Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [132]
To paraphrase Algar, when the railroad between Istanbul and Vienna was completed in 1888, a European resident of Constantinople interpreted the event as marking “the conquest of the city by foreign thought and enterprise” and its “annexation to the Western world.” His estimate may have been exaggerated, but as Algar notes, the Westernization of Turkish culture had already begun by the late nineteenth century. A symptom of this was the decline of Istanbul’s traditional neighborhoods and the rise of Pera, now Beyoğlu. Historically Pera was home to the city’s Christian minorities and the European diplomatic community, and by this time the area had also become attractive to foreign travelers and the Ottoman elite, who frequented the European-style cafés and restaurants. Algar explains, “The emergence of the Turkish restaurant must, in fact, be dated to this period. In traditional Turkish society, the idea of eating a complete meal outside the home as a matter of pure recreation, unconnected with the exigencies of travel or the exchange of hospitality, was unknown.” (As an aside, I found this to be true in Morocco as well, where historically foreigners eating in restaurants were pitied since everyone knew the best cooking was to be found in the home; this is changing, however, as more restaurants have opened in Morocco and many are quite excellent.)
It is changing in Turkey as well, Algar notes, and it’s increasingly common now in urban areas for families to eat in restaurants. But she notes that the food served in restaurants is also changing, with most offering a mixture of Turkish and Western dishes. She bemoans the “disturbing development” of the proliferation of fast-food places offering pizza and hamburgers, “a sure sign that Turkey is entering the orbit of the multinational corporations.” In their own homes, however, Turks follow more conservative culinary habits, and Algar says that preferred dishes, both for everyday meals and special occasions, tend to be traditional. The importance of family is still regularly expressed at the dinner table: “It is unthinkable that as a matter of course teenage children should eat at a separate time of their own choosing, and equally unlikely that a mother should make her often tiring work outside the home a reason for failing to prepare a meal. (It should be noted, however, that grocery shopping is often a male duty, in accordance with tradition.) Furthermore, it is not a disaster, to be masked with uneasy pleasantries, if an unexpected guest chances by at dinnertime. Room is made at the table, and the opportunity to feed a guest is indeed greeted as a chance to earn merit.” In the twenty-first century, this familial cohesiveness seems almost urgently needed, everywhere in the world. Algar shares the thoughts of writer Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, in observing the changes that affected Turkish life by the late twentieth century: “Side by side with those many things which are lost when one passes from one civilization to another, there are others which themselves ruling over time are the true and lasting monarchies of this world.” She concludes that it’s “not an exaggeration to regard the rich traditions of Turkish cuisine, with their profound historical and cultural roots, as one of those precious and imperishable monarchies.”
“Turkish Food in the Cycle of Time,” an essay from Algar’s book, is a wonderful celebration of Turkish food through the seasons.
AYLA ALGAR is also the author of The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking (Kegan Paul, London, 1995) and has written for Fine Cooking and the San Francisco Chronicle.
UPON REFLECTION, the calendar turns out to be far more