For the majority of usfood generally represents sustenance and sometimes gastronomic pleasure, however, some among us see and appreciate food as a reservoir of information which holds up a mirror at the past as narrator of history.
For a region rich in history like Anatolia, this particular route can offer vital information about what this ancient the earth has witnessed over centuries. This idea was accepted up in turkish academia, with scholars dive deep in to taste of the past.
“Tracing the evolution of certain foods and dishes, we can better understand the political, diplomatic and social stories of different regions,” said Ceren Bozkurt, chef, food researcher and graduate student at Hacettepe University in The capital of Turkey, Ankara.
“For example, weight and ingredients of baked bread can say us on economic conditions at different times of the Ottoman era,” she said.
As the economic conditions of the empire deteriorated, so did the quantity, quality, and variety. of the bread being consumed, she explained.
The Ottomans successfully compound foods from Central Asia, Anatolia, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Byzantines to be developed one of the most delicious and diverse cuisines in the world added.
“It didn’t take long for them to integrate and master new ingredients such as tomatoes, potatoes and corn, which come from in the Americas,” Bozkurt said.
“This also shows just how well connected the Ottomans had to global trade and trade routes. »
another look of The cuisine the Ottomans attached immense importance to was presentation, she continued.
“How dishes were presented at royal receptions, especially for foreign envoys, was a way for the Ottomans to convey a perception of themselves at the world”, Bozkurt said.
“There was also more ongoing subliminal messages on through these meals; the more variety on display was a marker of the prosperity and superiority of the empire of the sultan.
The type, quality and quantity of food laid out for foreign envoys were directly related to their countries’relationships with the Ottoman Empire, it added.
As an example, Bozkurt cited a memoir of Cornelis de Schepper, Dutch diplomat who came to Istanbul in 1533 in frame of the peace of Emperor Ferdinand I of the Habsburgs mission to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
“The mission was given a lot of importance and it eventually led to a peace treaty between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans. Schepper himself was also tenuous in high esteem by the Ottomans,” she said.
“He mentioned a great variety of dishes at its reception, including pilaf with lemon, pomegranate and cold, marinated quail meat, desserts such as rose marmalade and sorbet for drinks.
Likewise, Sir Edward Barton, an envoy of Queen Elizabeth I, with whom the Ottomans had cordial relations, reported over 100 types of dishes, mostly stews and grills, at a palace reception he attended during the reign of Sultan Mehmed III, Bozkurt added.
“It’s all about show than looking closer history of the food eaten in Anatolia over ages, which have largely not received the attention they deserve, can certainly help us get a much clearer and in-idea of depth of ottoman and turkish history“, she concluded.
