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UNIVERSUM Taste
March 2014 | I M P E R I A L № 03
Ottoman Breakfast An insight into Istanbul’s main gastronomic attraction.
Text
Lisa Birger
Translation
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nthony Bourdain, the famous host of “No Reservations” travel and food show, begins his Istanbul journey with a breakfast at Kale café — one of the coffeehouses that lean against the walls of the Rumelihisarı fortress right at the side of the Bosphorus , in Bebek neighborhood, which every weekend is flooded with crowds of holidaymakers. There is always a small queue before you get to sit at one of the plain wooden tables. Restless waiters toss plates with grilled halloumi, pans with fried eggs and thick slices of spicy sujuk, and freshly baked large pancakes accompanied by kaymak dipped in honey on the tables. Around
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Shamil Garaev
them — a sea of tiny dishes with tomatoes, olives, cheese, jam and, of course, freshly brewed Turkish tea, best described with diminutives from the vocabulary of Soviet waiters. “So much grease — don’t you feel guilty for the rest of the day?” Bourdain asks his companion, slender and elegant Ezra. “Guilty?” she responds bemused. “You should feel proud!” In this response is the essence of Turkey — it is always proud of something: its music, its Bosphorus, its Ataturk, its traditions. But nowhere else does this national pride become more apparent than in its cuisine. Oh, those largest pears in the world and those enormous cabbage
heads! Every Turkish city will find its own reason to feel unique. Bolu has the best cooks, Marash the best ice cream. The best baklava can be found in Antep, cutlets in Іnegöl. Spicy kebabs in Adana, çig köfte — a raw meat dish with spices — in Urfa, piquant sujuk sausages in Kayseri. A breakfast table is where these delicacies come together. Tulum cheese from Erzincan and spicy otlu with the greens of young garlic from Van. Sausages from Kayseri and juicy firm tomatoes from Çanakkale. From the Aegean Coast to the Iranian border breakfasts look pretty much the same — except perhaps there is more cheese in the East, a little bit more pastry in the West, and on the Black Sea Coast they can stuff the European anchovy even in your morning muffin. The greatest injustice is that Turkish breakfast could have become one of the country’s main tourist attractions — and yet it didn’t. An ordinary tourist is not even aware of its existence. In Istanbul’s Sultanahmet neighborhood, where most travelers still prefer to stay — even better if they get a view of Hagia Sophia — there are very few breakfast salons, while cafes, even if they open before 12, offer a soulless “plate” no different from the ones served in hotels. However, while visitors to Turkey have no idea about the hidden potential of the breakfast, the locals and expats who have been staying around long enough are fully aware of it. Van Kahvaltı Evi — one of the most popular breakfast salons in the city is situated in Cihangir, a choice destination among Europeans. Rarely is there a vacant table inside the narrow hall — so you have to wait first. Finding a spare place on the table covered with all kinds of dishes might also be a challenge. Breakfast ends in a customary cup of Turkish coffee (in Turkish
“breakfast” — kahvaltı — means kahve altı, “something that comes before coffee”). Side streets around are full of impersonators. If you do not wish to stand in a queue, you could visit one of them. It’s pretty much the same — plates, fresh bread, endless tea and a cup of coffee for dessert. The quality of the Turkish breakfast is not related to the amount of the dishes on the table, however. In fact, there shouldn’t necessarily be that many. There are some compact options too. For instance, in Besiktas you may find the modest, but legendary pavilion of Kaymakçı Pando, which has been serving fresh kaymak dipped in honey — thick cream — since 1895. The distinguishing feature of the Istanbul breakfast is different in nature. A breakfast in Istanbul isn’t just a variety of cheeses on a dish, from crumbling tel to piquant tulum. This is the day’s main event, its social climax, the social event which brings friends and families together (meetings for breakfast are more popular here than family dinners). In accordance with local conceptions of time and space — both of which have no limits in Istanbul — Turkish breakfast goes on forever. This is not something you can swallow quickly on your way to work. In fact, breakfast often becomes a prize for a person — even getting to it can be a job. There can only be one piece of advice: get your things and go to Bebek. Don’t save on the taxi, pick a place near the wall of Rumeli fortress, admire the view of the Bosphorus flowing by — which incidentally, looks particularly shimmering blue in the middle — fishermen scattered on the embankment, feel the crowd around and switch off life for an hour or two. There will be a lot of food, a lot of conversation and many topics as well. You will regret nothing.
T u r k i s h B r e ak fa s t Vo cabu l a ry Simit Turkish doughnut, sprinkled with sesame seeds. There are three things you should know about it: the farther away from sightseeing places, the thicker and tastier it gets; thanks to the healthy lecithin inside, two simits a day can make you an Einstein; and for months now the Turkish parliament has been discussing, what a nation-wide tragedy it would be, should the doughnut’s symbolic one lira price go up. Sujuk Piquant sausage with garlic and spicy pepper. The best and probably only way to use it is to fry it with eggs. Kaymak Extremely thick — like butter — cream, one of Turkey’s main delicacies. There are two principal ways of enjoying kaymak: dip it in honey and have it for breakfast or place it on top of baked ayva and take it as dessert. Pekmez Berry or fruit syrup — usually, made from grapes, but other variants are possible. Ingredients are boiled down in the sunlight, preferably without sugar. Pekmez can be poured over morning yoghurt to obtain a minimal version of an ideal breakfast. Menemen A variant of omelette extremely loved by the Turks. Stewed tomatoes, onion and pepper coated with eggs. Gözleme Baked pancakes made of delicate dough with a simple filling — often cheese, seldom meat or potato. The farthest away from the tourist center of Istanbul, the likelier they are to be on the menu, even of the simplest coffee shop. Cheeses Halloumi Firm, dense rubber-like cheese from Cyprus, a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. Halloumi is particularly good when fried and in this form bares a strong resemblance to fried suluguni. It is usually served directly in a pan. Otlu Piquant cheese with greens produced only in the Van region, famous for its rich breakfast traditions. Tel String cheese that resembles Caucasian chechil, only with noticeably more delicate taste.
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