Feeding the giant!
Istanbul is like a huge giant forever hungry. This enormous city of more than 15 million registered residents, in reality, hosts more than 20 million people. Istanbul has always been a center of attraction, acting like a magnet attracting people of all walks and cultures, making the city a melting pot of diverse culinary cultures. It is not easy to feed such a mega city, and history proves that the city has always been a hub of trade, getting the best of all the products available even from agar lands. This has been so since the Roman times, and later in the Byzantine times, when spices such as black pepper and cinnamon made its first west forward move from south Asia. The transition from Byzantine to Ottoman times was not a total disruption, on the contrary, there has been a continuity, especially in culinary practices, we can still taste the culinary legacy of those earlier times.
The Ottoman era was the time when today’s Istanbul cuisine was shaped, with the Ottoman court and palace kitchens in Topkapı Palace excelling in gastronomy. One may think that all the special food cooked in palace kitchens was confined to the higher circle of royals, but that was not really the case. Topkapı Palace was like the White House, Pentagon and Parliament combined, it was also the center of governing power, thousands were fed every single day from the court palace, even sending food in trays to families of palace officials. The best of the best ingredients were coming to the court kitchen from all corners of the vast empire that stretched from Hungary and the Balkans to the Middle East and North Africa. Any surplus goods were at once in Istanbul markets, with Istanbulites getting and knowing the best produce from around the empire. As the best products of the empire found their way to the big giant making the city the culinary capital of the empire, the perfection in Istanbul cuisine was likewise reflected in the faraway corners of the Ottoman lands through imaret orders, sort of soup kitchens serving full menus to not only the poor but to travelers or anyone, and the food served in Istanbul and elsewhere was kept as same as a way to assess the imperial power.
As Istanbul was a hub of food trade, the city was also a producer itself. The city was full of green patches, vegetable gardens and fruit orchards where perishable food such as salad greens, herbs, fresh vegetables and fruits were grown and offered in nearby neighborhood markets or sold by wandering street vendors. Plus, the immediate periphery of Istanbul was a great provider feeding the giant. In a way, this continues to be the fact, despite the giant consuming the nearby districts with evading urbanization. Now, the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul is shifting its focus to those peripheral districts both as close-by sources of food, and also as potential venues for gastronomy-focused tourism. Recently a series of gastronomy events has started under the title of “Gastronomy Diaries” aimed to contribute to the sustainability of local culture and gastronomy values. The first of the series was organized by IBB Tourism under the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Department of Culture (IBB Culture) in Şile between Nov. 22-24. The event included panels, interviews, workshops, competitions and concerts for three days introducing Şile cuisine and local flavors collaborating with Şile Municipality and Şile Earth Market organized by Şile, Palamut Slow Food Convivium. Among the active panelists was Özgür Kabadayı, the Mayor of Şile Municipality who passionately talked about his childhood tastes and the contribution of Hüseyin Gazi Coşan, the tourism Director of IBB was of utmost importance in the path to make Istanbul and its peripheral districts as destinations of gastronomy tourism. I happened to be the moderator of one of his panels, where connecting the districts with the hungry city was discussed with Fatma Cam Denizci, one of the founders of Şile Earth Market and Palamut Slow Food Convivium and saw the commitment of Coşan to bring out the gastronomic values of districts to widen the scope of gastronomy tourism in Istanbul. There were also Michelin-starred chefs, namely Pınar Taşdemir of Araka, and Emre Şen of Casa Lavanda, the latter from Şile district, a new entry to the guide, also holding a Green Star. Last but not least, one of the most crucially important contributions was from Cenk Akın, general manager of Beltur, who has miraculously transformed once-sleazy municipality eating spots into desirable food destinations of its own, and his commitment to offer local producers’ products to Istanbulites in Beltur spots was hope-inspiring. The panelists’ experiences and speeches reminded us once again of the role of gastronomy in preserving cultural heritage. Bringing local products from peripheral districts like Şile to the global gastronomy scene is of great importance for both economic development and cultural continuity. These talks are meant to be continued year-round emphasizing seasonal products in all districts of Istanbul, hopefully, the “Gastronomy Diaries” series will offer a new perspective on Istanbul's multi-layered culinary identity and the unique culinary richness of Istanbul’s districts and villages will reshape the gastronomic map of Istanbul.
A gastronomic breakfast meeting
As the huge giant is ever hungry, no effort seems to satiate its needs. Aware of this fact, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, called for a breakfast meeting with a selected number of representatives of the gastronomy sector, including chefs, writers, researchers and academics, encompassing a wide range of the culinary scene in the city. The interest of the mayor in the food issues and his concern for feeding the giant city is no secret. The rather recent “Kent Lokantası” aka “City Restaurant” concept has been a phenomenal success, which are a series of municipal restaurants, offering safe, healthy, budget-friendly food at minimal prices, feeding people from all walks of life, especially to rescue of students and the elderly. Likewise, as mentioned, the Beltur spots dotting the city offer affordable options to the citizens in serene pleasant settings. Again, the breakfast meeting talks were focused on how to feed the giant city, and of course the problems of the service sector and training issues. The discussion topics will be shared by the participants, but one thing I noticed was, is how İmamoğlu was listening to every participant intently, taking notes himself in his neatly kept notebook, and addressing each participant with plausible replies. The gift from the mayor to the breakfast meeting attendees was right on the spot: Feeding both the belly and the soul; a cornucopia of bread made with heirloom wheat varieties from IHE, Istanbul Halk Ekmek, the municipal bread network, and a colossal book on bread, from IBB Culture Publications!