CUISINES OF THE WORLD
THE ROYAL TOUCH By Janice Tober
Ottoman cuisine makes a comeback in Istanbul to please modern diners
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hen you land at Istanbul airport, you’re surrounded by the modern face of the city: glass, steel and shops laden with brand-name wares. But as you make your way into the city, there’s a good chance you’ll pass ancient stone fortifications, intact Ottoman-era palaces and mosques. You might see the Bosphorus Strait, the body of water that was part of the famed Silk Road. It’s easy to imagine the grand empire that existed here for close to a millennium.
“French cuisine became a dominating influence in the 19th century, leading to local cuisines being deemed unfashionable and unsophisticated,” says Priscilla Mary Işın, a Turkish food historian and author of Bountiful Empire: A History of Ottoman Cuisine. “The same happened in Istanbul. In the 1970s, upmarket restaurants never served Turkish dishes. You couldn’t even get Turkish coffee in a grand hotel. Now traditional food is enjoying a comeback.”
A big part of Istanbul’s history is rooted in its Ottoman heritage, a multicultural, multifaith empire that existed from 1299 to 1922. Many of the city’s top tourist attractions, like Topkapı Palace, showcase what it was like to live large as a sultan. Lately, there’s a growing hunger locally to delve into the Ottoman culture through recipes abandoned decades ago.
Chefs leading the way in following this food trail aren’t foraging for food, but for recipes. While traditional Ottoman dishes are still made by home cooks, many of the more complex recipes prepared at palaces were lost.
© KEMPINSKI HOTELS
Executive chef Sezai Erdoğan of the Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, inspired by the hotel’s former life as an Ottoman
2 4 | B O N V I VA N T 2 0 2 1 ZERDE FLAVOURED WITH SAFFRON
