‘Ottoman recipes lost’ says cuisine expert

KAYSERİ - Anatolia News Agency

Modern lifestyles have led to Ottoman cuisine being forgotten, Yenice says. Hürriyet photo

Around 4,000 recipes out of the total 6,000 recipes of the Ottoman cuisine have been lost, Federation of Restaurateurs head Aykut Yenice has said.

Because of modern and fast lifestyles, Ottoman cuisine and Ottoman recipes have not been handed down to new generations, Yenice said, resulting in the loss of thousands of valuable authentic dishes.

“Some dishes are not to be found in any inventory. Mothers used to hand over their recipes to their daughters. But, today, it is difficult to protect old recipes, old dishes. Essential values, cultural nuances are not protected. Today, making the Turkish dish “mantı” requires a certain effort and time. Now, mantı is sold in the markets, ready to cook. A working woman comes home and boils ready-made mantı and the whole family thinks they are eating mantı. Thus, the food culture unique to our city of Kayseri is starting to be forgotten. This is the main reason why fast food is taking the place of the Turkish cuisine,” said Yenice.

Obesity a serious issue for Turkey

Turkey was one of the countries after the United States and European countries where obesity is a serious issue, he said. As a matter of fact, Turkish cuisine was the only option for a healthy and correct nutrition, Yenice said.

“If you chose fast food in place of our own food culture, then you make the next generation obese. A national campaign has been started to prevent obesity. This struggle is mainly composed of maintaining the Turkish cuisine. The state should also protect our food culture. Same types of dishes are listed under different names in restaurants. Actually, the Turkish cuisine should have a recipe. This recipe has been lost.”