AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Agriculture and livestock hit by earthquake AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Agriculture and livestock hit by earthquake

The earthquake has been devastating in 10 city centers, now certain districts of Sivas and Elazığ are also added to the list of regions heavily affected by the disaster. The area affected by the disaster is huge, all the news is naturally focused on the city centers razed to the ground, but the lesser-talked-about face of the whole picture is in the countryside, all the rural areas in between the city centers, in small villages. Aid was relatively slow to reach those areas, partly because of the adverse weather conditions and the transportation difficulties, there are several small settlements that were completely ruined without a single sound building remaining. Same for animal shelters. A considerable number of cattle were lost, for those that survived, care was not easy to deliver. While people were trying to remove the bodies of relatives and neighbors and heal their wounds, on the other hand, they were also trying to rescue and feed their animals in the rubble.

February 19 2023
Kitchen solidarity AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Kitchen solidarity

There was no national mobilization declared after the earthquake, but chefs in Türkiye managed to get mobilized to provide at least a bite of food to the earthquake victims. Moreover, this mobilization happened through word of mouth, or more accurately, through communication that spread from screen to screen, through social media. Volunteer chefs got organized via communication channels such as Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp groups and so on.

February 12 2023
MENA: A culinary geography to watch AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

MENA: A culinary geography to watch

“MENA 50 Best,” the 50 Best Restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa awards were presented on Jan. 30 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. The 50 best places to eat from countries in the region were shared among 14 cities, with Orfali Bros Bistro in Dubai taking the number 1 restaurant award.

February 05 2023
Danes did it again AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Danes did it again!

Some call it the Olympics, some call it the World Cup of culinary arts. Bocuse d’Or, or the Concours Mondial de la Cuisine, (World Cooking Contest), is undoubtedly the most prestigious chefs’ competition in the world. Named after the legendary French chef Paul Bocuse, the world chefs’ championship Bocuse d’Or is organized every two years within the framework of the SIRHA fair in Lyon, France. Since the first competition was held in 1987, teams get ready for the big two-day final, passing through tough eliminations in their own countries, 70 countries in total, and then in continental competitions held in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pasific and Europe, and the final 24 qualified teams compete in the world championship. All the toil and tears are for the final five hours and 35 minutes, where the teams in their kitchen cubicles perform their culinary skills to prepare two elaborate presentations.

January 29 2023
Luck comes hopping AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Luck comes hopping

We entered the year 4721 on the Chinese calendar. Today is the second day of the year of the Water Rabbit. Like the ancient 12-animal Turkish calendar, the Chinese calendar is represented by 12 animals. The 12 animals symbolize both months and years respectively. This year is the year of the rabbit, the year of luck!

January 22 2023
‘Guide Jaune’ is coming AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

‘Guide Jaune’ is coming!

Gault & Millau, known by many as Guide Jaune (Yellow Guide), is coming to Türkiye in cooperation with Sözen Organization by Gökmen Sözen. Being one of the two most prestigious gastronomy guides in the world, together with the famed Michelin Guide, its arrival will contribute to gastronomy tourism in the country and promote Turkish cuisine to be better known in the culinary circles in the world. The guide’s CEO Patrick Hayoun was in Istanbul for the launch event. Sözen says they’ve been preparing to have Gault Millau in the country for many years, actually, they started working five years prior to Michelin which made its debut in 2022. Sözen and Hayoun announced that they will start fieldwork in 2023, scouring the country not only in Istanbul like the Michelin did but also including the whole Marmara region, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, stretching all the way to the South East. The results will be published in 2024.

January 15 2023
Rasim Özkanca: Passionate ambassador of Turkish cuisine AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Rasim Özkanca: Passionate ambassador of Turkish cuisine

Turkish cuisine has lost a dedicated veteran soldier. Rasim Özkanca was dedicated to serving classic Turkish dishes in the best and most authentic way at Borsa Lokantası for years. He never compromised on the quality and always tried to achieve the best with his tireless efforts to perfect a plate in the kitchen. Rasim Özkanca believed in Turkish cuisine and did his best to bring it to a respectable position among the world cuisines. To be honest, those were the years when most so-called Turkish gastronomy authorities thought Turkish cuisine could not have its place in fine dining as most classics needed long hours of cooking, except for the grills, no plate could be prepared upon order. What a shame! Thanks to winds of change, in today’s diverse gastronomy world, there is a place for any kind of cuisine, as long as it is prepared with passion and quality.

January 08 2023
Fit as fiddle or healthy as radish AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Fit as fiddle or healthy as radish?

Let’s step in the new year as “healthy as a radish” or in its Turkish form “turp gibi sağlıklı,” or just “turp gibi,” which is the Turkish version of the expression “as fit as a fiddle,” or “as fresh a daisy.” Nobody seems to know the origins of this saying but it is for sure that “turp” or any form of radishes, are considered to be food for your health, maybe because of their pungent taste.

January 01 2023
Fried fritters and eternal light AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Fried fritters and eternal light

Today is the last day of the festival lights, to light the last candle of Hanukkah. In origin, the light was not that of a candle, but an oil lamp, which is named “kandil” in the Turkish language, naturally having connections with the word candle, through Arabic and Latin connections. The miracle of oil is the whole idea behind lighting the candles one by one each day, for eight days and nights, to pay homage to the miracle of oil that lasted to illuminate the Temple for eight days. That is why the candelabrum for the menorah for this period is nine-branched, one branch reserved as the source of light to ignite the others.

December 26 2022