Bountiful Empire: A History of Ottoman Cuisine

273 Pages·2018·22.3 MB·English

by  Priscilla Mary Işın

bountiful empire

BO U N T I F U L E M P I R E
A History of
Ottoman Cuisine
Priscilla Mary iŞin
REAKTION BOOKS
Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
Unit 32, Waterside
44–48 Wharf Road
London n1 7ux, uk
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
First published 2018
Copyright © Priscilla Mary Işın 2018
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publishers
Printed and bound in China by
1010 Printing International Ltd
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 78023 904 0
CONTENTS
Introduction 7
1 Culinary Roots: From Central Asia to Anatolia 11
2 Historical Development, 1299–1922 23
3 Meals 39
4 Etiquette 52
5 Hospitality and Charity 63
6 Palace Cuisine 73
7 Cooks and Kitchens 93
8 Celebrations 101
9 Food Laws and Trade 113
10 Restaurants and Street Food 124
11 Picnics and Travel Food 136
12 Military Fare 147
13 Kitchen Utensils and Tableware 160
14 Water and Sherbet 169
15 Coffee and Coffee Houses 179
16 Alcoholic Drinks and Taverns 193
GloSSArY 205
referenceS 207
Select biblioGrAphY 256
AcknowledGementS 265
photo AcknowledGementS 267
index 269
A prince eating a
meal in a garden, 1603–7.
Introduction
O vER ThE SIx centuries of the Ottoman has gained recognition as a valid field of academic
Empire’s existence, from its establishment study, with the result that many Ottoman historians
in Anatolia in 1299 until the dissolution of today examine food culture, production, trade and
the sultanate in 1922, food culture bound people of consumption. Long before these developments, how-
different classes and backgrounds together, defining ever, the Turkish medical historian and physician
identity and serving symbolic functions in the social, Süheyl Ünver (1898–1986) became the first scholar to
religious, political and military spheres. Food provision take the study of Ottoman culinary culture seriously.
and regulation was seen as one of the sultan’s obliga- In several articles and two small books on the subject
tions in his paternal role and was one of the keys to published in 1948 and 1952, he drew attention to various
the success of the empire as it expanded. primary sources, such as palace kitchen accounts and
Ottoman cuisine evolved from a synthesis of the an eighteenth-century cookery manuscript. His pion-
Turkish cuisine of Central Asia with foodways inher- eering work was carried forward by others, and since
ited from the Safavids, Abbasids and Byzantines. From then Ottoman cuisine has been ‘rediscovered’, as part
the fifteenth century onwards it developed a distinct and parcel of renewed interest in and re-evaluation of
identity characterized by a spirit of innovation and the Ottoman past.
self-confidence that left a lasting mark on the cuisines When the Republic of Turkey was established in
of a vast area ranging from Egypt to the Balkans. This 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the
cuisine was a source of pride for the Ottomans, who, new state turned its back on the past to pursue goals
in the words of the Turkologist Robert Dankoff, saw of modernization and alignment with the West. The
it as reflecting the greatness of their empire.1 Ottoman period was cast as a time of backwardness
The Ottoman Empire used to be largely disregarded and conservatism, and traditional culture was often
by European historians, who saw it as an insular and blackened with the same brush. Vocational cookery
largely irrelevant ‘other’ world. Since the 1980s this schools gave precedence to French cuisine, which was
view has radically changed, bringing recognition of its seen as superior and properly suited to a modern way
extensive political, economic and cultural interaction of life. As a result, hardly a Turkish dish was to be
with Europe. Coinciding with this shift, food history found on the menus of hotels and upmarket
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bountiful empire
restaurants or patisseries, whose cooks had been scattered in diverse sources help to make up for this
trained almost exclusively in French cookery tech- lack. Other valuable primary sources are descriptions
niques. A striking illustration of the official attitude of meals and food customs in reports and memoirs
in the early republican era is a book on confectionery by foreign diplomats and travellers – keeping in mind
entitled The Turkish Woman’s Book of Confectionery, that these can be coloured by prejudice or misunder-
published by the State Sugar Factories in 1939, which standing and should not be taken at face value, but
is filled with French recipes for creams, gateaux, tarte- need careful evaluation. European interest in the Otto-
lettes, millefeuilles, savarins and petits fours. By 1966, man Empire, particularly from the sixteenth century
however, the tide was turning, and in the new edition onwards, led to a thirst for such accounts, which often
of this book all but fifteen of the French recipes were include details not found in local sources but whose
replaced by Turkish ones, reflecting the fact that despite unfamiliarity caught the attention of foreigners.
three decades of efforts to promote French food, Books on regional cookery and culinary culture
Turkish people continued to cook and enjoy traditional published in large numbers over the last few decades
food at home. have also made significant contributions to the study of
In 1981 a symposium on historical and regional Ottoman cuisine by providing information about trad-
cuisines was organized by the Ministry of Culture, itional dishes, preservation techniques and foodways
and this was followed up by a series of international that are mentioned in Ottoman-period written sources
conferences and exhibitions of food-related artefacts but have disappeared in major cities. These, together
at two museums. Over the next decades academic and with publications about the cuisines of neighbouring
popular books and articles on Ottoman cuisine were countries that were once part of the Ottoman Empire,
published in ever-increasing numbers. Transcriptions throw light on both the extent to which foodways were
of primary sources, including archival material, manu- shared and regional differences across the empire.
scripts and cookery books, have been particularly Ottoman cuisine has often been viewed from
significant because Ottoman Turkish, like Persian, was a narrow perspective as the sophisticated cookery
written in Arabic script. Replacement of the Ottoman of the court and wealthy classes. While this is no
script by the new Latin-based Turkish script in 1928 doubt important, there are many other angles to be
meant that from this time on few people were able consid ered. This book takes a broad look at Ottoman
to read earlier sources. culinary culture, beginning with an overview of the
The importance attached to food culture by the roots of Ottoman cuisine and its development over six
Ottomans means that there is a wealth of primary centuries, and continuing thematically with chapters
material in sources of many kinds, including descrip- focusing on aspects including food trade, food laws,
tions of royal celebrations, court records, endowment military food, restaurants and etiquette. The aim has
deeds, kitchen accounts, lists of fixed retail prices, been to hold up a mirror to life in this large and com-
medical books, poetry, folklore and miniature paint- plex empire through its food culture.
ings. Although cookery books were rare until the Very few historical recipes have been included, and
nineteenth century,2 recipes and lists of ingredients then only to illustrate points in the text, so readers
8
introduction
interested in cooking Ottoman food must look else- books, you must visit Urfa, Amasya or Yalvaç, where
where. One of the best sources is a collection of recipes it survives as a homemade speciality. The hollow lolli-
compiled and adapted for the modern cook by Marianna pops in the form of cockerels once widely sold by street
Yerasimos.3 When it comes to recreating authentic vendors survive in just two towns today, while at the
Ottoman dishes, there are some practical obstacles. other end of the scale döner kebab has lived to become
Today no one can afford ambergris to flavour sherbet one of the world’s most popular fast foods.
and it would be hard to find sufficient quantities of Some Ottoman food customs are also alive and well.
violets to make jam. The copper pans which make Semolina helva and doughnuts soaked in syrup are still
such a difference to the finished flavour of dishes distributed to mourners following funerals; families
have disappeared from most kitchens, partly because continue to make aşure on the tenth of Muharrem and
they require regular tinning. Cooking over a charcoal güllaç in Ramazan (Ramadan); and itinerant vendors of
fire is impossible in a modern kitchen and is now simit and boza still cry their wares in city streets. Not
largely restricted to a few kebab restaurants and to all is lost by any means.
picnic barbecues.
Restaurants claiming to offer Ottoman cuisine
rarely do so in reality. Some attempt to cash in on
the popular demand for ‘Ottoman’ cuisine and have no
qualms about describing a dish such as baked auber-
gines with melted cheese on top as ‘palace-style’. Even
conscientious restaurants admit to using thirteenth-
century Abbasid recipes on the shaky assumption that
since they were translated into Turkish in the fifteenth
century they must have been adopted unchanged into
the Ottoman culinary repertoire of the time. Cooks,
meanwhile, tend to see creative reworking as an essen-
tial part of their job and rarely attempt to produce
authentic versions of Ottoman dishes. Traditional
dishes that have changed little since Ottoman times,
like vegetable stews, stuffed vegetables, böreks (layered
pastries) and mantı (stuffed dumplings in a garlic and
yoghurt sauce), are more likely to be found in modest
local restaurants. Istanbul’s muhallebicis, or pudding
shops, still serve the diverse milk puddings of the
Ottoman era and innumerable baklavacıs sell baklava
and other sweet pastries. Yet to taste the hot baklava
with a cheese filling recorded in Ottoman cookery
9