wife Uğur (often confused as being a man because Uğur is more of a male name) is a pediatrician working in the Hacettepe University Children’s Hospital. Husband Tuncay is an ear-nose-throat doctor working in a private hospital. Neither owns a private practice, as is often the case with doctors, so they have a relatively modest budget compared to most doctors in private practice. Daughter Iraz is studying architecture (she is not in the picture), and son Can is still in middle school.

They recently moved to a bigger three-story house, leaving the 1,300-square-foot flat they used to live in. Irma, a Georgian young lady, works for them as a live-in maid, a new luxury they encountered recently. Irma used to be the caretaker for Uğur’s mother, who unfortunately spent her last few years bedridden. After she passed away, Irma was so much a part of the family that they did not want to let her go to another job. Irma has worked with other families in Turkey before, sometimes like a caretaker, sometimes as a nanny; now here with the Özçelik family, she feels in the right place. Her presence has been a great relief for the couple; they no longer have think about preparing all the food for the family of four. Tuncay is also very helpful in the kitchen, being the son of a meyhane (a drinking tavern) owner; he surely knows how to cook and really enjoys it.

The dining table is situated at one end of the living room. Usually the dining room is not a separate room in Turkish homes but rather is like an extension of the living room, as in an L-shaped plan, or is just at one end of the long rectangular salon. The living room has comfy chairs, a big central coffee table, lots of plants, and oil paintings on the walls. The TV and music set are also in the living room, so the dining experience is not segregated from the rest of daily life. A cupboard with ornamental glassware backs the dining table. On one side is a piano, once bought for the children, hoping that they’d learn how to play it. Seemingly Can is not very much into music but is into playing basketball, and Iraz can rarely get her head up from the drafting table designing her assignment projects. The family does not have very strict rules for table etiquette regarding the electronic equipment; they most often leave the TV on, but nobody seems to watch unless there is a national soccer game on or some important breaking news. No one brings a tablet or laptop to the table, of course. Keeping away from games seems to be a problem for Can, and Iraz has an urge to check her iPhone now and then, but their habit is not up to an incurable addiction level, as is the case with many youngsters. Actually, in Turkey no one ever turns their cell phones off during dinner, so there is no such rule in this home either.

All the cutlery and table settings are the same that one would find in any contemporary Western country: individual plates and cutlery, normal drinking glasses, special rakı glasses if rakı is to be drunk, and wineglasses if wine is to be served. The 24-piece table set the family uses daily is not an elaborate, expensive one. Silver cutlery and fine porcelain are reserved for special occasions. Nowadays fancy cutlery does not even seem to be necessary, as most gatherings are casual rather than formal sit-down dinners. However, even if not a fine embroidered one, there is usually a table cover, not place mats. Besides salt and pepper, they have their two favorite spices on the table: sumac and crushed red pepper flakes. The breadbasket is full of sliced whole bread set aside together with a big jug of still spring water. The bread is bought on a daily basis, and spring water is delivered to homes in five-gallon plastic containers by the supplier company. The family is quite health conscious, so sugar-laden soft drinks are not consumed, but sometimes fruit juices or ayran is served, depending on the food. Turkey is a big producer of all kinds of fruit juices, the most popular being the sour cherry juice, followed by apricot and peach juices. Ayran, salty diluted yogurt, is the most beloved Turkish nonalcoholic drink. Apart from that, water is the usual drink, followed usually by freshly brewed black tea after meals. Turkish coffee is more of a morning thing or is taken a few times in between meals to enjoy a break from work. The adults in the family usually do not drink alcoholic beverages on a daily basis, but sometimes, usually on Saturday night, they have some wine or rakı, an anise-flavored grape spirit that is the ubiquitous Turkish national drink. Now and then, based on the type of food in a meal, Tuncay opts for a beer, usually one of the national blond lagers. However, if friends are in for a dinner, there are usually abundant drinks to be shared, sometimes white and red wine, rakı, and beer to fit everyone’s preference.

Tonight the table is a bit more elaborate than a normal weekday supper, maybe more like a Friday or Saturday dinner. The family tends to take more time preparing the table on those nights, as there is no hard working day ahead. There is also the possibility of friends popping in, so better to have plenty than too little to share.

As a first course there is a range of cold appetizer olive oil dishes called generically zeytinyağlı. This category of dishes in Turkish cuisine needs to be explained. Zeytinyağlı simply translates as “with olive oil” and refers to any vegetable dish cooked with olive oil without any meat, poultry, fish, or dairy. The vegetables are sautéed with onions and braised until the cooking liquid is totally reduced. There is always a touch of sugar added to bring out the flavor of the vegetable and sometimes a handful of rice to absorb the cooking juices. Just to note, in this fashion winter and spring vegetables such as leek, celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, artichokes, peas, and fava beans are seldom cooked with tomatoes. These olive oil dishes are not eaten as a main course but rather as a cold starter, or meze. However, in the hot summer months, they can easily substitute for a light lunch. In the past meze was consumed after the meat course like a refreshing light last course before the dessert, but this habit is now long forgotten. On today’s dinner table, the table is stretched by a few of the most popular olive oil dishes, namely zeytinyağlı fasulye (green beans with olive oil), zeytinyağlı barbunya (borlotti beans with tomato and olive oil), zeytinyağlı enginar (artichoke bottoms with peas, carrots, potatoes, and olive oil); and finally the ubiquitous good old zeytinyağlı yaprak sarma or yalancı dolma (stuffed vine leaves with rice filling). The latter has a sweetish note flavored with Christmas spices, such as cinnamon and allspice, and also includes dried currants and pine nuts. These dishes are also regarded as typical meze dishes; that is, an array of small plates accompanying rakı. Seeing this, Tuncay is tempted to have a glass of rakı to start with, while Uğur goes for red wine made from local grapes, a blend of Öküzgözü and Boğazkere varieties.

Tonight’s main dish is karnıyarık, served together with pilav (buttery rice pilaf) and cacık (cold cucumber-yogurt soup). Karnıyarık can be translated as “split belly”; it is longitudinally slit and twice cooked (fried and braised/baked) eggplant with a sautéed minced meat, tomato, and pepper filling. The combination of karnıyarık-pilav-cacık is almost like a cliché in Turkish cuisine. This trio is a typical lunch or dinner menu, almost always followed by some cool watermelon slices in summer. Normally all eggplant dishes were once confined to summer months only, but with the advance of greenhouse agriculture in the southern province of Antalya, nowadays eggplants, tomatoes, green peppers, and many other typically summer produce is available throughout the year. Pilav is made with short-grain rice with plain water (or sometimes chicken stock) and butter. Cacık can be defined as a minty-garlicky cucumber-yogurt soupy salad served like a side salad. The cucumber is diced finely and mixed with diluted salted yogurt flavored with crushed dried mint and a little minced garlic. A drizzle of cold-pressed olive oil adds a final touch and is the most refreshing thing on Earth on a hot summer day. It is individually served in bowls, eaten with a tablespoon. When cacık is on the table there is no need for a salad, but tonight there is a big bowl of mixed salad as well: some torn romaine lettuce leaves, shredded carrots and red cabbage, and chopped spring onions and parsley garnished with pomegranate seeds and dressed with just salt, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil.

Courses

The procession of courses, from appetizers to salad or soup to main course to dessert, was invented in European restaurants in the 18th and 19th centuries. To some extent the home meal replicates this basic structure, but it is by no means universal. Many cultures intersperse sweet dishes among the savory. In many there is no such thing as a course; everything comes out together, and diners are free to choose whatever they like in whatever order they please. Ostensibly the logic of courses is to move from lighter-tasting dishes to heavier ones so the palate doesn't tire, but this is rarely the way it plays out in an actual meal, as the appetizers might be the most fully flavored dishes.

The dessert is irmik helvası, a simple semolina halvah sprinkled with cinnamon and made by sautéing semolina in butter and steeping in a syrup of milk and sugar. The result is grainy and tasty. There are also slices of watermelon for a refreshing finish and as a lighter alternative to the dessert.

There is no definitive order on who is served first, but generally it is the mother who makes the first service, portioning the food equally but always reserving some for second helpings. For the rest of the service, self-service is the norm; usually if one reaches out for more food from the serving plate, he or she passes it around so everyone can take another spoonful or two. However, when there are guests, serving the guests, urging them to have more and more food, and insisting repetitively is like a national sport for hosts in Turkey.

Toward the end of the dinner, Can shows signs of having had too much food and is restless to go back to his room. He asks permission to leave, mentioning all the homework he has to finish as an excuse. Actually that is accepted as normal, as kids in Turkey go through a very strenuous education system, with the stress of university entrance exams starting already in middle school. On the way to his room, Can takes his dirty dishes to the kitchen; the rest of the table is cleared by the parents and Irma together. If there were guests, they too would offer help, again insistently, as if like revenge for their hosts’ repeated offers of more and more food.

Irma puts the dishes into the dishwasher, and all the leftovers are transferred into smaller containers to be eaten later. It is a fact that wasting food is like a taboo and is considered sinful, so even if there is no religious motivation, people in general are careful not to throw away edible food but instead give it to pets or even to wandering street dogs and cats. Even the stale breadcrumbs are often crumbled to be put on top of walls for birds to pick up.

The kitchen is quite roomy, fully equipped with a double-door big fridge complete with two freezer sections, a four-burner gas stove, an electric turbo convention oven, a microwave, and several kitchen appliances including a food processor or “robot,” a Turkish coffee machine, a friteuse, and a yogurt machine as well as usual items such as a kettle, a toaster, and so forth. In addition to a toaster, there is a sandwich toaster for making grilled cheese sandwiches. Even if there is no ready-made food available (which is never the case) or if one is too lazy to reheat and serve a dish, one can pop up a grilled cheese sandwich in an instant, which is what the children do when studying for exams. Over the weekend they enjoy giving barbecue parties in the garden; and from buying the meat and the booze to the actual grilling, this seems to be a man’s job. Like elsewhere in the world, men never give up the hunter’s role and are keen to grill the meat. In reality, though, most of the prep and all of the cleanup is done by women. These weekend gatherings are quite popular, and getting together for a long breakfast is also very common; friends take the place of families in urban families.

Karnıyarık (Split-Belly Eggplants with Meat Filling)

6-8 Japanese eggplants

1 cup oil for frying

Salt and sugar to sprinkle

For the filling:

2 large onions, finely chopped

3 tablespoons butter or oil

1 pound lean ground meat

4-6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste diluted in ½ cup water

1 handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup water

For the garnish:

1 tomato sliced into 6-8 wedges

3-4 long green chili peppers, sliced longitudinally

1 handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1.Peel the eggplants in lengthwise alternate strips. Cut the stems off.

2.Heat the oil in a pan and shallow-fry whole eggplants until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

3.Slit open eggplants lengthways not quite to the ends so that they remain intact. Sprinkle inside of each eggplant with a pinch of both salt and sugar.

4.To prepare the filling, fry onions in butter or oil until slightly browned; add the minced meat. Sauté the meat until it absorbs its own juices.

5.Add the chopped tomatoes, the diluted tomato paste, salt, and pepper.

6.Cook covered about 10-15 minutes. Add the parsley.

7.Arrange eggplants split side up in a large, shallow pan or oven-proof dish. Stuff the filling into the slits, making each eggplant resemble a boat. Garnish each eggplant with tomato wedges and green chili peppers and sprinkle with parsley. Pour water on the bottom of the pan. Either cook on the stove, covered for 40 minutes, or bake covered loosely with foil in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes. Serve with buttered rice pilav and cacık.