Online food guide's list of Turkish dishes stirs debate

ISTANBUL

Taste Atlas, an online guide for traditional foods and known for annually showcasing the world's best kitchens and dishes, has sparked debate with its lists of the best and worst Turkish flavors.

Turkish dishes such as cağ kebab, iskender kebab, doner kebab, mantı, Adana kebab, lentil soup, hünkar beğendi and tombik döner features on the "Top 100 Dishes in the World" list prepared by the platform.

Taste Atlas included cabbage soup, called "lahana çorbası" in Turkish, in its "100 Worst Rated Foods in the World" list, placing it seventh. The article shared the ingredients and recipe of the kale soup, emphasizing that it is a traditional Turkish soup.

The soup dropped to 22nd place as the voting on the platform continued, but it is still on the list. The worst dish on the list is "hákarl," Iceland's national delicacy made from smoked shark meat.

Speaking of the list, Müge Akgün, an expert who prepares a gastronomy guide, said: “I am not sure whether the question of 'to whom' and 'according to what' was asked when making these lists, and whether the cultural and ecological context was considered. Each region and country has its own food culture and palate that develops according to the products they have.”

“I don't think the people who create these lists are well-versed in gastronomic culture. There may be dishes that can be made well and dishes that cannot be made well using the same ingredients,” she added.

“I don't think they know how to make good soup. They've confused which is black cabbage and which is white cabbage. They called it cabbage soup, not kale soup,” said Rafet İnce, a famous Turkish chef.

Somer Sivrioğlu, who received an award for his restaurants in Australia, draws attention to the seriousness of the list.

"As far as I know, Taste Atlas is a general opinion guide initiated by a Croatian entrepreneur and based on voting. So it is not a guide to be taken very seriously. It is not taken seriously by anyone in the world, but in Türkiye, everyone cares a lot,” he said.

“As for kale soup, I'm not a fan of it either, and it's not a dish from Türkiye that would stand out in terms of color and taste. That's why I'm not surprised, but I wouldn't say it's the worst,” Sivrioğlu said.

The Hayvore restaurant in Istanbul, which serves dishes from the Black Sea region, has many local and foreign customers who come especially for the black cabbage soup. Chef Hızır Keskin says, "There is no way it can be the 'worst dish.' I don't think it's a fair choice. We prepare the soup fresh every day and believe me, it's all gone in an hour or two."