Turkish Culinary Culture in Literature
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Turkish Culinary Culture in Literature
Gönül kahvaltıyı irtikap eder
Üzerinde şeker kaymak bulunmaz
Elli gündür perhiz altmışa gider
Allâh'a şükür dedik doymak bulunmaz 

(Âşık Fahrî)
The heart desires breakfast
It has no sugar or sweet cream
Its fast has surpassed fifty days now and is nearing sixty
We thanked God that the stomach is empty 

(Poet Fahrî)

 

Âşık Ali Çatak complains about the food he ate in the army. With these feelings, he tells the reason for his expectancy.

Çatak'ın sözüne kimse gülmesin Let no one laugh at Çatak’s words

İçimde sitemi deşmek isterim
(Âşık Ali Çatak)

I want to spill out the reproach within me.


The Konya poet Muzafer Hamit approaches the subject from the standpoint of economic sufficiency:

İstanbul'un nimeti Konya'dan çoktur Istanbul is more blessed than Konya

Şişkinse cüzdanın sana yok yoktur
(Muzaffer Hamit) 

If you wallet is bloated, you can have anything.

Some poets also deal in their poetry with the foods prepared for winter. Erzurum poet İhsan Coşkun Atılcan’s work “Kilernâme” (Pantry Treatise) ıs one of the most important narrative poems on subject. In this narrative poem, he gives valuable information not only on the foods prepared for winter but on their storage, preservation and drying processes. The foods that must last through the long Erzurum winters are stored in a special cellar/pantry. Hand cut noodles in wooden chests, hundreds of kilos of flour in wooden bins, spring onions are tied and hung on strings, çiçil cheese is pressed in skins, butter is melted and stored in kettles, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, potatoes and turnips are hung in the well so that they will stay cool and not shrivel, kavurma and ground meat (salted and cooked in their fat to remove all water) are packed into tins, various types of pickles are made, beans are put into bags and hung on nails, cabbages are hung from the ceiling by their roots. 

The most important point of note is that each different type of food has its own special way of storage to keep it fresh and prevent it from spoiling.The need for healthy nutrition also appears in poems, as well as the ill effects of gluttony. The points that should be noted are given as short admonitions:

Kâmiller karnın fazla doyurmaz
(Feymanî) 

Those who have “arrived,” 
do not overfill their stomachs.


Tansiyonu düşen tuzlu ayran içer
Çünkü hayat yolu mideden geçer
(Feymanî)  

Çayı günde birkaç bardak içmeli
Fazlası hatadır tez vaz geçmeli
Her hususta kanaati seçmeli
İsrafta sinirler geçer isyana
(Habil Sefilî) 


He whose blood pressure falls drinks salty ayran
Because the road to life passes through the stomach.


One should drink a few glasses of tea a day
Too much is a mistake that should be quickly given up
In all things, one should choose satisfaction
In excess, the nerves begin to rebel

The poets especially talk about what foods people want for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast, the most desired foods are soup and börek, though some prefer sweets. The epics mention over forty different kinds of soup: Ayran çorbası,  arap çorbası,  boşbaş aşı (bozbaşı/ boz aşı),  bulama/bulamaç,  çağla aşı (green almond),  döğme/dövme aşı (hulled wheat), düğü/düğürcük aşı (bulgur flour),  düğün çorbası (a yogurt soup with rice and chickpeas), ekmek aşı (bread soup),  erişte çorbası (homemade noodle),  ezogelin çorbası (red lentil and fine bulgur),  hamit aşı,  helise (herise),  helim aş (a soup with chicken and hulled wheat), herle,   hörre aşı,  işkembe çorbası (tripe),  katıklı çorba,  kelle paça (head and feet),  kenger aşı (cardoon or wild thistle),  kesme çorbası (a type of noodle),  kulak çorbası (“ear” soup), kurut aşı (dried yogurt soup),  makarna çorbası (noodles),  maş çorbası (mung bean),  paça çorba (feet),  papara (pap),  patates çorbası (potato soup),  peskütan çorbası,   pirpirim /pürpürüm aşı (purslane),  pitpit / pitpiti  aşı,  sütlü çorba (milk soup),   tarhana çorbası(yogurt and wheat/flour),  tavuk çorbası (chicken soup),  tırşık çorbası (pickles),  toyga çorbasıtutmaç aşı (see “soups” section),  un çorbası (flour soup),  yarma aşı (cracked wheat soup),  yayla çorbası (yogurt, rice and mint soup),  yüzük çorbası.

Though some of these seem to resemble each other, they differ from region to region in both their ingredients and their methods of preparation. All of these illustrate the popularity of soup. The favorite among them all is trotters served in a slightly thick soup with vinegar and garlic. Trip soup is mentioned less often than trotter soup, and is even sometimes mentioned in a negative way. Of the grain-based soups, the most preferred are tarhana and hulled wheat soups, but some mentioned that they do not like tarhana. The fact that the great majority of folk poets are villagers is considered the greatest factor in their preferences.

Evvela yürüttük baştan çorbayı    
Sarımsakla terbiye olmuş paçayı 
(Konyalı Şerife Soykan,)

Sabahleyin çorba mideyi bozmaz
(Feymanî)

Sabah kahvaltısı bir tepsi börek 
(Âşık Figanî) 

Kadayıf kahvaltı kaz da öğlene          
(Ruhsatî)

We started out with soup,
Trotters cooked with garlic


Soup in the morning does not upset the stomach.


For breakfast, a pan of börek


Kadayıf for breakfast, goose for lunch


The habit of eating börek for breakfast continues today in our cities, where it is served in pastry shops, as well as the habit of eating soup and sweets.

We also find instructions for making certain foods in the epics. The female poet Şerife Soykan of Konya was very good at working food preparation into her poetry. Mızarlı Mehmet and Âşık Ali Çatak also include such instructions in their poetry. As they give recipes, they describe the tastes of the Turkish people and their weakness for sweetening:

Katmeri ince aç yağın sakınma
Sakın ona haşhaş yağı kullanma
(Konyalı Şerife Soykan)                       

Roll out your katmer thin, 
and don’t skimp on the oil
But be sure not to use poppyseed oil.  
İnce etten olur hem de çullama           
(Konyalı Şerife Soykan)
 Çullanma can be made from thin meat as well.
Domatesle pişirmeli bamyayı                 
(Konyalı Şerife Soykan) 
 Okra should be cooked with tomatoes .
Bismillahla kenarından tutarsan       
Baharatın yeterince atarsan
İçine cevizle fıstık katarsan
O içli köftemiz ne de hoş olur               
(Âşık Mehmet Yılmaz)
If you say “bismillah,” and take it from the edge
If you add enough spice
If you add walnuts and pistachios
How lovely your filled köfte will be
Nohutları önce suya yayarlar         
Zencefille sarı kökü  döverler
Koyun etiyle sofraya koyarlar
Yiyende bozbaşın kısmeti güzel              
(Âşık Erzade Kapan)
First they put chickpeas into water
They pound ginger and turmeric
And put it on the table with mutton
And whoever eats the bozbaş will
be fortunate.
Haşıl yarıma ile pişer durulur          
Kenara kurut ortaya yağ vurulur            
(Âşık Şeref Taşlıova) 
Haşıl is made from cracked wheat;
Add kurut at the edge and butter in the middle.
Ramazan bayramı gelsin de hele      
Pirinci ince döv güzel yuvala
Taraklıktan eti geçerse ele
Sen bizim Antep’in köşesine bak            
(Âşık Mehmet Yılmaz)
Let the Feast of Ramazan come!
Beat the rice finely, make nice meatballs.
If you manage to get rib meat
Then take a look at our corner of Antep
Hingeli et ile haşlarlar suda                  
Ne hoş olur amma yağlı hasude 
(Âşik Ali Rahmanî)
They boil the hingel in water
How the buttered hasude is.
Göğnün neşe alıyor bunları söylemekten
Ah bir çorba olaydı soğanlı mercimekten 
(Aşık Reyhanî)
 Saying this, he is filled with joy
Ah, for a bowl of lentil soup, with onions.
Şu beş baharattır bizce muteber            
Çemen, tarçın, kimyon, sarımsak, biber
Lokman’ın  ruhundan getirir  haber
Eti, tuzu cemi tümü pastırma
Bunlar macun olur kıvama girer
Usta bunu etin yüzüne sürer
Satışa arz olur kıymete erer
Dilde destan olur gezer pastırma 
(Âşık Ali Çatak)
We esteem these five spices:
Fenugreek, cinnamon, cumin, garlic and pepper
They bring news from the soul of Lokman
Meat, salt and all of these – pastırma!
They turn them into a paste
And the master spreads them over the meat
Put out for sale, it becomes precious
And the stuff of legends – pastırma!
Etli hangel sarımsağı bol olsun                
Üstüne de koyun yoğurdu gelsin 
(Âşık Şeref Taşlıova)
Let there be plenty of garlic in the meat hangel
And let it be topped with sheep’s milk yogurt

Soğanlı biberli reyhanlı dolma                 
(Bayburtlu Celalî)

Dolma with onion, pepper and red basil
İhsan Coşkun bu bolluk 
destanlara sığar mı,
Al fileyi gir kuyruğa 
bak bakalım yağ var mı

(İhsan Coşkun Atılcan)
İhsan Coşkun, is any epic sufficient to contain all this bounty?
Pick up the shopping bag, get into line and see if there is any oil 

(İhsan Coşkun Atılcan)

 

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