AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Cloudy foams, snowflake flowers AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Cloudy foams, snowflake flowers

Imagine a flower that resembles a snowflake and makes a foam as white as snow. The “Çöven” plant is one of the natural treasures of the Anatolian plateaus and mountains which blooms in May with white or pale pink flowers so small that they appear as snowflakes flying lazily in the air. The plant is foraged that has strong saponification properties, which is used in traditional confectionary to make cloud-like sweets from the essence of the root. This is the hidden secret of “tahin helva,” or tahini halva, that sweetened our palate for hundreds of years.

October 31 2021
Grape challenge AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Grape challenge

We are almost at the end of the grape harvest season. The last bunches of grapes are already picked, and the winemakers are busy tasting, sipping, smelling, imagining and dreaming what may come out of the bunches they monitored during the picking period. It is the most challenging period of the year for them. Amid all the flurry of the harvest excitement, another big challenge took place in Istanbul, namely the Turkish Wine Challenge (TWC).

October 24 2021
When grape meets anise: Love AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

When grape meets anise: Love

Rakı is considered to be Turkey’s national spirit, often lovingly nicknamed as “Lion’s Milk” due to its fierce and dangerous potency and its translucent milky color gained when water is added, the way it is typically consumed. For many, it is seen not only as a drink, but also as a vehicle to pause time, a moment to be savored, a ritual. It is a way of life.

October 17 2021
Geography defines fate and taste AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Geography defines fate and taste

Geography is fate. In Turkey we recognize this fact all the time. Turkey bridges between Asia and Europe, neighbors both the Balkans and the Middle East, stretches between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and owns two of the most critical straits, the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. We surely dwell on one of the most critical lands in the world. Our geography calls for hardship, that is a reality, but it also attracts people. That is why Anatolia has always been home to an immensely diverse range of cultures, a passageway for many people, witnessing the good the and the bad, bearing the rich influences of layers and layers of civilizations.

October 10 2021
Magyar magic AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Magyar magic

I had the chance to visit Hungary since my childhood, each visit being a peek at a different era of the country. One thing from the first visit on, I truly had a fondness for its food. It resonated with many things that I am familiar with. Hints from my maternal and paternal grandmothers’ food - the former being German, the other Caucasian - reflections of Turkish flavors and French influences which we also had in our kitchen, all tastes spoke to me in a strange way. Especially in my earlier visits when I was small, I was so fond of everything in bakeries and patisseries, and the majestic cream-laden cakes at Café Gerbeaud. I thought I was in heaven.

October 03 2021
Awards season is open AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Awards season is open

September is always an active month. In the world of gastronomy, award ceremonies are making a comeback after a long pause due to the pandemic.

September 19 2021
Le Stelle Italiane AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Le Stelle Italiane

Italian cuisine is among the stars of the world. Once underrated for years, now Italian cuisine has literally conquered the world, and its throne is not about to shake. It is not only about the pastas, risottos or pizzas, which is loved by the masses anyway, but every single day talented new chefs come up with unexpected creative plates. On the other hand, home cooking lives in its simplest and most beautiful form. Traditional or innovative, Italian cuisine gets its strength from the quality of its produce, no doubt about that.

September 12 2021
Honey and apple AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Honey and apple

“Anyada Buena, Dulse i Alegre!” This is a way to say in Ladino “May you have a good, sweet and happy New Year!”

September 05 2021
Crypto tastes AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Crypto tastes

Can a simple eggplant dish cost thousands of dollars? Last week, I wrote about the fondness of Turkish people for eggplant dishes and how dangerous it was to fry or char-grill the beloved eggplant that caused devastating fires in Istanbul’s history. It is true that almost all summer tables are adorned with endless varieties of eggplants. But one chef’s interpretation seems to have excelled all: The plate of İmam Bayıldı, the ubiquitous vegan dish interpreted by chef Maksut Aşkar of Neolokal which tastes exactly like the original, if not better, but looks quite different. The dish previously stirred arguments, whether it could be called with the original name, and now it seems that it will bring a lot of controversies, as the digital GIF has been recently put in an auction as Non-Fungible Token (NFT) at OpenSea with an opening price of 0.5 Ethereum (ETH), that is, approximately $1,600 or 13,500 Turkish liras.

August 29 2021