World of Smilar Tastes :
Comparison of the Turkish and Hungarian Culinary Culture
Ankara 2016
Editors
Prof. Dr. Mihály Hoppál
Prof. Dr. M. Öcal Oğuz
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Evrim Ölçer Özünel
Translator
Ellen Yazar
ISBN: 978-605-66617-0-9
Publishing
Puplications of Turkish National Commission for UNESCO
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The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication
do not imply the expression of any opinion of Turkish National Commission for UNESCO
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning
the delimitation of its frontier or boundaries.
The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this
book and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily of Turkish National
Commission for UNESCO.
Contents
Opening Speeches
The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the
Interaction Project on the Shared Cuisine of Turkey and Hungary ............................................................................3
M. Öcal Oğuz
The History of a Joint Project ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................7
Mihály Hoppál
Proceedings
Semiotics of Hungarian Wedding Meals...................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Mihály Hoppál
Edible Heritages: Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and
Multinational Cuisine Policies............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 27
Evrim Ölçer Özünel
The Taste of Entertainment: Religious Festivals/National Holidays and
Festival Dishes in the Turkish and Hungarian Cultures ................................................................................................................... 35
Dilek Türkyılmaz
Points of Connection Between Turkish and Hungarian Dietary Culture .................................................... 45
Júlia Bartha
Food, Culture and Identity: On Turkish and Hungarian Cuisine ................................................................................... 69
Adem Koç
‘Djanfeda, Chincha, Goher’ Turkish Aspects in the Past of Viniculture at Jászberény ........ 81
Edit Bathó
iii
“Traditionality” and Sustainability of Foods in Turkish and Hungarian Cuisines .......................... 93
Selcan Gürçayır Teke
Cuisines United with Photographs: To Follow the Cuisine Cultures in Visual Texts ......... 103
Ezgi Metin Basat
The Role of Herbs and Spices in Turkish Cuisine in Hungary ........................................................................................ 115
Andrea Bán
The Drinking Culture in the Shared Turkish and Hungarian Cuisine:
Health, Rituals, Traditions ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 135
Tuna Yıldız
The Language of Food by Seasons: Preparations for Winter ......................................................................................... 141
Zeynep Safiye Baki Nalcıoğlu
Nogays of Turkey: Their Ethnic Identity and Acculturation ............................................................................................... 147
David Somfai Kara
Photographs ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 157
iv
Opening Speeches
The Convention For the Safeguarding
of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
and the Interaction Project on the
Shared Cuisine of Turkey and Hungary
M. Öcal Oğuz*
Mankind understood the value of the cultural heritage transferred by its ancestors
from generation to generation for thousands of years up until the present-day when
confronted with the threat of losing it. Especially, the Second World War was the
cause of the disappearance of countless tangible or intangible cultural heritage items
together with millions of persons. The establishment of the UNESCO is significant after
this extremely painful and expensive experience of humanity. Naturally, at first, the
“Tangible Heritages” were conspicuous, especially, in the states, which experienced
the destruction created by the war and that expended efforts for bringing the means
for the protection of the cultures under the framework of the UNESCO as well as
friendship, brotherhood and peace. The historical works, statues and monuments
destroyed, the site areas that were turned into ruins, the libraries burned down, the
handwritten manuscripts that disappeared and places of natural wonder came into
the forefront in the process of heritages that should be preserved.
The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural
Heritage, which was signed in 1972, was defining what was tangible, in other words,
those that are “material” and it was targeted to protect them. Undoubtedly, this
restrictive definition of the 1972 Convention, constituted a significant consciousness
for the protection of the tangible cultural heritage, but since it did not contain the
intangible cultural heritage, it was criticized, starting from the date it was accepted.
These criticisms produced results in the UNESCO circles and the UNESCO laws were
constituted related to the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage by preparing
*
Prof. Dr., Chairman of the Department of Turkish Folklore, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey; Chairman of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expert Committee of the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO; and
Administratior of the Interaction Project on the Shared Cuisine of Turkey and Hungary.
3
the Bolivia Declaration in 1973, the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of
Traditional Culture and Folklore, which was accepted by the UNESCO in 1989, the 1994
Living Human Treasures’ Program, the 1997/1998 Proclamation of the Masterpieces
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and finally, the Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was signed in 2003.
A record was obtained in the international arena with 171 of the states becoming a
party to the Convention in a very short period at the UNESCO, which has 195 member
states and 10 partner member states. Turkey became a party to this convention in 2006.
The Intergovernmental Committee having the attribute of an executive committee of
the convention was selected. In 2008 the Intergovernmental Committee hosted the
Third Regular Meeting. The Sub-organ, which examined carefully the Representative
List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind, engaged in duties between 2008
and 2010 and provided contributions by examining carefully and making decisions on
hundreds of files.
Even if it is expected that the states, which are a party themselves to the Convention,
to safeguard the cultural heritage on “the lands on which they are sovereign”, it is
especially encouraged as well to expend efforts to engage in international cooperation
and to help one another, to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage, to transfer it to
the future generations and to have reciprocal recognition of value and to strengthen
friendship and brotherhood.
Turkey and Hungary, as two friendly countries, have the potential and opportunity
to put into practice in the best manner the spirit and this aspect of the Convention
and to be an example to other countries. This project, which has been realized with
the cooperation of both countries, is of extreme importance from the aspect of both
the friendship and cooperation of Turkey and Hungary and of forming the culture and
experience of working together in the scientific fields.
Cuisine culture, both for the traditions, arts and rituals formed around it, and for the
experiences with nature and the environment, is an effective place from the aspect of
transforming to cultural spaces and is an important field of intangible cultural heritage.
The experience formed between the international society and experts around the
UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage showed
that there is an important place for the cuisine traditions in the transferring of the cultural
heritage from generation to generation. In fact, the cuisine-themed heritages presented
to the UNESCO lists by the party states are being examined carefully from this aspect by
the related committees and are taken onto the List of ICH in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
or Representative Lists, which provide contributions to the transfer of culture.
4
Turkey and Hungary are two countries that have shared experiences within cultural
exchanges and interactions and that have constituted shared heritages. This project,
that has studied the reciprocal forms and aspects of interactions in the field of cuisine,
just as it could be a means for strengthening the existing friendship and cooperation,
it would also be an initiator in the researching and learning and the sharing and
safeguarding of the cultural assets, which enter under the threat of disappearing
from day to day and which are not known by the young generations. I hope that this
study we have carried out within the scope of the principles of the Convention for
the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage with the folklore collection and
research techniques and that studies like these, which we have realized previously
with Macedonia and Romania, will be a source of inspiration for new projects.
At this meeting, where the papers, which emerged with the field studies realized
by the coming together of the Turkish and Hungarian cuisine and intangible cultural
heritage experts under the cooperation of the Turkish National Commission for
UNESCO and the UNESCO National Commission of Hungary, have been presented and
discussed, materialized at the end of a long preparation and the field studies carried
out in both countries. The field studies were realized with the participation of the
country experts at Ankara, Eskişehir, Kütahya, İzmit, Tekirdağ and İstanbul Provinces
in Turkey between 17 and 23 April 2016 and with the participation of the country
experts at Karcag (Karsak), Kisujszallas (Kişiyusalaş), Jaszbereny (Yasberin), Jaszfenyszaru
(Yasfensaru) and Budapest in Hungary between 9 and 18 May 2016 and the papers
presented today have been written by analyzing the data obtained in these studies. A
total of 60 source persons, with 35 from Turkey and 25 from Hungary were consulted
with throughout the period of the study. Mihály Hoppál, Júlia Bartha, János Sıpos, Edit
Bathó, Andrea Bán, Dávid Somfaı Kara and Éva Deák participated in the field studies
as folklore and intangible cultural heritage experts from Hungary. Whereas, Evrim
Ölçer Özünel, Dilek Türkyılmaz, Adem Koç, Selcan Gürçayır Teke, Ezgi Metin Basat, Tuna
Yıldız and Zeynep Safiye Baki Nalcıoğlu participated as folklore and intangible cultural
experts from Turkey.
The Turkish and Hungarian offices, which provided for the realization of this
valuable cooperation, have left a strong door ajar about strengthening the cultural
and academic relations between the two countries by this project and by developing
shared projects as well on other subjects in the future. I extend my gratitude to the
experts and administrative team of this important project, which I believe will lay the
groundwork for larger projects in the future, and to our Turkish and Hungarian source
persons, who have shared with our heritage research team what they experienced by
transferring from generation to generation.
5
The History of a Joint Project
Turkish-Hungarian Cooperation
Mihály Hoppál*
When the opportunity first arose whereby the Turkish UNESCO Committee wished to do
research in Hungary and was looking for a Hungarian partner for this project, I instantly
saw it as a chance to bring some improvement into the generally negative view of the
historic connections of the two nations. Over the past few decades, whenever I came
in contact with members of the Turkish delegation at occasions such as the UNESCO
General Assembly in Paris or other international conventions, we always greeted each
other most cordially, the more so as we found that our opinions practically always
converged, no matter what subject was being discussed, even though we had not
previously aligned our views. This was particularly true at discussions regarding issues
of the intangible cultural heritage. Such like-mindedness was, in all probability, due to
the fact that over the past centuries the two countries had produced a highly similar
cultural super-structure. To put it simply, rural and peasant culture had retained in an
analogous manner the cultural traditions which UNESCO was planning to safeguard.
We noted with pleasure that in spite of the past historical events the cultures of
the two nations had retained the identical and similar traits which lay in the deep
layers of their cultures. Therefore we were delighted to hear of the strivings and plans
proposed by the Turkish party in 2014 which so clearly fitted the previous plans of
the European Folklore Centre. We saw it as a chance for laying the foundations for
a kind of popular diplomacy based on the striving to explore the effects of Turkish
culture in the areas which formerly belonged to the great Turkish Empire, because this
had meant, beyond a position of power, a line of cultural influences. These cultural
borrowings always took place on the level of the common people – something that
may be influenced but cannot be entirely transformed or determined. To use the terms
of cultural anthropology, a culture will only borrow things from another culture if these
traits are not just attractive but can be easily fitted into the system of the other, the
borrowing culture. If we highlight these positive examples and make them visible, or if
*
Prof. Mihály Hoppál DSc, senior research fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Arts Research
Institute).
[email protected]
7
we even go as far as to add a scholarly explanation, then we have taken a step toward
the mutual respect, understanding and acceptance of different cultures. These are the
basic building blocks of the peaceful coexistence of cultures.
In June 2014 I gave a talk in Ankara; next, then Hungarian Ambassador to Ankara,
János Óvári organised a meeting with Mr. Öcal Oğuz, head of the Turkish UNESCO
Committee so that we can discuss prospects of future cooperation. As a result of
this discussion a small Turkish delegation arrived in Hungary the same summer. The
delegation visited the Karcag Festival, because the famous traditional dishes of the
local Kun population had preserved a significant Turkish influence over the centuries.
We also visited the city of Pécs and its region, meaning the Southern parts of Hungary,
including Mohács and its area. This tour included visiting the spot where Turkish Sultan
Suleiman the Great died, as is commonly known, during the siege of Szigetvár. During
this trip the Turkish delegation became acquainted with a number of dishes which are
believed to have become widespread in Southern Hungary due to Turkish influence.
Based on all of these experiences we went on to start outlining the work plan of future
co-operation in which we first wished to explore the shared traits of culinary culture,
but naturally also targeted other elements of popular culture. Thus we made it our
goal to also turn our attention to folk music and study those analogies in melody-lines
and other parallel traits of folk music which Béla Bartók had already identified; as well
as to study folk customs, burial rites, motifs of folk art and similarities in folk costumes.
The first phase of this work plan was carried out when, in 2016, Hungarian researchers
set out to Turkey where, between April 16-24, we and the Turkish participants of the
project visited several Turkish communities including the Nogay Tatars. Next, the
Turkish researchers came to Hungary and acquainted themselves with the culture of
the Kunság and Jászság regions which have preserved a whole line of traditions from
the period in question. In early October 2016 researchers held a short symposium
together where they discussed the interesting parallels they had identified and
analysed. We wish to publish these proceedings in a joint volume. Hopefully this cooperation will continue in the coming years as the first stage was dedicated almost
solely to exploring the parallels in culinary culture.
8
Proceedings
Semiotics of Hungarian
Wedding Meals
Mihály Hoppál
The Semiotics of Eating
At the beginning of the 60s, in the first really important studies of the structuralist and
semiotic investigations, when the analysis of everyday events became an expressed task,
the interpretation of food ways and eating habits as systems of symbols came into the
centre of scholarly interests. Roland Barthes, for instance, easily found the Saussurean
categories of langue and parole within this systems of signs. According to him, the language
of eating contains: “1. excluding rules (taboos of eating); 2. the meaningful oppositions
of the units to be determined (e.g. salty/sweet type); 3. the rules of composition which
can be either simultaneous (within level of one course) or successive (on the level of a
menu); 4. the etiquette of eating habits which work as the rhetorics of eating. The very
rich ‘parole’ of eating habits contains all the individual or familiar varieties of preparing
and composing of foods (the way cooking within a family which is determined by certain
family customs and which can be regarded as the idiolect of a family). A menu can, e.g.,
very well show the functioning of language and parole: each menu is closely related to a
(national or regional and social) structure, but can be differently realized depending on
the given occasion or users.” It is very characteristic that this work was published in 1964.
It is worth continuing the quotation: “… similarly to it, a linguistic ‘form’ contains free
variations and combinations which one needs to express his own thoughts. The relation
of language and speech of eating in quite similar to that connection which we find in
spoken languages.- The language of eating is based on usage i.e. the different strata of
speech: the individual innovations (new recipes made-up) can always gain established
values. Contrary to the system of dressing, here the activity of a decisive group is lacking:
the language of eating can come into being only by wide and collective usage or by
individual ‘speech”” (Barthes 1976: 26).
It is worth extending the French scholar’s statement adding that one of the
main characteristics of food (and eating) is that in can be interpreted as a sign which
*
Prof. Mihály Hoppál DSc, senior research fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Arts Research
Institute).
[email protected]
11
operates in the sphere of social usage. The most famous ethno-culinar theory is not
progressing along this path after all. This trend deals with the contrasting element of
another – namely the intellectual – sphere of culture expressing them with the terms
of fundamental material oppositions. These basic categories are: raw, cooked and
rotten (Lévi-Strauss 1977: 221–228).
Claude Lévi-Strauss published his “culinary triangle” (see below) first in 1965, and its
further versions show that the food-code contains other meanings too (Leach 1974: 30).
state of material ––– transformed
(élaboré)
natural condition
(non élaboré)
cooked ––– rotten
raw
culture –––nature
He found these meanings in the course of the analysis of some myths by connecting
the raw-cooked – and, in the second volume of “Mythologiques” (Lévi-Strauss 1973: 20)
the honey-tobacco, or rather honey-ashes opposites with culture-nature opposition.
In social anthropology it was mainly the members of the “London school of
symbolic anthropology” (Newall 1976) who, dealt with the examination of the symbolic
meaning of food. Raymond Firth deals with the language of eating in his work titled
“Symbols: Public and Private” and in one of its chapters he summarizes his experience
gained in Tikopia (Poynesia). He said: “The Tikopia use of food as a symbolic instruments
to express ideas of social cooperation and social status” (Firth 1973: 253). In the social
sphere of culture, cooperation is brought about by the equality of the participants while
hierarchy originates from social inequality and these relations can also be expressed in
the language of materials or food we can speak about social phenomena.
In the book of Mary Douglas’ “Implicit Meanings” a whole chapter deals with the
analysis of the hidden but actually very well articulated meanings of eating habits
(Douglas 1975: 249–279).
Decoding the meanings of eating, her starting point should be the fact that food
and eating are partly biological, partly social phenomena. In other words it means that
eating, beside performing biological functions, also fulfills certain social needs. Douglas
enumerates the elements of the system as well as the possible paradigms. It is worth
mentioning some of her interesting statements; according to her opinion, a meal usually
incorporates a number of contrasts, such as hot and cold, bland and spiced, liquid and
solid, and of course, cooked and raw elements arranged in varied forms.
12
She calls our attention to the importance of drinks before, during and after meals
which can well express the degree of intimacy (see also Frake 1979). Broadly speaking,
the choice of different foods dished up can show whether it is served on an everyday, a
festive or a family occasion, and in the latter case – whether we welcome a close friend
or a respectable guest whose social rank is higher than ours.
The menu of a festive meals has its strict, “official” order as is was particularly true in
the past. The menu as a carefully arranged order of dishes has a symbolic meaning: “…
the meaning of a meal is found in a system of repeated analogies. Each meal carries
something of the meaning of the other meals; each meal is a structured social event
which structures others in its own image. The upper limit of its meaning is set by the
range incorporated in the most important member of its series “carries a message for a
given community” (Douglas 1975: 260).
Lévi-Strauss, writing an introduction to Marcell Mauss’ study “The Gift” rightly stated
that if we want to understand a social fact – and a meal can be regarded as one –
we have to consider it as an integral part of a larger unit. “To understand a social fact
correctly must understand it completely that is to say from ‘without’ as a thing, but as
a thing of which is an integral part…” (Lévi-Strauss in Mauss 1960: XXVIII). The case is
quite similar if we examine dressing and its system of symbols – with a special regard
to national costume – where a single piece of clothes can have a special symbolic
meaning while another meaning is carried by the whole dress. This latter one gains its
real meaning in the context of feasts, and is continuously reinforced by the recurrent
series of significant occasions, exactly by the perpetual recurrence.
The above-mentioned tried to find out the symbolic meanings of material qualities
which come into being during the preparation of meals and they also tried to connect
them with the different types of cultural and of social facts. Now, instead of the
examination of the individual dishes, we are trying to find out the meaning of that
oppositions which can be found between the first and the last courses.
Wedding Feast and its Courses
Let us see now some examples and some descriptions. Now we are going to deal
with wedding feast which is one of the main events of human life. It can be easily
noticed that such festive occasions have preserved a lot of customs (their elements,
or some fragments of old rites) which, in everyday practice, quickly conformed to new
situations.
Several studies have already dealt with the symbolic meaning of certain elements
of wedding – e. g. the ostentation of plenty and wealth, the motifs of magical fertility
rites the ‘language’ of different wedding insignia and even with the sexual symbolics of
certain foods (e.g. cockscomb, shell-shaped noodles, pigtail, egg, apple, etc.). We could
mention many further examples to show that such a social event, exactly because of
its importance within a little community, is full of symbolic element. We can notice
the condensation of meanings in each ‘code’ that takes part in the wedding, which is a
typical pluricodally performed social event (Hoppál 1979).
13
Our first example is a description of a wedding in Felsőtárkány, in the 1950s, which
we quoted from the collection of Ferenc Bakó:
“Each meal the best man announced and greeted with a poem, and
the dish arriving first he always put before the young couple. The
women in attendance on the bride, who stood behind her, always put
a dish where “there was a lack of it” i.e. where the table was “empty”. The
first course was always meat soup with shell-noodles called “ribbed
noodle soup” and it was followed by stuffed cabbage. The third course
was either roast beef or fried chicken with rice or noodles. The fourth
dish, which was roast pork, was served only in well-to-do families.
… At the end of dinner, after different confectionery were served, the
bride herself offered a round cake to the guests.” In connection with the
preparations he tells in that among the first events of wedding the
taking over of the guests’ and relatives present is very important. From
the point of view of some further questions it is important that he also
mentions some data about how much and what kind of cakes the
invited families brought to the young couple. For instance, it was quite
usual that they brought three big round wedding cakes called “morván
kalács” together with two, three or four so-called ‘with hand’ cakes that
meant two, three of four plates full of different sweet bisquits’ (Bakó
1955: 391).
(Italics are mime, M. H.
István Tari described the customs of old weddings in an other Hungarian village
Heréd:
“For dinner they serve roast meat and sausage, and finish it with cakes
and gateau repeating the greeting words of midday-dinner … When
the cakes are served the best man recites the following little verse:
Here is a lovely cake baked from flour, clean and white
Mix it with some sugar: it won’t be hard to bite,
Even virgin-honey could not be much sweeter,
If you just look at it you’ll be heavy-enter.
It is loved very much by all kinds of women,
Even girls, pretty girls could not stop eating,
And as men also like such delicious sweeties,
So just please, help yourself, start at once and east it!”
(Tari 1978: 11, 20).
14
The courses of the wedding feast in Galgamácsa were described by Juli Dudás, a
peasant woman and naive painter, in her autobiography:
They were merrily eating the meals of all kinds that had just been made
in the kitchen. There were several courses: boiled meat with horse
radish, paprika hen with small dumplings, stuffed chicken with delicious
cucumber, Székely stuffed cabbage with rib-roast, strudel filled with
curd or poppy and different cakes (Valkóné Dudás 1976: 201).
The wedding diner in Kötegyán, in Békés county, we can show by another peasant
autobiography:
“After the ceremony they go home and have dinner: chicken-soup,
shell-noodles, roast meat with paprika, gateau or cakes.” From the
autobiography of Mihály Bujdosó. From another peasant autobiography
we can describe the dishes of the best men who were called together:
“In the appointed evening the best men came together. First they had
dinner; it was stewed meat with paprika, strudel and cakes.” Selection
from the writing of János Balla, a peasant from Visonta (Hoppál – Küllős
– Manga 1974: 287).
In the first decades of the century, the dishes of a wedding feast in Diósgyőr were
the followings:
“During dinner the best man greeted each other with wine in rhymes.
The courses usually served up were:
1. chicken-broth with shell-noddles
2. boiled meat with red beet
3. meat with sauce and macaroni
4. stuffed meat with cucumber or compote
5. stuffed cabbage
6. gruel. They put clarified butter, honey or cinnamon on it.
That is the time of the so-called gruel-money collecting:
a funny lad, with his arm tied up, walks to the guests saying:
“I’ ve burnt it, I’ve burnt it”
7. cakes
8. The present of the women in attendance on the bride and the
bridesmaids: a Hungarian speciality called “fonott kalács” which is a kind
of brioche, and pretzel.
9. At last they put a bucket of sweet wine on the table. It is served by
a woman after she has mulled in with sugar and cinnamon. Everyone
drinks from it then they continue it with ordinary wine.”
(Madai 1966: 329).
15
From the above-mentioned data we can point out the main opposite pairs or the
courses, i.e. that the feast begins with meat course and ends with cakes. This opposition
involved the contrast of further elements:
the beginning of meals
– the end of it
meat (of animal origin)
– pastry (of vegetable origin)
boiled paste (which has only a secondary role) – baked pastry (which is a main dish)
salty
– sweet
different pieces of ment
– each piece is of the same quality
having different quality the
pieces are not equal in size
– each piece is the same size
it is hard to divide
– it is easy to divide
inequality
– equality
A certain change of meaning can be noticed in the structure of the
meals: The dishes of other important feasts seem to be quite similar. “Pigkilling was immediately followed by dinner. This event shows that level
in cooking that Őrség can produced in quantity and quality as well. The
weddings, christening feasts and other festive occasions all represent
this level, but while these occasions are rather incidental, dinner after
pig-killing is an organic part or peasant life and nourishment. Let us see,
for instance, what is a pig-killing feast like in a medium-sized peasant
farm in Senyeháza. It is quite exclusive in number, but now we will
deal, neither with the number of those present nor with the quantity
of meals. Here we are going to describe its main characteristics only.
Drinking before eating is quite usual as well as after each course and
during eating as many times as people are inclined to do so.
1 course: meat soup from pork with vermicelli (noodles)
2nd course: boiled meat from pork with horse radish with cream, bread.
3rd course: boiled pock meat made with sauerkraut, bread
4th course: roast meat, roast liver, bread. With the meat they eat table
beet and red cabbage.
5th course: tart, apple
6th course: black coffee with kalács
16
After meals carousing goes on. The dishes above more or less represent all kinds
of meals (soup, meat vegetables, garnishment, cakes drinks, fruit, etc.) The order and
gradualness of serving have a middle-class character. It partly contains the elements of
old peasant order, partly shows some new achievements. The best materials are used
and are prepared in all possible ways (boiling, roasting braising, etc.). As a matter of
fact, these festive dishes – completed or narrowed down; made in an ordinary or in a
new way are quite similar on the whole territory of Őrség” (Kardos 1943: 87). instead of
the unequally divided, inequal qualities the participants are finally offered the feeling
of equality by food of equal quality and distribution. If we accept these data on the
level of a wedding-dinner then the data which refer to the end of the whole social
event, i.e. the end of the wedding fest should be even more convincing.
In 1972, we shot an ethnographic documentary film in Boldog, a village in Heves
county. One of the most important motif of the wedding feast there which, for this very
reason, became the last scene of our film – is in connection with a big, sweet, breadlike raised cake, a speciality which in Hungary is called “kalács”. This cake, the kalács,
which is decorated with honey-cakes and is brought by the bride’s guests, is taken
apart and together with other sweets and divided among those who are present. The
title of the film is “Wedding in Boldog” (1973 – directed by József Kis).
In Visonta, another village of the same region, “the bride’s dance did not begin until
the present from the bride’s home arrived which contained cakes and roast meat. From
these, after dance, everybody got a piece” (Hoppál – Küllős – Manga 1974: 292).
The last phase of a wedding in Heréd is:
“Music goes on as long as the bride’s godmother and godfather of the
confirmee arrive accompanied by 10–15 persons bringing along the
bridal kalács decorated in a special way with paper roses. (It is always
the bride’s godmother of the confirmee who bakes the kalács decorated
in a special way with paper roses. (It is always the bride’s godmother of
the confirmee who bakes the kalács or has it baked by someone else.)
When they arrive the music stops and the bride’s sponsors at confirmation
take off the ornaments from the kalács. They cut it up and serve it round
offering it both to the bride’s and the bridegroom’s guests. It is served in
a special way: the bride’s godmother of the confirmee cuts down a slice
and gives it to a guest while the bride’s godfather of the confirmee fills
his glass with sweet and strong drink.
When they cut into the kalács the best mand recites the following verse:
Itt a fehér lisztből készült jóféle sütemény
Cukorral vegyítve nem is olyan kemény,
Olyan édes az, mint a csurgatott méz,
Mindjárt megkívánja az ember, ha ránéz.
Felvagdossák verge a szép nagy kalácsot,
Asszonyok dicséretére vált adottságot.
Mazsolával szeretik az itteni szüzek,
17
Annál is inkább öregek és őszek.
Bátran lehet enni, gyomornak nem nehéz,
Fogjon meg minden darabot kilencvenkilenc kéz.
Here is a lovely cake baked from flour, clean and white
Mix it with some sugar: it won’t be hard to bile,
Even virgin-honey could not be much sweeter,
If you just look at it you’ll be heavy-eater.
the big kalács is at last cup up into pieces,
The big loaf, milky loaf sings the women’s praises.
Virgins of the village like it with sweet raisins,
And the old and the bald also enjoy tasting.
It’s not stodge for stomach, you just don’t be frightened,
So let then every piece held by ninety-nine hand.”
(Tari 1979: 25).
The last line of the best man’s verse is particularly nice, as the “ninety-nine hand”
actually means that everyone should be given a piece of kalács, of this sweet-bread.
The wedding pretzel of the final ceremony in Csíkszentdomokos (Sindominic,
Rumania) has an even more expressive symbolic meaning, so we should refer to it in
more details:
“The custom described below has slowly died out and has been missing
from today’s wedding customs for years, but it still lives on in the
memory of old and middle-aged generations of Csíkszentdomokos. So
it still can be described with the help of concordant statements and
recollections which can also complete each other.
18
The pretzel is the best man’s generous and symbolic present, which can
he prepares in honour of the bridegroom or rather the new couple…
The most important part of the pretzel is a carefully selected, one and a
half meter long white pine whose foot is stabbed through a holed, round
‘kalács’ of a bread size. Then, it is fixed in a bore which is in the middle of
a handcart-like thing called ‘raba’. The big, round kalács is surrounded by
smaller round ones. They also put here roast hen and roast pig. The hen
is ornamented with garland, and the decoration of the pig requires even
more care: they put a big carrot in his mouth and fasten a red apple to
both of its ears. They do so to “pester the bride: what she’ll get is of that
kind, that is what she has to expect.” Another hint of sexual life which can
be found here is the figures of naked boy and girl kneaded from pastry.
Their sexual organs are enlarged, stressed, and they are set against each
other in order to show that the lad is “teasing the girl”.
The branches of the pine were decorated similarly to a Christmas
tree. The srung on a thread fritter-like pastry or other things that they
kneaded in the shape of a heart, ring, etc. These strings they hung up
on the branches. Sometimes strings of dried plums were also put on
the pretzel… While singing, the boys put the pretzel… While singing,
the boys put the pretzel on the main table before the bridegroom and
the bride. They may not have touched it. The pretzel could be eaten just
later when only parents and close relatives were present. It was the best
man who told when to start eating: the bride and the bridegroom gave
a piece to each and it was compulsory to eat it.” (Balázs 1976: 142).
A similar round-shaped wedding kalács was described by Ádám Sebestyén, a
chronicler of the Székely people who migrated from Bukovina (Andrásfalva) to Hungary.
“The so-called ‘násznagykalács’ (the kalács of the best man) was not usual
in Andrásfalva, and it was made only in well-to-do families where to role
of the best man was taken by a rich godfather, sponsor at confirmation
or uncle. It was made as follows: Into a round plate-like board 60–70
cm in diameter and smoothed with a plane, six candle-shaped stich
were fixed. At the bottom, they winded the sticks round with a pretzel
or rather a kalács, and on each stick they but pastry horns as many as
they could up to a height of 50–60 cm. The empty spaces between the
sticks were filled with bottles of honeyed strong drinks, and decorated
with fruit (apple, plum, pear, etc), honey-cakes and garlands. This kalács
weighed about 50–60 kilograms. It must have been a very strong man
who could, on the top of his head, take it from the house of the best
man to the house where the wedding was held… After dancing for a
while, he started off at the head of the procession and walking along the
street he danced ‘with the »kalács«’ to the nice music. Illés Mátyás (Matyi)
tells us that once it was him who brought ‘násznagykalács’ on his head,
but is was so heavy that a hunck appeared on his neck which has never
disappeared. Usually one man was not able to bring it along alone and
had to be relieved by somebody else… ‘Násznagykalács’ was cut kup
at midnight. Everyone got a piece o fit so they could taste it. They ate it
with pleasure because it tasted very good… That is how it is told by old
people.” (Sebestyén 1972: 182–183).
Here we are not going to deal with the sexual symbolism of the wedding cake kalács
which had a magic role of fertility. We would like to emphasize only that the round
“kalács” was divided among the two families and the relatives, and it also indicated
the end of the ceremony. It can be quite important that the above description speaks
about a “big, round cake ‘kalács’”. A round cake or gateau – as a consequence of its
19
form – can be easily divided into similar pieces. I think this feature has an important
role at the end of the wedding feast for then – by the division of tasty, sweet cakes into
pieces of the same size – the inequality among people (the disruptive forces within a
community) is tried to be hidden behind an illusory, short-lived equality.
In this way, the community – in the language of objects and food eliminates
social unequalities and re-establishes equality among those who are present. At this
important turning point of life it gives (or rather lends) the participant the feeling of
contentment (and not subjugation). We find this hidden communication as a social
mechanism of great importance not only because it is able to connect – with amazing
ingenuity – the biological, social and cultural spheres of life, but also because it is
able to stir up the feeling of equality and, with this, to help to maintain the general
condition and stability of a community.
Instead of a Summary; a few words about analogue coding
The social construction of reality is made by the help of culturally accepted patterns
(i.e. we speak about colour term or kinship terminology).
Their acquirement is carried out in the course of social events. Such “occasions” are
e.g. conversation parties, dinners, receptions, feasts, etc. Ethnographical research has
paid relatively little attention to the examination of such social events and gatherings
(Hoppál 1977). To a community such happenings or gatherings are really important
because a range of different facts, ideas and beliefs could become imperative norms in
the course of such events. Legitimatization supports the “universe of symbols” by which
we attach (Berger-Luckman 1967: 110–111) meaning to a social fact. As Raymond Firth
rightly said that one of the functions of creating symbols is the promotion of social
contact and cooperation (Firth 1973: 90).
20
Culture usually creates signs and symbols in each case when the meaning of a
certain feature is not entirely clear or cannot be exactly evaluated i.e. when an often
recurring phenomenon must be explained and identified on a very general level. The
essential meaning of symbol was well defined by Wheelwright (1962: 92): “A symbol
is relatively stable and repetable element of perceptual experience, standing for
some larger meaning or set of meanings which cannot be given, or not fully given
in perceptual experience itself.” Such are, for instance, the power relations or man’s
place within the social hierarchy of a community – these are regulated by etiquette,
with its refined system of symbols. At the same time social behaviour controlled by
the of etiquette shows us the existing relations within a given community and with
this, it also helps to explore the structure of the collectivity. What practically happens
is that those elements of the language of facts in which the differences of age, sex
and social status play an important role are translated into the language of etiquette.
So, from a pragmatic point of view, the function of etiquette-communication is to
establish the place of the individual within the structure of society (Civjan 1975: 373). A
feast, a simple drinking-bout or even a thoroughly organized diplomatic meeting can
reflect and does reflect the social position of the participants. Frake dealing with the
customs of drinking writes that “such meeting aim at rousing a sympathetic feeling by
the end of the event in those who are present… The carousal in Subanun provides a
good opportunity to increase, define and manipulate the individual’s social relations
with the help of speech” (Frake 1979: 273). It was especially true in the Middle Ages
when different types of feast and warm hospitality were important means to maintain
social relations. “Feast among those who lived in primitive societies became a kind of
‘competition’ to show who can offer the most liberal table. The host wanted to outrival
the others. Of course, the guest later on had to return the invitation and he also had to
return the hospitality with and even more plentiful feast. The opposition of glory and
opulence is very characteristic of primitive societies. In the light of this contrasts, wealth
is regarded a value only if it helps to reach glory and social estimation. As we have
already seen it, instead of hoarding money, it practically meant wasting and dispensing
money, spending it on feast, etc. In other words: having money became a kind of
virtue. Charity and feasts are keywords which form the unity of wealth and culture in
barbaric societies” (Gurevics 1974: 198, 209). Of course, the diplomatic receptions and
dinner-parties of today are also good examples o fit. A peasant wedding and still more,
its courses expressed especially well financial and social situation. As we have already
mentioned it, from the food served we can easily understand social differences. “…and
categories of cooking are always peculiarly appropriate for use as symbols of social
differentiation” (Leach 1974: 34).
The precedence at table sitting position in a wedding gives even more expressive
examples as it clearly shows one’s position and importance within a given group. First
we are going to quote the recollection of a peasant in Gyöngyösvisonta:
“…we asked the wedding guests to take their seats: it was the task of
the best men. The most distinguished persons used to sit at the head of
the table. Sot the best men, the bride and the bridegroom took the best
seats at the table.” (Hoppál – Küllős – Manga 1974: 291).
“The best men made tables and seats for dinner from boards put on
three-legged trestles. The best man who directed the whole ceremony
used to give the orders: men had to sit on the right side of the house
while women sat on the left. If the dinner took place at the house of the
bride, she – together with her girl-friends and those young women who
helped in dressing-sat at the head of the table-, beside the best man. If
the wedding feast was held in the house of the bridegroom this place
was taken by the bridegroom, the best men, the woman in attendance
on the bide and the bridesmaids. Bottles of strong drinks and brad
21
was put on the table and everyone got a spoon. The dish, which was
either a kind of sour soup boiled with smoked meat or meat soup with
poultry was brought in by the best men in big earthenware dishes. ‘Four
persons from one plate’, he said, and with this, four of the guests bent
over one big plate starting to eat usually with wooden spoons.” (Horváth
1971: 128).
The customs were quite similar in the early 1700s. That is how Péter Apor describes
a wedding feast:
“… the hosts made the guests sit down separating the guests of the
bridegroom from those who had been invited by the bride’s father. The
bridegroom sat at the head of the table. The bride on his side could not
even swallow a bite, just cried and tried to brush away her tears. The best
man sat next to the bridegroom, then came the bridesman followed
by the others in an order of importance. On the other side, next to the
bride sat the woman in attendance on the bride, then the bridesmaid
followed by the other women. The guests of the father of the bride, both
men and women sat according to an order of importance: the host sat
at the centre. When they all had taken their seats different dishes were
brought in accompanied with merry music. After everything had been
put on the table, they all stood up, the priest blessed the table and then
the host started to offer food to the guests.” (Apor, 1978: 102).
So the priority at table could express social hierarchy or at least one’s temporary
situation in the language of “spatial arrangement” or of proxemic code. In other words,
we can express different social relationships in term of proxemity or use of space:
less
–
bigger
the guest
–
the chief character of the event
a distant relative
–
a close relative
poor
–
rich
the end of the table
–
The head of the table
far
–
near
All of these oppositions are suitable for expressing the social relations of peoples.
22
And here we have to say a few words about the two possible kinds of communication.
One of them is the so-called “digital” communication. Its name is originated from the
phenomenon that each information is the combination of two element: 1 and 0. The
other kind of communication is analogical. This is the manipulation of quantitatively
and qualitatively different signs.
Human communication can be operated in these two totally different ways. One
kind o fit is when we express something with the help of analogy, for instance with
drawing. On the other hand we can express something by naming it. So, for example,
the sentence “the cat has caught the mouse” can be expressed with pictures as well.
It is quite an unusual way of communication and we rather use words and names
(either in speech or in writing). These two kinds of communication are, as a matter of
fact, similar to digital and analogical modalities – picture is analogical, word is digital.
The naming of things – whatever word we use – is obviously arbitrary; there is no
connection between the form of the word and its meaning. Words are arbitrary signs.
On the other hand, is analogical communication, a sign has an organic connection
with meaning. Here the sign or symbol used makes it easier to understand the
expressed phenomenon (Watzlawick – Beavin – Jackson, 1973: 192).
According to certain scholars, analogical communication must have developed
in a very early period of human evolution, and that is why it is of universal validity
to a larger extent than verbal communication which is based on binary (yes-no)
logic. A good example o fit is that with the help of the language of gestures or with
drawings we can make ourselves understood even if we “speak” with someone whose
language we do not know. American researchers examining the questions of nonverbal communication demonstrated that there are a lot of phenomena that are
based entirely on analogical communication, and which changed just very little in the
course of evolution. This kind communication already existed between our mammal
ancestors, and with this people could always determine their relations to each other
(Watzlawick – Beavin – Jackson, 1973: 194).
It is a well-known fact that our ability of tasting, smelling as well as our different
feelings are coded not in a digital but in a analogical way (Sebeok 1972: 10, 21). The
motions, the expressive gestures and pictures are coded in the memory in continuous
terms. It is obvious that two kinds of sensation, the perception of space and taste can
easily complete each other. Those hidden analogies that we can find from time to time
between certain elements explain each other and reinforce their revealed meanings.
So, for instance, the priority at table with its ceremonial structure inform us about
invisible social structure as the unequal division of meat also makes us conscious of an
existing inequality. – On the other hand, the dishes and the equal division of sweets at
the end of the wedding dinner try to express equality among those who are present.
This invisible mechanism translates the tensions of social existence into the language
of the tangible physical reality – here it means the language of food – and with this
it also tries to reduce those tensions. In my opinion, this continuous code-witching is
a very important mechanism in the functioning of culture, and – at the same time –,
through the reproduction of social harmony, it also guarantees the transmission and
survival of traditions.
23
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25
Edible Heritages: Safeguarding of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage and
Multinational Cuisine Policies
Evrim Ölçer Özünel*
To establish peace in the minds of humanity is in the lead of the UNESCO ideals. If world
history is taken into consideration, then it is observed that to be able to meet around
the same dinner table is one of the important elements among countries, which
transforms wars into peace and which settles disagreements between individuals
amicably. Consequently, the cultural shared features and cultural changes of the action
of food and cooking is one of the important areas that should be followed. The meals
eaten by collecting persons from two separate cultures around the dinner table can
make references to similar cultural dynamics, even if they are in geographies that are
distant from each other. Even if geography, belief and social factors put persons into
appearances different from each other, the kitchen equipment and materials and the
ingredients used for making food contain some shared features. Beyond this, cuisine
culture contains the shared points of humanity semiotically and is of vital importance
for being able to continue the race of mankind in the world. These shared features
are important for cultures becoming closer together and for intercultural dialogue.
Together with the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage (2003), the safeguarding of the cultural heritages related to cuisine culture
also acquired importance. Since cuisine, cultural identity and state of belonging
are important forms of expression, the states, which are a party to the Convention,
presented both multinational files and national files and they were registered on the
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. However, when
the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is taken into
consideration, then it is also striking that the cuisine culture is represented less than
the other fields of heritage. However, fields related to cuisine culture are included in
many of the UNESCO programs and conventions. Up until now, of the 430 elements
*
Assoc. Prof. Dr., Faculty Member, Department of Turkish Folklore, Faculty of Literature, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.
[email protected],
[email protected]
27
registered on the list, only a 5% portion is related to cuisine culture. The cuisine culture is
also important in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and Creative
Cities Network programs, which have been transformed into a significant target for
the UNESCO. The second of the 2030 sustainable development goals of the United
Nations are directly related to the food of the world and nutrition sources. Goal two has
been constructed completely on finishing hunger, providing food safety, developing
nutrition opportunities and on supporting sustainable agriculture. This also shows that
when even more of the elements belonging to the cuisine culture are treated with the
perspective of safeguarding of the convention on intangible cultural heritage, then it
could develop a strategy that is compatible with the sustainable development goals.
Consequently, it is also important in the context of stressing the sustainable aspects
of traditional nourishment by taking under protection many more elements related to
cuisine culture.
First, by mentioning the importance of where the food and cuisine culture stands
according to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage, it will draw attention to the activities realized previously in the fields of
implementation of the Convention. The heritages related to the cuisine culture
that have entered the representative list as of 2003 when the Convention went into
effect will be studied critically. Subsequently, the multinational file policies of the
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will be evaluated.
While doing every one of these, attention will be drawn to the multinational file
opportunities that could be formed between the Turkish and Hungarian cultures by
taking into consideration the data of the field studies obtained within the scope of
the Interactive Project for the Shared Cuisine of Turkey and Hungary. The heritage
files presented related to the cuisine culture have been criticized by some researchers
with the justification that they support the transformation to nationalism, the
breaking away from their context, excessive commercialization, touristification and
the fast food culture. Certainly, this type of threat is not only for the elements, which
are presented related to the cuisine culture, they are also valid for the other heritage
fields. However, it appears that the threats, such as nationalization of cuisine with the
multinational file strategies that would be formed and excessive commercialization
could be prevented with multinational protection strategies. Consequently, it is
important to administer the shared cultural heritage accumulation of humanity with
multinational files related especially to the cuisine culture and to convey them to the
future.
28
The need to talk on the action of eating food and on cuisine is universal. To eat
food is beyond being only a bodily pleasure, it is a form of communication constituted
with the societal applications, beliefs, taboos and norms of many kinds of edible,
presentable and producible products, and a strong network of interaction. These
network cultures, religions, geographies and economies are connected to each other.
Every one of these connections mentioned also overlap with the UNESCO ideals,
because essentially, cuisine is a culture, an identity, a state of belonging, a dialogue,
a cultural diversity, a ritual, a societal sexuality, a nationality, an industry, a creativity, a
sustainable development and a universal form of communication.
The UNESCO takes an interest in the cuisine culture within the scope of many
conventions and programs. Among these are agricultural policy programs, the Creative
Cities Network, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity
of Cultural Expressions and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage. The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage stresses the living and continuously transforming structure of the
cultural heritage. It serves a key function in the present-day for being able to safeguard
the heritages, identities and cultural diversities of different groups, individuals and
communities under threat in response to the issue of globalization by transferring the
intangible cultural heritage from generation to generation. The expression intangible
cultural heritage treats completely the heritages living in the present-day and envisions
to safeguard them (Convention text, Article 2). The intangible cultural heritage treats
in an inclusive manner the cultural heritage, which lives in the present-day, more than
the heritages that remained in the past. It is aimed with this convention to be able
to safeguard the cultural heritage in a conscious manner by individuals, groups and
communities. When it is approached from this viewpoint, then it is observed that the
cuisine culture and the societal applications produced by it completely conform to the
definition of living heritage mentioned in the Convention. On this point, it is necessary
to mention what course was followed as of the first careful attention, which was for
the cuisine culture of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage.
At the Third Intergovernmental Committee meeting of the Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage realized in İstanbul in 2008, the
proposal was expressed by Peru, one of the party states, that a sub-category expert
meeting be organized on the practices related to the cuisine culture for developing
the implementation of the Convention. After this proposal was deemed suitable
by the Committee, the meeting of experts was realized in Vitré, France, from 4 to 5
April 2009. The experts at this meeting emphasized that the cuisine culture and the
practices related to these were not only a part of the act of eating and biological
needs, but that they were an important part of the history of culture distilled from
the experiences and knowledge of humanity throughout their long history. The
experts at the meeting decided that the cuisine applications contributed to the
feeling of identity and to the continuity of communities, groups and persons and
that cultural diversity contributed to the advancement of human creativity and
29
sustainable development. At the conclusion of the meeting, it was stressed among
those at the meeting that it was mandatory to provide for the participation in the
protection program processes for being able to safeguard the cuisine cultures of
the aforementioned groups, individuals and communities (Maffei 2012: 245). It can
be stated that after this meeting realized in Vitré, the attention of the party states
to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage started
to be oriented towards the cuisine culture. After the Vitré experts’ meeting, three
important heritages related to cuisine were recorded onto the Representative List
for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the Fifth Intergovernmental
Committee Meeting realized in 2010 for the Convention on the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage. These heritages, which were recorded in the field of
gastronomy, also showed that the careful attention of the party states to the UNESCO
Convention for the Intangible Cultural Heritage started to change. This success in
the field of gastronomy, which had not drawn much attention up until that year,
can be observed as the sliding to an important paradigm in the context of paying
more attention to the symbolic and ritualistic world produced around cuisine by the
communities.
One of these three heritages were the heritage file of Mexico titled “People of
Corn: The Ancestral Cuisine of Mexico. Rituals, Ceremonies and Cultural Practices of
the Cuisine of the Mexican People”, which was proposed for the List of Masterpieces
of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and which was not
accepted by the committee. Whereas, the justification for rejecting this file was the
fact that the ritualistic and symbolic meanings of corn in the Mexican culture were not
transferred sufficiently well. The fact that the file was rejected by the committee with
the justification that the ritualistic and symbolic aspects were neglected shows that the
heritage related to the cuisine culture of the Convention was not only treated in the
context of gastronomy, and that the entire cultural codes formed around food were
important, more than the calories, food values and contents of the materials. Cuisine
culture is evaluated within societal applications, which is one of the five fields of the
intangible cultural heritage. Whereas, societal applications mean the forms of action,
which are strengthened by feelings of identity and belonging of the community,
individuals or groups. The meals eaten together at religious festivals/national holidays,
special days and harvest seasons have a strengthening effect on the community
dynamics.
30
Mexico’s file, which was rejected in 2005, was once again presented to the
committee in 2010 with the title “Traditional Mexican Cuisine—Ancestral, Ongoing
Community Culture, the Michoacán Paradigm” and this time, it was registered on
the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Whereas,
the most important reason why this file was accepted by the committee is that the
file set forth the participation of the community as a value with priority and gave
place to a ritual world formed around this culture. This file presented, it recorded a
comprehensive cultural model to the list, which included the agricultural applications
belonging to the traditional Mexican cuisine, the rituals that developed connected to
this, the skills of the elderly, the kitchen equipment, materials and techniques and the
traditions and customs belonging to their ancestors. This heritage is possible with the
participation of many members of the community in the entire traditional food chain.
The process of eating together at the same table from the stage of sowing to the time
of harvest and afterwards is evaluated as a whole. Furthermore, an important reason
why this heritage was registered onto the list is that fact that it includes every one of
the aspects of the social, environmental and economic sustainable developments of
the heritage.
Two more files, other than this file, were registered on the representative list in
2010. One of these was the file titled “The Gastronomic Meal of the French”, which was
presented to the committee by France. The file that is on the subject of the fine points
of the French cuisine and what this expresses as a society and the cultural texture that
formed around it, is important.
The foods in the French cuisine, such as meals, births, weddings, anniversaries,
successes and unions, are the entire societal applications made for celebrating the
important moments in the lives of individuals and groups. It is the presentation of a
festive dinner table, which brings persons together for enjoying the good food and
alcoholic beverages of this cuisine. This type of food emphasizes unity, pleasure of
taste and the balance between persons and the nourishments in nature. Among
the important elements of the French cuisine the following can be listed as specific
actions, such as to have a recipe repertoire that is constantly developing; to preferably
buy local products for bringing the tastes together in the best manner; to match the
foods with wine; to have a beautiful and esthetic table order; and during the meal
to smell and taste the things and foods at the table. Furthermore, the French cuisine
is also attached to the past about traditions. It is considered to be rather important
to transfer the rituals to the young generation during the meal. The French cuisine
confronts us with a good example of bringing family and friends closer to each other
and for strengthening the societal ties.
Two heritages mentioned above, which were registered on the Representative
List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in the field of gastronomy, were
registered as a national heritage. Whereas, the Mediterranean Diet file was presented
as a multinational file by Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco. The Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage encourages multinational files.
Generally, the intangible cultural heritage is shared by communities on the lands
of more than one country and the multinational inscriptions belonging to these
31
types of heritage that are shared on the Lists constitute a significant mechanism
for the development of international cooperation. Consequently, the Committee
decided to form an online system that could announce the requests to prepare a
multinational file by the Party States in the fourteenth Agenda item of the Seventh
Intergovernmental Committee Meeting. Whereas, basically, the reason for the
preparation of this system was for the Party States to be able to learn of the moderator
countries and cooperation opportunities by seeing the multinational file candidates.
Furthermore, Article 1.5 of the Operational Directives of the Convention has been
separated on this subject:
States’ Parties are encouraged to jointly submit multinational
nominations to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent
Safeguarding and the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity when an element is found on the territory of more
than one State Party. The Committee encourages the submission of subregional or regional programs, projects and activities as well as those
undertaken jointly by States’ Parties in geographically discontinuous
areas. States’ Parties may submit these proposals individually or jointly
(Operational Directives, 2016: 30).
32
The Convention clearly states that multinational files are important for intercultural
dialogue and becoming closer and encourages the party states on this subject. The
first file related to multinational cuisine, which is registered on the representative list
of the Convention, is the element titled the “Mediterranean Diet”. This file, which was
expanded in 2013 with the participation of Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Morocco
and Portugal, is of importance as a multinational cuisine culture file. The Mediterranean
diet, includes a series of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions related to
the products obtained, harvest, fishing, animal husbandry, preservation, processing,
cooking and especially the sharing and consumption of foods. The cultural identity
and the continuity of the communities is the foundation in the Mediterranean basin
together with food. This is the moment of social change and communications and has
the meaning of the approval of the identity of the family, group or community. The
Mediterranean diet emphasizes a lifestyle oriented towards the values of hospitality,
neighborliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity and by showing respect for
diversity. It plays a vital role at the cultural places, festivals and celebrations and it
brings together persons of all ages, no matter what the conditions or societal classes.
It includes the production of the traditional art and craftsmanship for the transport,
preservation and consumption of food. Women play an important role in the transfer
of knowledge about the Mediterranean diet: in preserving the techniques, in feeling
respect for the seasonal rhythms and festival events and in conveying the values
of the element to new generations. The bazaars and markets related to food and
furthermore, during the application of reciprocal respect and understanding, the daily
Mediterranean shopping habit, plays an important role in the fields of education and
transfer on the Mediterranean diet.
Other than the Mediterranean diet, another one of the multinational cuisine
culture files, which has been registered on the Representative List of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity, has been registered on the list with the title of the
Flatbread-making and Sharing Culture: Lavaş (thin bread), Katırma, Jupka and Yufka
(very thin sheet of dough) at the Eleventh Intergovernmental Committee Meeting. The
culture of making and sharing bread, which has an important place in many cultures, is
also important for the countries, which participated in the file. Even if the preparation,
cooking, presentation and sharing traditions display diversity, it is similar in the file in
the context of helping one another and of the collective labor culture. Lavaş continues
to be made in the present-day, both in modern pastry shops and markets and in
traditional environments. Lavaş and yufka still hold an important place on special days,
such as births, weddings and deaths. They are among the indispensable items of the
preparations for winter in traditional environments. This file, which reflects properly
the hospitality, mutual support and sharing culture, also assumes important roles for
becoming closer culturally.
As it was also emphasized previously, the multinational files are proposed
as important safeguarding strategies for becoming closer interculturally and for
tolerance. Consequently, making the multinational files more widespread, which are a
means of bringing cultures closer together, should be encouraged for implementing
the UNESCO ideals. The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage, has placed importance on regional cooperation. In this context, the Turkish
National Commission for UNESCO has realized many shared project experiences. One
of these projects is the Interactive Project on the Traditional Cuisine of Turkey and
Hungary that was realized in Ankara, Eskişehir, Kütahya, İzmit, Tekirdağ and İstanbul,
Turkey, from 17 to 23 April 2016 and in Karsag, Kisujszallas, Jaszbereny, Jaszfenyszaru
and Budapest, Hungary, from 9 to 18 May 2016. Observations were made related to
the cuisine culture during the field studies and face-to-face discussions were realized.
The data obtained during these field studies provided the opportunity to determine
important shared points between the two cultures. In the direction of these shared
features, it was observed that there are opportunities for preparing a multinational file.
The other articles of the book discuss the subject shared features. It appears possible
to develop new projects in the axis of these shared features, which were determined
by the researchers from both cultures. These shared culture elements, which were
determined especially in the cuisine culture, showed that it would be possible to make
a multinational file for Turkey and Hungary.
33
References
Maffesi Maria Clara. ‘‘Culinary Traditions as Cultural Intangible Heritage and Expression of
Cultural Diversity’’. Cultural Heritage, Cultural Rights, Cultural Diversity New Developments
in International Law. Ed. Silvia Borelli, Fedorico Lenzerini. Leiden: Boston: Martinus Nijhoff
Publishers, 2012.
Maria de Miguel Molina, Blanca de Miguel Molina, Virginia Santamarina Campos & Maria del Val
Segarra Ona. “Intangible Heritage and Gastronomy: The Impact of UNESCO Gastronomy
Elements”, Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, Vol. 14, Iss.4: 293-310, 2016.
https://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/lists
https://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/krakelingen-and-tonnekensbrand-end-of
winterbreadand-fire-feast-at-geraardsbergen-00401
https://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/directives
https://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/gastronomic-meal-of-the-french-00437
https://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/turkish-coffee-culture-and-tradition-00645
34
The Taste of Entertainment:
Religious Festivals/National Holidays
and Festival Dishes in the Turkish and
Hungarian Cultures
Dilek Türkyılmaz*
One of the five basic areas of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage are “social practices, rituals and festive events” (2c). The
convention especially places importance on the transferring and safeguarding of
the social practices among generations. Religious festivals/national holidays are
special days that occur from a series of performances, which are determined by the
traditions of the forms and rules. Every type of art and folk dance form of the culture
being celebrated is transformed into a participative performance. The most important
attribute that distinguishes the religious festivals/national holidays, births, marriages,
deaths and many of the other societal applications and ceremonies, is the celebration
with a collective consciousness by every one of the individuals of the society. In this
context, religious festivals/national holidays, the rituals applied at religious festivals/
national holidays and the dishes, which almost become a united whole with these,
acquire importance. In all societies, by believing that certain days and events are blessed
and lucky or days, which are celebrated with joy all together for remembering those
days are called bayram in Turkish and there is a close relationship with the meaning of
the word. In the oldest Turkish examples, the word bayram was badram. The word in
Persian is paδrām and in the expression of the form in the same meaning of patrām in
Sogdian and it means joy, peace of mind, happiness and silence. The word bayram in
the Persian language is pati and sükûn, which have the meaning of back and repetition
and expressing it with patirama, which is formed from the joining of the word rāma,
which has the meaning of peace and happiness, is important from the aspect of telling
what is the meaning of religious festivals/national holidays for societies.
*
Asst. Assoc. Prof. Dr., Faculty Member, Department of Turkish Folklore, Gazi University, Ankara/Turkey,
[email protected]
35
It can be stated that in the lead of the celebrations that have the highest
participation in almost every one of the cultures are the religious festivals and national
holidays. Societies create religious festivals and national holidays in a form connected
to events, situations, thoughts and actions, which affect everyone in societal life. In
time, it shows continuity and takes on the form of tradition. Another attribute of
religious festivals/national holidays is the fact that it is celebrated on a certain day
or days of the year and that it is connected to a definite calendar. Acting from these
attributes, religious festivals/national holidays, the source of which is from the life of
the society, is a collective fact.
Religious festivals/national holidays can be defined as institutions with social
and cultural contents, which have multi-purposed and multi-functional complicated
structures that manifest the group identity and that are shared by the society on
days connected to the calendar. There are uniting, enlivening, educational and
calming functions. With the most general expression, religious festivals/national
holidays are among the most important components that add color and enrich our
daily lives. If monotony would flow, the time of the societies, which would become
indolent and weary if it flows monotonously, would eliminate the probability of
being monotonous. Religious festivals/national holidays are good opportunities to
recall the past with pleasure and for carrying hope about the future. Whereas, eatingdrinking are under consideration everywhere there is a religious festival/national
holiday and celebration. From this aspect, the tables are the part that addresses the
eyes and palate the most, which come mostly into the forefront in celebrations. The
celebration tables are those that are the most striking within the religious festival/
national holiday tables. Another attribute of the religious festival/national holiday
and festival tables is becoming closer interculturally and strengthening dialogue. The
foods eaten and the dinner tables set on such special days are accepted by everyone
without making a distinction for religion, language, race and gender. This is also an
indicator that the UNESCO ideals could be brought to light through a shared cuisine
culture.
36
In this paper, the religious feast/national holiday dishes will be dwelled upon, which
have the richest, most imposing and most colorful reflections and that strengthen
the feelings of identity and belonging of the Turkish and Hungarian societies and
that provide for becoming closer interculturally. This study was formed based on the
field studies made in Ankara, Eskişehir, Kütahya, İzmit and Tekirdağ in Turkey and in
Karcag, Kisujszállás, Jászberény, Jászfénszaru and Budapest in Hungary, the information
obtained from the written literature and data of the source persons. With this, the
UNESCO has targeted to create the probabilities of presenting a shared file as Turkey
and Hungary for the cuisine culture to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity.
Hungarian Holidays and Holiday Meals
1. Karácsony (Christmas)
It is a Christian religious festival that celebrates the birth of Jesus every year on 25
December. Furthermore, it is also known as Birth Religious Festival, Sacred Birth or Birth
Date of Christ Feast Day. Christmas is celebrated every year on 25 December by most
the Christians in the world. The celebrations start on Christmas eve on 24 December
and continue in some countries until the evening of 26 December. Some Eastern
Orthodox Churches, such as the Armenian Church, celebrate Christmas on 6 January,
which is equivalent to 25 December on the Julian calendar. The Christmas celebrations,
which start preparations months previously in the present-day, pass rather colorfully
in Christian countries. The date of birth of Jesus is celebrated by the Hungarians with
the name of Karácsony.
Karácsony, that is, Christmas, is the most important holiday for the Hungarians,
just as it is for the entire Christian societies. Karácsony is a beautiful family holiday. The
celebrations start with decorating the Christmas tree by the family on the evening
of 24 December. The family members put the gifts they bought under the tree. They
read sections related to Jesus from the New Testament and pray. After exchanging
gifts, they sit at the dinner table and eat dinner. Fish soup (Halászlé) and fish are the
indispensables of this dinner table, because fish in Christianity are one of the symbols
of Jesus.
The noon meal at which the entire family also participates on the first day of
Christmas is very important and the dinner table is very rich at this meal. First, a soup
made from chicken meat and given the name of Húsleves is eaten. This soup is made
by adding vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, parsley root and celery to the chicken
meat. The other foods that decorate this table are Töltött káposzta (sarma {grape leaves
stuffed with meat and rice}), stuffed cabbage leaves), roasted pig, turkey and duck,
various fruits, desserts and wine. On the second day of Christmas relatives visit each
other. Children definitely visit the family elders. Food is offered to those who come on
this day, but on that day special meals are not prepared.
The Hungarian families would select András day (30 November) for the slaughter
of pigs in the periods, especially when there were no refrigerators. Since the weather
had cooled off considerably in these periods, it was relatively easier to preserve a large
amount of meat. They would preserve the large pieces by salting them and they would
consume the small pieces as cabbage with meat (káposztáshús) or stuffed cabbage
leaves (töltött káposzta). After cooking the lungs and liver, they would mix it with rice
and fill intestines and would make Hurka, which is a type of sausage without pepper.
Of course, from these foods, which were made at a time very close to Christmas, they
would definitely put them on the dinner table (Bartha, 2016).
37
2. Húsvét (Easter)
Easter or Húsvét, with the name of the Hungarians, is the oldest and most important
religious festival in Christianity. After Jesus was nailed to the cross, his resurrection
on the third day is celebrated. Before the Easter religious festival, the preparatory
period starts, which changes in form connected both to the churches and to different
perceptions within history and has been formed in a gradated manner for centuries. In
the present-day, many churches apply this for a period of forty days. In Eastern Europe,
Easter is also celebrated as St. George’s Day. St. George is a widespread cult. St. George,
who was one of Jesus’ 12 Apostles and was known as a dragon hunter and deliverer
(a type of Hızır {an immortal being reputed to come to the rescue of those in deep
distress}) and fought against evil actions with the legendary weapon in his hand.
This period expresses the period of atonement called to show a special effort for
persons to be saved from their sins by the church. This period is accepted as a fortyday fasting and time of spiritual purification in preparing for Easter by being purified
from their sins in this manner and in which persons expend efforts to renew spiritually,
just as nature is renewed in spring. In the final week of this period (holy week) various
religious services and ceremonies are performed. The new fire, which symbolizes the
resurrection of the savior Jesus on Holy Saturday, is sanctified with Easter oil lamps,
baptism basin and baptism water. Also, on this day, those who want to join the church
realize their baptism and those who are baptized renew their vows about living suitably
to their baptisms. At the end of this week the Easter religious service is performed. One
of the most striking within the Easter entertainments, especially in small settlements,
like villages, is the custom of men to generally wet women by sprinkling cold water
and sometimes pleasant scents on them. Before doing this, the men read a short poem
to the girls and almost get their permission. In response to this, women give painted
Easter eggs and sometimes chocolate to men (Judith, 2016).
Although there are differences among religious denominations, the Easter season
is the period from approximately the end of March to the end of April. Whereas, Easter
Day, which is celebrated mostly on Sunday in the churches of the world and which is
not realized on a set day each year, is also called Resurrection Feast Day, Resurrection
Sunday or Resurrection Day. Easter is celebrated by all the Christians. Other than the
religious services organized prevalently at the churches, there are different traditions
that are celebrated according to the country. Among these, the most widespread is
generally giving gifts of Easter bunnies made of chocolate and Easter eggs.
38
To eat bread and drink wine at the religious services held at churches on the first
day of the Easter holiday is believed to be a good deed. The painted Easter eggs are
another component, which is definitely needed at Easter. It was believed that the
God of the Sun was at the center of the egg yolk, whereas, surrounding it were the
Goddesses, who symbolized abundance. Eggs, at the same time, are the symbol of
birth, life and resurrection. It is the symbol of new beginnings, continuity, growth and
abundance. Eggs roll down from the hills. Mainly the Catholics hide chocolate eggs in
some places in gardens and provide for children to find them and sometimes they also
put small toys inside the chocolate eggs. Mostly red and green are preferred for the
eggs that will be dyed. The eggs are dyed mostly these two colors at Easter from the
aspect of representing the flow of Jesus’ blood on green places. Onion skins are also
benefitted from when dyeing the eggs.
Dishes made from mutton are mainly preferred in many regions of Hungary in
contrast to the other holidays. The sheep is slaughtered on Easter day and the mutton
is cooked in various forms. Today, it is known that there are over twenty types of
mutton dishes in the Kuman region. At the same time, it comes into the forefront today
to the extent of eggs from the aspect of the representation of the production and
revival of nature of the sheep and the sheep giving birth to lambs. Besides mutton, it
is also observed that pork is eaten. Another one of the most important foods of the
Easter meals are eggs, which are believed to represent abundance and reproduction
and if they are eaten that day, then a year will pass in abundance and plenty. Sweet
bread is also one of the most important elements of the Easter meals. Children receive
chocolates in the shape of eggs from the bunny rabbit (sometimes it could be fruit
and hazelnuts or chocolates in the shape of bunny rabbits). Sometimes these gifts are
hidden in the garden or at home (Bartha, 2016).
Farsang (Shepherd’s Christmas Holiday)
Farsang (Shepherd’s Christmas Holiday) is the name given to the entertaining activities,
which shows the attribute more of a festival than a religious holiday, is celebrated on
6 January, especially in the Mohaćs region of Hungary, for frightening winter away
and for preparing to greet spring. During these activities, which are held before Easter,
since the objective is to be saved from the severe conditions of winter, people wear
frightening costumes made from sheepskins and at the same time, by emitting ugly
sounds with the sounds of large bells hung around their necks, it distances the world
from winter and invites spring. A human figure made from straw, which represents
persons, is put in a coffin and the coffin is either put in the river or it is thrown into
a fire. To be saved from winter means that after this application, everyone dances
together and has a good time. During these entertainments, which have the meaning
of a type of renewal, young persons, who plan to get married, hold their weddings.
Whereas, it is believed that girls who do not marry at this time must wait another year
(Tóth, 2016).
There is a type of sweet round/ring-shaped/braided cookie or bread roll (farsangi
fánk) made at Farsang. This sweet, which is made of milk, flour and eggs, is fried in oil
and is eaten by spreading powdered sugar or syrupy jam on it. This is the only special
food made for this carnival.
39
Turkish Religious Festivals and Religious Festival Dishes
1. Ramazan (Ramadan) and Kurban (Feast of the Sacrifice) Religious Festivals
When mentioning religious festivals in the Turkish folk culture, the Ramazan (Ramadan)
and Kurban (Feast of the Sacrifice) religious festivals come to mind. Since the times
of the religious festivals are calculated connected to the lunar calendar, not the solar
calendar, since our lives have been regulated according to the solar calendar, the
festivals are not encountered on the same days every year. There is a difference of ten
days between the two calendar systems and consequently, the religious festivals are
celebrated ten days earlier every year compared to the previous year. Therefore, the
religious festivals are falling on the same day only once every 36 years.
The Ramadan Religious Festival is celebrated for three days and the Feast of the
Sacrifice is celebrated for four days. The religious festival celebrations in the Turkish
folk culture are official holidays. In our religious festival celebration tradition, there are
some special religious days, which are celebrated in various manners, even if not to
the extent of these two religious festivals. In the lead of these types of special religious
days are various ceremonies, such as the kandil (the day preceding a kandil {one of
five Islamic holy nights when the minarets are illuminated}), days, Mevlid (the night of
the birth of the Prophet Muhammad{the twelfth night of Rabi I}), Miraç (the night of
the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous journey to heaven {twenty-seventh of Rajab}),
Beraat (Acquittal), Kadir (the Night of Power {the twenty-seventh of Ramadan, when
the Holy Koran was revealed}) Şebi Arus Night (The Wedding Day every 17 December,
the night of Mevlana’s death, when he was reunited with his Beloved, with the Divine)
and Ayin-i Cem (a ceremony of worship performed by various dervish orders). The
basic attribute of the celebrations of the Ramadan and Feast of the Sacrifice Religious
Festivals is to visit reciprocally with each other, friends, in-laws, relatives and friends,
and to ask how they are doing. Young persons kiss the hands of the elderly; and
receive their prayers invoking God’s favor. The very elderly cannot leave their homes
and one does not expect them to visit. Everyone goes to kiss their hands. Candy,
chocolate and especially at the Ramadan Religious Festival, baklava, kadayıf (oven
baked shredded pastry with pistachio filling in thick syrup) and similar desserts are
offered to visitors.
The Feast of the Sacrifice is the religious festival to give thanks and gratitude to
God by killing an animal as a sacrifice and by distributing the meat to poor persons.
According to widespread beliefs, the Prophet Abraham wanted to sacrifice his son
to God and at that time, God wanted him to sacrifice a ram instead of his son. After
that date, to sacrifice to God continued in the Islamic Faith by killing an animal as a
sacrifice.
40
Religious festivals are met by “religious festival cleaning” made in the homes
before each religious festival and similar “preparations”. On the first day of the
religious festivals, the religious festival namaz (ritual of worship centered in prayer)
is performed and later the family graves are visited. To kill an animal as a sacrifice has
entered the Islamic Faith connected to this moment. “Visits to the graveyard” are of
extreme importance. In recent years, besides congratulating the religious festivals of
those far away with greeting cards, it is observed that religious festival congratulations
via the telephone and electronic post have also become widespread. At both religious
festivals, after leaving the mosque on the morning of the religious festival, hands are
kissed and greetings for the religious festival are exchanged and persons sit at the
religious festival dinner table, which has been filled with dishes, which started to be
prepared days ago; especially the first day of the religious festival, the entire family
comes together at these meals and they are the best meals set out throughout the
entire year.
To eat dessert before the religious festival namaz is among the religious festival
traditions. Men put on clean and new clothing before and after going to the mosque
to perform the religious festival namaz. The men who come out from the religious
festival namaz exchange religious festival greetings with each other after the namaz
in front of the mosque. Careful attention is paid for relatives to come together at the
religious festival morning breakfast. It is observed that in some villages or towns, the
wealthy families prepare meals instead of breakfast and give a meal to a crowded
group as a religious festival meal. Sometimes, it is also possible to give a meal as a
group in the courtyards of the mosque.
The religious festival meals, which are prepared with a richer breakfast menu
within the city life of the present-day, and especially in the places where the Turkish
traditional culture is kept alive, the table is filled with the most important dishes of the
Turkish Cuisine. Although it can show differences from region to region, traditional
Turkish dishes and desserts, such as soup, stuffed vine leaves, su böreği (a börek made
of layers of noodle-like pastry filled with cheese/meat), stewed fruit and baklava are
among the indispensables of this meal. Whereas, if the Feast of the Sacrifice is being
celebrated, then it is the custom to have breakfast with the braising made from the
sacrifice meat.
The main attribute of the Ramadan and Feast of the Sacrifice religious festivals is
the coming together with visiting tours of neighbors, friends and relatives. Sometimes,
those who live in the cities, by taking the opportunity during the religious festival
days, visit their elders and relatives, who live in the villages. Young persons kiss the
hands of their elders and receive their blessings. It is also traditional to give money
and gifts to children who kiss the hands of their elders. Whereas, to those who come
to visit, it is the custom to offer candy, Turkish delight, baklava and coffee. Whereas,
if it is the Feast of the Sacrifice, then it is the custom to offer from the braising of the
meat prepared.
41
Hıdırellez
The coming of spring after a tiring winter has been celebrated for thousands of years
by all societies. The reanimation of nature every year also revives the hopes of persons.
The hopes that re-emerge have been transformed into celebrations with similar states
of mind in different geographies. In the geography of Turkey, the hopes re-emerge
at Hıdırellez (festival held on 6 May to celebrate the coming of summer), whereas, in
other places of the world it is the re-emergence with the celebrations made on St.
George or Kara Sara days. Societies celebrate the coming of spring every year within
the framework of their beliefs and lifestyles.
On the night, which connects 5 May to 6 May, Hızır (an immortal person believed to
come in time of need), the terrestrial saint, meets with İlyas (Elijah), the maritime saint
and the earth, sky and entire nature, which witnesses this meeting, virtually becomes
revived. This revival indicates that there is a transition to spring and that now summer
has begun. This night is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Anatolia and in other
geographies as well.
The Hıdırellez celebrations are always made in green, wooded areas, at the edges
of water, next to a tomb or a place where a holy man is buried. It is the custom to
eat the fresh plants of spring and the fresh lamb’s meat or lamb’s liver at Hıdırellez.
It is believed that when the first lamb of spring is eaten, it will bring health and
recovery of one’s health. It is believed that if one collects flowers or wild grass in
the countryside on this day and drinks the water after boiling them, then it will be
good for all diseases, and that if one bathes with this water for forty days, then one
will become younger and beautiful. On Hıdırellez day, just like Easter, eggs are dyed
and knocked together, then it is believed that in this manner, that year will pass in
abundance and plenty.
42
As it can be observed, food is an indispensable part of the celebrations in both
cultures. Some of the important issues that we were confronted with when collecting
the data of this project are that the most imposing dinner tables were set almost
everywhere when there was a celebration, that dishes were made that were believed
to be sacred, and that there were differences in the forms of making and sharing the
dishes made on such days. Despite the social and cultural differences between the
two cultures, it was observed that there were similarities between the foods eaten at
Húsvét, which is a Hungarian festival, and Hıdırellez, which is a Turkish festival. At these
two festivals, especially the similarity in the eating of eggs and lamb/mutton, which
represent renewal, abundance and proliferation, should not be overlooked. At the
conclusion of the study made, it was observed that in both cultures the cuisine culture
was transferred from generation to generation at the religious feast and festival tables.
In this context, it was observed that the shared taste and cultures of the tables set was
united by the intangible cultural heritage.
References
Belge, Murat. Tarih Boyunca Yemek Kültürü (Cuisine Culture Throughout History). İstanbul: İletişim
Yayınları, 2001 (in Turkish).
Goody, Jack. Yemek, Mutfak, Sınıf Karşılaştırmalı Sosyoloji Çalışması (Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A
Study in Comparative Sociology). Güran, Müge Günay, trans. İstanbul: Pinhan Yayınları,
2013 (in Turkish).
Tasnadi, Edit. “Macar Mutfağında Türk Yemekleri” (Turkish Foods in Hungarian Cuisine). In: Halıcı,
Feyzi, ed. Dördüncü Milletlerarası Yemek Kongresi Kitabı, 3-6 Eylül 1992, Türkiye. Konya:
Kombassan A.Ş. Yayınları, 1993 (in Turkish).
Tezcan, Mahmut. Türk Yemek Antropolojisi Yazıları (Anthropology Articles on Turkish Cuisine).
Ankara: T.C. Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2000 (in Turkish).
Source Persons
Ágnes Tóth, 32, Budapest, Hungary, Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Julia Bartha, 60, Karcag, Hungary, Folklore Researcher.
Kis Judith, 28, Jaszbereny, Hungary, Personnel at the Jasz Museum.
43
Points of Connection Between
Turkish and Hungarian Dietary Culture
Júlia Bartha*
Introduction
Hungarian rural dietary culture carries a rich oriental heritage. Our culture received three
waves of oriental impact. During the time of the Takeover we brought along elements
of knowledge which had entered our culture through living amidst Turkic peoples. The
names of cereals (búza and árpa meaning wheat and barley), the names of fruits (alma
and szőlő meaning apples and grapes), other plant names and the entire vocabulary of
sheep-keeping are of Turkic origin (Kakuk 1996), except for those words which became
incorporated when the Vlachian stratum of shepherds appeared – most of which are
related to the techniques of processing yew’s milk. The Kun and Jász population, which
settled in this county in the 13th century, enriched our culture by a new Oriental layer
which was further reinforced later by the Turkish administration of this country. Viewed
in the light of these facts it becomes understandable that the influence of the Turkish
administration found its way easily into rural culture, particularly into horticulture and,
via commerce, into dietary culture, because it meant a good example and improved
on the existing range of foods. Reception was made easier by the fact that the people
living on the Great Plane practically continued their former culture of the Steppes. This
meant the kind of foundation which profoundly connected Hungarian culture with
Central Asian and Anatolian Turkish culture because although they were far removed
from each other in both time and space, the method of land cultivation and lifestyle
which developed under analogous ecological circumstances continued to thrive. Thanks
to the works of turcologists and historians of economics published in the last third of
the 20th century we now have a more nuanced picture about conditions in Hungary
under Turkish administration. Research has yielded a number of new conclusions about
the way in which the occupants managed and organised life in Hungary. Analysing the
data of tax records and knowing the system of public administration it now appears to
the researchers that before the end of the 16th century neither the population, nor the
*
Júlia Bartha, PhD. Turkologist, ethnographer, Member of the research network of the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences, retired head of department of the directorate of the Museums in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok
County.
[email protected]
45
economy itself suffered the degree of destruction that had been assumed (Dávid 1991;
Hegyi 1995; Ágoston 1992). Real destruction set in not as a consequence of the fights
but due to the subsequent onslaught of ‘morbus hungaricus’, the disease which made
Hungary’s name ill-omened and widely known throughout Europe. A combination
of typhoid fever, dysentery and malaria, the epidemic first appeared in the first half of
the 16th century and was carried by affected mercenary soldiers to several countries
throughout Europe. The disease was caused mostly by extreme weather conditions, the
presence of extensive marshlands and the lack of sufficient hygiene (Ágoston 1992: 123).
In the administration territories often we see, instead of economic decline, the
signs of growing prosperity: an increasing boom in cattle-breeding, highly developed
viniculture, horticulture, bustling market towns which evolved into regional trade centres
in this very period and laid the foundations of their later affluence. The occupants, often
decried as barbarians, turned out in retrospect to have settled in this country with the
mentality of the careful landowner and although they drew considerable revenues
from taxes, bearing these in mind they catered to provide circumstances for successful
farming. The presence of the Turks did not topple the system of previous institutions.
Although they divided the administration areas into vilayets and sanjaks, these Turkish
offices failed to take root and to exercise any effective influence over the everyday life of
the Hungarian people beyond tax-collecting. The Turks never actually administration the
whole of Hungary as their rule extended only over the central third of the country. 1 Since
this region represented the frontier status
within their empire most of the occupants
were soldiers and lived relatively secluded
lives. There were no Anatolian peasants
settling in Hungarian villages and even in the
towns and cities they did not appear in great
numbers. There were some settlers, but not
many – only the number required to secure
the alimentation of the local army, collecting
the taxes and securing religious practice.
Along with the soldiers came the officials of
the local administration and the artisans and
merchants tending to the needs of those
living so far removed from their home. The
total number did not exceed 50,000 if that
(Ágoston 1992: 126). They administration
Hungarian houses in the villages and towns,
Market (Alanya, 2013)
46
1
This is what historians call a condominium i.e. joint Turkish-Hungarian owndership.
sharing their lot with the local population and slowly shaped the towns to their own
liking. The typical quarters of Turkish towns, mahalle appeared. Next to the djami they
also built medrese (schools), kitchens for the poor and public baths; in the larger cities
also a hospital and a library. Indispensable elements of the Turkish lifestyle were small
workshops of artisans which formed separate units arranged into streets according to
the various crafts. There were streets for bootmakers, potters, coppersmiths, tinsmiths,
furriers, belt-makers, locksmiths, pen-cutters, barbers, bakers and butchers. Their memory
is still preserved in some places in the form of street names. Right beside them, of course,
there were also Hungarian butchers and publicans, too – the only difference being that
Hungarian butchers sold pork and the publicans served wine, while the Turkish drinkvendors sold serbet and boza. In between them there were also small grocery shops
where they sold herbs, spices and oriental fabrics imported from distant lands. There
were also masters who cooked the Turkish foods unknown to the Hungarians and sewed
pieces of clothing. After the Turkish fashion, the artisans sat and worked in the open
street… Anyone who is acquainted with contemporary Turkey can very easily imagine
this, as this is normal everyday sight in cities even today in the Eastern part of the country.
Wholesale trade was made possible by large covered warehouse stores called bedesten
which were built in the major cities (Bartha 1997: 59-71). In Buda, the bedesten was in the
square just outside today’s Matthias Church (Ágoston 1992: 132). Whenever necessary,
they also stored products in the djamis, particularly military supplies. The various
peace treaties between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire created highly
favourable conditions for merchants who handled a considerable turnover in goods.
Itinerant trade gradually became re-directed from Venice toward the West, its new centre
was first Vienna and the Pest. Itinerant traders also appeared in major market towns and
later as shop owners (Papp 2004: 74). It was through them and by the mediation of the
local bourgeois population that a great many kitchen requisites, herbs, spices and dishes
found their way to Hungary from Turkey and the Balkans. Turkish dietary culture was
shaped by the plurality and ethnic complexity of the Ottoman Empire and its resulting
multi-cultural character. The culinary culture of the Turkic population which preserved
the Central Asian traditions was most powerfully affected by the cultures of Greece and
the Middle East. This is also what then went on to affect Hungarian culture and left lasting
traces on the areas of dietary culture mentioned above.
Horticulture, viniculture, fruit production
In Hungary the various types of fruit from the Balkans were introduced and regular
fruit production took root in the 16th century, and the first real boom in fruit
production came in the 17-18th centuries. Of the fruits grown in this country, apples,
water chestnuts, rowan berries, strawberries and hazelnuts are the fruits mentioned in
documents as early as the 11th century. Some fruits, including cornels, apples, walnuts,
pears and sloe get their names (som, alma, dió, körte, kökény) from Old Turkish, and
belong to the layer of Hungarian dating back to the Takeover, which means that
47
48
the Hungarian had known these fruits
long before the Turkish period. Clearly this
was part of the reason why the cultural
stratum of the Turkish administration could
easily become incorporated in overall
Hungarian culture. That great traveller
of the 17th century, Evliya Chelebi wrote
about fruit production in Pécs in tones of
admiration. He records that there were 170
types of fruit produced there at the time
– he himself tasted 47 kinds of pears in
one day in the house of Alay Beg (Surányi
1985: 78). Turkish rule brought no changes
for the worse as regards horticulture and
viniculture. The range was enriched by a
number of new types in the administration
areas which only came under Turkish rule
in subsequent waves. (The Szerémség area
Vine-harvest decoration, Pécs, 2016.
as early as 1523, while the centre of the
country after the lost battle of Mohács.)
Under Turkish influence considerable centres of gardening developed in a number
of locations. Although wine grapes had to go due to the religious ban on alcohol
in Islam, but this is the period when products distilled from wine began their rise to
popularity, since the prohibitions of the Quran were interpreted as not to apply to
‘cooked wines’(Surányi 1985: 175). Due to tax holidays a great many vineyards were
planted on the Great Plane, as well as elsewhere. For instance, the town of Jászberény
did not pay tax to the porta for 16 year because they planted vines over an extensive
area (Bathó 2014: 9-11), but the vine-growing areas of Szekszárd, Tolna and Pécs
also survived Turkish rule undamaged. We know from Evliya Çelebi’s records (Evlija
1985) that viniculture was significant around Buda. According to information from
the castellan of Buda there were altogether 7000 vineyards in Buda ranging from
the Középhegy hills, Szabadság hill and Gellért hill to the hill of Kelen and including
Óbuda. Visiting Kassa, Evliya Chelebi describes vineyards where there were 22 types
being grafted. This was the period when the black common grapevine (Vitis vinifera),
black muscat, blue and red ‘kecskecsöcsű’, red crimson and white ‘pumpkin grapes’
as well as ‘pumpkin currants’ (csausz) started to appear in the vineyards, as well as
Kadarka which began spreading fast. Kadarka had existed even before 1526 (Surányi
1985: 175-176). Commerce was also affecting garden cultivation considerably – cities
such as Kecskemét (with is unique gardening culture) and Debrecen grew particularly
strong. Going to pubs to drink now became a common practice not only at centres of
commerce but even at places of production. So much so that in 1661 the ‘three cities
passed a decree to stop people visiting the pubs (Novák 2016).
Although Hungary had always cultivated some excellent fruit species, the
production of sour cherries and cherries rose considerably in the 16th century. The sour
cherries of Szentes are supposed by tradition to have originated in Turkish times when
a Turk called Ahmet saved the life of the high commissioner of Szentes, Gáspár Bartha
and this enamoured Turkish officer had the first sour cherry trees brought the first sour
cherry trees to Szentes (Surányi 1985: 99).
Apricots are first mentioned in works on medical herbs and botany in the 16th
century which refer to the fruit as sárga barack or tengeri barack. In her journal in the 18th
century Anna Bornemissza speaks of kajszifák, (apricot trees) – there must have been
some in the garden of Miklós Zrínyi. The one and a half centuries of Turkish rule must
have had a favourable influence on apricot growing. Evliya Chelebi mentions apricots
in several towns of the south of this country, as well as Pécs, Tolna, Fehérvár and Buda
– the one at Pécs supposedly yielding fruit which is particularly large… Tradition has
it that at Halas people started to grow apricots inspired by the Turks. In the early 17th
century the leaders of Kecskemét, Nagykőrös and Abony were greatly troubled by the
crops being frozen because they were nevertheless compelled to pay the one-tenth
tax even though the fruit had frozen…(Surányi 1985: 93). Eventually it was in the area
between the rivers Duna and Tisza that apricots really became common, although
some local variants must be prevalent in other areas, too.
Aubergines had been indigenous in the
Mediterranean area and the Balkans since
the 17th century. They reached this country
through Turkish mediation which is why the
rural name of the fruit is törökparadicsom,
meaning Turkish tomato. This is one of the
most popular vegetables used in Turkish
cuisine – a versatile plant used in many
ways. Perhaps the most widely known dish,
stuffed aubergines, bears the name imám
bayıldı, meaning ‘the imam has fainted’.
It is an indispensable part of Hungarian
lecsó and of various salads, but grill dishes
are also unimaginable without it. It also
remains a much loved part of Transylvanian
cuisine to this day. The surrounding nations,
including Romanians and Bulgarians, have
also borrowed aubergines from the Turks
The paprika brought a great turn in the
Hungarian cuisine.
49
and it has become a significant part of rural cooking. The Turks also consider it an
aphrodisiac – no wonder its folklore name translates as love apple.
As regards our Mediterranean fruits, carob or St. John’s bread (Ceratonia siliqua) has
long been known and is even mentioned by Herod and Pliny. Tradition has it that St.
John the Baptist in his solitude ate the fruit of the carob tree, hence it gained its name.
In Turkey it is eaten by many as a normal food supplement, while the ground version
of the skin of the fruit is used to flavour coffee. It is sold widely in any Turkish grocery
under the name koç boynuzu (ram’s horn) and is supposed to act as an aphrodisiac,
particularly fit to boost male potency…
Wild strawberries (szamóca) are mentioned, among others, by János Dernschwam
who saw the fruit in great quantities during his travels as envoy to Turkey. ‘I saw
bushes similar to sloe growing in rocky spots along the coast. They produce lovely red
berries that are the same shape as strawberries. (…) In Turkish these are referred to as
kocayemiş. One of our forgotten fruits, medlar (Hungarian naspolya, Turkish maşmala)
originally comes from Asia Minor. It is known to have ben planted by Western monastics,
particularly the Benedictines, even in earlier times, but gained major popularity only
in the Turkish administration areas. Even today it is mostly in Csongrád County that
people plant medlar.
Figs originally come from the Mediterranean and spread from there over the world
mostly through commerce. They are grown mostly in the countries surrounding the
Mediterranean. ever since antiquity, Asia Minor had been famous for its various types
of figs and its methods of drying the fruit. This is described by famous geographer of
the age, Strabon, who was born in the beautiful Turkish town of Amasya. During the
Turkish period, Hungary’s fig production was most significant in areas which formed
part of the Ottoman Empire. It was mostly planted by the Ottomans themselves. Figs
still grow in Hungary, particularly the Izmir breed (ancient Smirna), but Hungarian figs
are not suited for drying, because the fig wasp responsible for its pollination does not
survive under this climate and thus the fruit produced here is different in kind from
that grown in Turkey (Surányi 1985: 132).
Herbs and spices play a very important role in both Turkish and Hungarian cooking
habits. Herbs used in the gastronomy of both countries include sage (Salvia officinalis)
which the Turkish also think of as a medical herb; juniper berries (ardic in Turkish,
Juniperus communalis) which is used to flavour roasts, saffron (a natural colouring used
when cooking rice), rosemary (Turkish name kuş dili; Rozmarinus officinalis), thyme
(kekik otu; Thymus vulgaris), peppermint (nane; Mentha piperitae), garlic, common
onioins (Allium cepa), parsley, black pepper and paprika….
50
Paprika, by now a most indispensable Hungarian spice, was once referred to as
Turkish pepper and in 1570 blossomed merely as an ornamental plant in Margit
Széchy’s garden. It found its way into Hungarian culinary culture through Turkish
mediation. First in conquered the cooking of the peasantry and eventually became
a must-have in colouring and flavouring dishes of the aristocracy. River valleys of the
Great Plane granted excellent conditions for growing the paprika plant as a spice. It
was also used as a medical herb deployed in combatting the fever Morbus Hungaricus
common in swampy areas. It is mentioned in 1775 as a medical herb by József Csapó
in his book Új füves és viragos Magyar kert (The New Hungarian Garden of Herbs and
Flowers), as one that ‘brings great heat to the human blood’. It is a fact that paprika
brought colour to our culinary culture – our meat dishes, particularly pörkölt and
gulyás (‘Goulash’) are unimaginable without it. Sweetcorn or maize (Zea mays), referred
to as kukorica in vernacular Hungarian, tengeri in the rural language and törökbúza
(literally Turkish wheat) in the Transylvanian dialect, it was already present in Southern
European gardens in the early 16th century. István Györffy writes, ‘At first sweet corn,
which became widespread during the Turkish rule, was not part of the normal crop
rotation and only gradually came to replace the spring sowing or the fallow stage
during the 18th century.’ (Györffy 1934). Sweet corn became known not only as animal
fodder but also as a food for human consumption as part of rural gastronomy replacing
cereals, particularly in Transylvania and the Great Plane. Puliszka and málé are types of
cornmeal mush which became widespread after the 17th century and it is possible that
migrations and the settling of Romanian shepherds also played a part in the process
(Ágoston 1992: 107-108).
Rice dishes
Cereals grown commonly in the 16th century, such as wheat, rye, barley, millet and
oats, covered the needs of alimentation of the general public but were not sufficient for
also supplying the army. During the time of Turkish rule new culinary habits started to
appear. In order to supply their army, the Turks began to produce rice in their territories
on the Balkans. This is how this plant also came to be known in Hungary. Huge rice
plantations were established in the South of the country, but these were eradicated
after the Turkish army withdrew and rice production was not re-launched until the 20th
century when breeds adapted to the climate of our country were developed. It had,
however, become a fixture in our culinary culture and so it can fairly be declared that we
owe our rice-based dishes to the Turks as they became widespread during the time of
the administration (Ketter 1985: 259). The best example is rizses hús (pilaf ) – a dish most
popular in the cuisine of both nations. Turkish people mostly make it from mutton,
while in Hungary mutton and rice is a dish mostly cooked in the Nagykunság area
under the name juhhúsos kása. Another common rice-based dish in both Hungarian
and Turkish cuisine is stuffed paprika (Hnngarian töltött paprika, Turkish biber). The only
major difference is that Turkish people use mutton for the stuffing, while in Hungarian
cooking it is substituted by pork.
51
Various dishes where a rice-andmeat filling is stuffed inside cabbage or
grape leaves are still thought of as the
best known foods of Turkish cuisine. The
nomadic Turkic peoples did not grow
cabbage or rice –they adopted these
cultivated plants after the administration
of Constantinople (1435) from the
population engaged in irrigating farming
of the Byzantian fashion and passed
this skill on to the rest of Europe. The
The stuffed cabbage plays an honourable role
Hungarian dish referred to as stuffed
among cabbage meals.
cabbage (töltöttkáposzta), seen as
a national classic, has been known since the time of the Turkish administration. Its
popularity is understandable since meat and cabbage had always been a popular
combination in Hungarian cuisine. A MS Booklet of the Art of Cooking originating from
the court of the Zrínyis from before 1662 refers to cabbage and meat as the token food
of Hungary. Péter Apor offers the following laudation of cabbage meat, ‘No food more
beloved by Hungarians could be found in past times than cabbage.’
52
The extent to which the emigrant population exiled from the country after
Rákóczi’s War of Independence managed to retain their Hungarian culinary habits is
indicated by one of the very few data we have – one of the letters of Kelemen Mikes.
‘Therefore I say that a finely composed letter pleases the mind no less than the palate
is pleased by cabbage finely covered in dill, and sour cabbage which appear from a
distance like a little mountain of silver. (…) All I can worry myself about now is when
I can eat cabbage again.’ This allows us to conclude that the dish known as dolma
or sarma was not known at Rodosto at the time, even though it was considered a
national dish along the Black Sea coast and so around Trabzon, too, and is much liked
to this day. Its first Hungarian description appeared in 1695 in Tótfalusi’s cookbook and
it only became widespread in Hungary in the 18th century, under Turkish influence.
Even today it is called by the name sarma, or stuffed cabbage, in Transylvania and
the Southern parts of the country. The 200-year-old recipe tells us to make it from
beef, as follows. ‘Ask for some cow’s meat of the kind you would use for sausages
or stuffed cabbage, peel off the veins and the blueish skin and cut it very fine. Take
some good bacon and chop it very small, then take a handful of rice, wash it and mix
it with the chopped meat and the bacon. Add salt and pepper as is due. Break two
eggs over it all and mix it thoroughly. Take the leaves of a sour cabbage and cut the
thick stalks out, put as much of the stuffing as you find fit into each leaf and then
fold them up neatly. Once that is done, take one or two whole heads of cabbage and
chop them into small slices, put a handful in the bottom of the saucepan, then four
or five of the folded pieces, then again the fine chopped cabbage. Sprinkle 15 whole
grains of mild pepper on top of it all. Lay a few slices of bacon over the top and so
fill the saucepan right to the top, with the pepper and the bacon, but make sure it is
not tight so that you can shake it well while cooking. Fill the pot up with good beef
bouillon, once it is all done, add a good roux, sprinkle saffron on top and serve it
warm.’ (Simai 2011: 276).
One popular rice dish characteristic of both Turkish and Hungarian cuisine,
particularly in the Eastern part of the Great Plane in the Nagykunság region, is
töltike – minced meat with rice stuffed inside vine leaves. The Turkish variant, (yaprak
sarması) is usually made without meat, and is flavoured with currants, parsley, mint,
allspice and cinnamon; they slice lemons on top and so cook it. It is usually served
cold, decorated with parsley. Turkish cuisine uses a very wide array of vegetables, the
most common being beans, peas, black cumin (çörek otu), bulgur (crushed wheat),
coriander, aubergines, vine leaves, tomatoes, paprika and a great many Oriental herbs
and spices, amongst which thyme and rosemary mostly define the flavouring of their
dishes.
Shepherds’ dishes
Meat dishes
The areas that have traditionally been most intensely involved in stock breeding within
the Great Plane of Hungary are the left bank of the Tisza and the region above the estuary
of the rivers Körös. In the era before the regulation of the Tisza this part of the country
was dominated mostly by wetlands and meadows and the most fruitful activity on
the meadowlands was stockbreeding. The people of the Kiskunság, Nagykunság and
Jászság regions created their livelihood at the cost of very hard labour struggling on
the salty flatlands. The region was kept alive by the periodic flooding of the rivers Tisza,
Berettyó and the three branches of the Körös. Most of the area was used as pasture
for large stock, while land cultivation was only allowed to take up as much of the area
as was necessary to cover local needs. The characteristics of the landscape provided
the foundations of a lifestyle which kept alive both the shepherding population of the
Plane and, at the same time, the system of market towns which existed in parallel. The
extensive fields were mostly used for pasture where livestock was bred. Due to a drop
in population numbers, the Turkish administration actually favoured the keeping of
large livestock on the plane. The newly settled Muslim and South Slavic population
clearly preferred sheep breeding to keeping pigs and cattle.
Mutton dishes
The most important example in this context are the Kun population who lived at
Szentkirály in the 15th – 16th centuries and had a considerable culture of sheepbreeding. Archaeological research has identified the remains of pens and sties dug
53
54
halfway into the ground and covered with one-way slanting roofs. Such simple
structures were used in keeping sheep and pigs. Although the lifestyle of the Kun
population who had settled at Szentkirály changed by the 15th century, certain
elements of the traditional way of stock-keeping have survived to this day (Pálóczi
2014: 182). The Hungarian word karám, the name of that characteristic structure
built by shepherds, belongs to the Besenyő-Kun layer of Turkish loan-words in the
Hungarian language. It is known from 16th century Turkish defters that Szentkirály
was the scene of considerable sheep and cattle breeding (Pálóczi 2014: 182). In
1546 the more affluent of farmers would keep 150-200 sheep, and the census of
1562 shows that farmers owning 250-300 were not rare. At the time of the census
there were altogether 1582 sheep counted at this village, which was a considerable
number for the period. The word-stock related to animal-breeding in the Hungarian
language shows clearly (our words related to keeping sheep are of Turkish origin
and belong to the layer of the language dating back to the time of the Takeover)
that the influence of the culture of the age of Turkish administration continues to
live on in the middle cultural layer, the Kun stratum, and it is this cultural element
that may be traced in today’s rural culture of the Nagykunság region. The extensive
animal farming which existed in the 17th - 19th centuries is in organic historical
connection with the extensive technique of animal keeping used at the time of the
Takeover and the age of the House of Árpád (Szabadfalvi 1997). The predominance
of stock-breeding prevailed right until the 19th century, the time of the great river
regulations. A characteristic of this part of the world is the scattered farmsteads of
the Great Plane which is distinctive in that these units never transformed into classic
farms but preserved their dependence on the town. Although the system of stockkeeping was eventually transformed, mostly due to the ecological changes brought
about by the river regulations, but it still remained significant in the Nagykunság
and neighbouring Hortobágy (Bellon 1996: 41-42). The extensive, year-round pasture
method of the latter region preserved for a long time the shepherding culture
which then transmitted various archaic elements of rural gastronomy to us. Since
Hungarian grey cattle were capital stock, people would more commonly kill and
cook mutton and pork. Despite changes in culinary habits in the 17th - 18th centuries,
mutton was an absolute staple and was listed by contemporary cookbooks as one
of the basic raw materials of the nobility’s kitchen. The court cookbook of the Prince
of Transylvania from the 16th century lists the following mutton dishes: ‘mutton with
red cabbage; mutton in vinegar; leg of lamb with bigoz (a sauce with nutmeg, ginger,
pepper and vinegar); mutton with rice; new style mutton with a head of cabbage;
mutton with sour cabbage, mutton with sweet cabbage, leg of mutton interlarded
with garlic; cold mutton for travelling either the front or the back end; mutton with
garlic sauce; stomach of mutton stuffed; mutton with savoury milk; lamb deep-fried
in breadcrumbs; head of lamb deep-fried in breadcrumbs; lamb with sorrel; leg of
lamb with sour cream sufa’ (Lackó 1983).
Some of the dishes listed are known even today.
In the Nagykunság and the periphery of the Hortobágy mutton has preserved its
role to this day as a part of the festive menu, particularly the string of dishes served
at weddings. A Manual for Farmers of the Field (Mezei Gazda Kézi Könye) published
at Kassa in 1831 offers the following instructions, ‘Nothing will better further the
prosperity of a man farming the fields than breeding mutton combined with breeding
cattle. Cattle is required to provide him with manure so that he may farm his fields
and to get from them some drips, if not a broad influx, of revenue. The only source of
solid income can be sheep. That is, if he can command the mastery of breeding them’
(Staut 1831).
As regards the technologies of Hungarian rural cuisine, stewing meats goes
back a long time. Meat stews (pörkölt) are mentioned by sources among customary
peasant dishes as one of the typical foods of shepherds. However, the colour and
flavour of this dish was changed radically after paprika became known in this
country in the 16th century. As it grew widespread from the 1700’s onwards, paprika
transformed pörkölt to become the national classic known today – no cookbook
fails to mention it and no traveller goes by without referring to this hot and spicy
Hungarian dish. Mátyás Bél writes as follows, ‘Hungarian pepper is so hot that if you
touch your eye with it you may actually lose your eyesight. Therefore many oppose
it, nevertheless its use is widespread in many parts.’(Bél 1730). A German traveller
came to the same conclusion. ‘This Turkish pepper, which is referred to as paprika
around these parts, I first tasted on the next occasion, when it was used to season
the stuffing of cabbage. It is terribly hot, but does not linger for a long time and
makes the stomach warm. I believe that hot things of this kind are very useful in such
lazy parts of the world as this, because they resist shivering. (…) My most pleasant
experience here was an excellent Hungarian national dish, meat with paprika, which
I enjoyed tremendously. (…) Once it is ripe, they string them together, hang them
out to dry and then crush them.’(Surányi 1985). Pörkölt as a meat dish in its own
right was first made from mutton in the Nagykunság area in the middle of the
Great Plane – and still is. Mutton has retained its considerable role in rural cuisine
in this region – they cook 26 different dishes from mutton. The local manner of
cooking this meat, where the head, hoofs and tail are scorched, the meat is stewed
and the food, particularly the head, is distributed ritually, is considered an element
of cultural heritage which is a remnant of the archaic Kun culture in the heart of
the Great Plane (Füvessy 1974: 221; Bartha 2002: 128). Scorching over an open fire
gives a unique flavour to the food. In Karcag, Kunhegyes, Túrkee, Kunmadaras and
neighbouring Tiszaörs and Nagyivány (shepherds’ village next to the Hortobágy) it
is still common practice to scorch the hoofs and the head. In the Jászság area this
way of cooking the meat has been recorded at one place, Jászkisér, but this village
became repopulated in the 18th century as a result of an outflow of Kun population
55
in the 18th century. A tradition related to eating the ‘sheep body’ at festive occasions,
particularly weddings, is that this is given as a gesture of respect to the person most
highly honoured by the community. It is seen as the sign of the greatest honour
in the Nagykunság (particularly Karcag) if a guest is given the sheep’s head that
was cooked along with the mutton stew – which he or she then has to distribute
among those around. A particular delicacy is the brain, seasoned generously with
black pepper and paprika (Bartha 2002: 128-129; Bereczki 1986: 91-92). This method
of cooking mutton is particularly characteristic in the Nagykunság, but mutton
dishes are equally common among shepherds of the Kiskunság. Otto Herman noted
during one of his collecting tours on the Kiskunság, ‘(…) this is a place where the
offal is also cooked in with the paprikás’(Herman 1914: 245). In the rural cuisine of
Anatolian Turks and the Balkan countries a frequent feature of rural cuisine is kokerec,
sheeps’ intestines seasoned with Oriental herbs and spices and twisted around a
large cylinder. This roasting appliance, used in the streets, is available everywhere.
Roasted until tender, kokerec is then placed inside pita-bread. We find no parallel in
Hungarian cooking – the only shared feature is that shepherds of Nagyivány used to
include the small intestines in their paprikás after cleaning the intestines and slicing
them into finger-wide stripes. The first written record of Goulash, a dish thought
of as particularly Hungarian, occurred in the form ‘Gujás-hús’ in 1787 in a work by
István Mátyus titled Diatetica. A point of interest is that Mátyus, who had come from
Transylvania, had no direct experience of the traditional dish of the shepherds of
the Great Plane, but the writing reveals that gulyás was already a widely used food
name by that time and the way of preparation was widely known. It keeps cropping
up in the writings of various authors over the subsequent years as a food name
that requires no further explanation. A notary working for József Gvadányi at Peleske
travelled to the Hortobágy in 1790 which is where he was introduced to gulyáshús
made for him by a cowherd. The point of interest is that Gvadányi does not mention
the name of the dish and that among the ingredients he does not mention paprika,
even though at other points in his poetry he refers to it under the name törökbors
(Turkish pepper). One reason for omitting the name of the food may have been
that the shepherds and cowherds themselves merely refer to it as ‘hús’, meaning
meat, - they ‘cook meat’. Generally the phrase gulyás (Goulash) was only used in the
literary vernacular, in the language of the people these dishes are usually referred to
as pörkölt or paprikás. Linguists derive the name of the dish from the word gulya (a
herd of cows) (Tesz, 1984).
56
Naturally, the dish gulyás also came to the notice of the Turks, as testified by an
endearing explanation from folk etymology. ‘When Suleiman the Great ruled in
Hungary and his cook could not find mutton or lamb anywhere, first he cooked taş
kebab or something similar from veal. This is how he wanted to please the padishah.
The sultan tasted a mouthful or two of the food and then turned to the cook and
asked, “Who did you make this dish for?” The cook thought the food was failing to
please, so he rapidly answered, “For the slaves, your majesty!” The sultan was actually
loving the new dish, so he gave it the name kul aşı, slaves’ food. This is how kulashi
gradually turned into goulash… according to popular etymology viewed from the
Turkish angle.’2
Milk processing
The milk yielded by sheep is one of the most important sources of revenue in sheep
farming. After the lambing takes place in February, most of the milk goes to feeding
and strengthening the lambs, but as soon as the lambs are weened and driven to
pasture the milking period begins and continues right until the end of October, the
time of ‘being stuck inside’ when the animals are herded to their winter place. The
quality of milk always depends to some extent on the quality of pasture, but the
best period for grazing which produces the best yield in milk is always the spring
and early summer when the pasture is at its most nourishing. They milk the yews
every morning and every evening. For milking they line up the animals with their
head turned toward each other. Turkish people make lots of different products from
the milk. Dairy products play a greater part in their rural diet than in Hungary’s.
The cheeses, yoghurt, milk and cottage cheese made from the milk are parts of
the everyday diet. A Turkish breakfast is
unimaginable without white cheese, which
is accompanied by tomatoes, olives and
tea. (At a market in Kadiyök, Istanbul, I
counted two hundred types of cheese.
Most of them were named after the area
but this versatility in itself indicates what
an important role they play in the local
diet.) The other food which is always
present on the table of the Turkish family
is yoghurt (or in another form when it is
watered down and salted, it is a drink called
ayran, no different from whey). It is easy to
produce and is usually made by the village
housewife herself. After milking the milk
is strained, brought to the boil and then,
when it is ‘udder temperature’, it is injected Selling yoghurt in Istanbul at the beginning
with yoghurt made earlier or with lamb’s of the 20th century (internet source).
2
https://www.yemekhikayeleri.com/hikayeler/yemek-ve-tarih/macar-corbasi-gulas-osmanli-nin-kul-asimid.html
57
stomach. (For producing yoghurt and
milk they first produce the culture (firsik)
from the lamb’s stomach. The stomach,
once washed, is placed inside whey, they
add salt and figs (or sugar or sometimes
grapes) inside the liquid and place it in the
sun to mature. (Kutlu 1987; Galimdzsán
1940: 146-165; Kisbán 1967: 84). This
method of making yoghurt is known
in the central part of the HungarianYoghurt (tarhó) Kiskunfélegyháza, 2016.
speaking areas, in the Bánság, Bácska
regions, at Mohács, in and around Szeged, at Szentes, Csongrád, in the Kiskunság
region at Kiskunfélegyháza, Kiskunhalas, Kecskemét, Bugac, in the Nagykunság at
Karcag, Kisújszállás and Kunmadaras, as well as at the Hortobágy (Kisbán 1967: 84). In
Hungarian culinary culture the name used is not yoghurt which became known all
over Europe due to the Turks, but tarhó – a phrase of Slavic origin. It is a fact, however,
that Hungarians had known tarhó before the time of the Turkish administration and
the technique for making it survived on the hands of the shepherds.
Pastas, ‘old’ dishes
In Hungarian culinary culture the element known and surviving to this day from the
legacy of the shepherds of past times are kasha-based dishes often referred to as ‘old
dishes’ (öreg ételek) where ‘old’ is used to refer to a thick consistency (tésztaételek,
öreglebbencs, galaburgyi, öregtarhonya, pásztortarhonya) and millet kasha, which is
known all over the Great Plane. Millet kasha, when cooked thick, is prepared on lard
with diced onions fried in it, thinned down with water, milk or a mixture of the two.
It is known in several variants such as kasha boiled with pasta and paprika, flavoured
with black pepper, as well as millet kasha cooked from mutton or, less frequently,
from poultry and cooked with pörkölt (Füvessy 1975: 75). Millet flour was used to cook
köleslepény, a flatbread similar to gözlem cooked by the Turks.
58
Unleavened flatbreads similar to Turkish gözlem are made even today by Gypsies
in the villages along the river Tisza, such as Tiszaderzs and Tiszabő, to go with cabbage
dishes. This flatbread is called ‘sovány’, which means thin or lean. A dish widely used in
the cuisine of both nations is what Hungarians call húsosderelye – pockets of pasta filled
with meat –, the only difference being that in Hungarian cooking the filling is made
from pork. The Turkish phrase for this dish is manti, while around Ankara, due obviously
to Tatar settlement, it is called tatárböreği, but it is also known to the Kazaks under the
name besparmak. It is one of the ancient dishes of Hungarians, just like tarhonya, which
is known both as a pasta to go in soups and as an independent shepherds’ dish, in
Hungarian rural cuisine.
Börek (Ankara), 20149.
Börek (Cubuk, 2016).
Several versions of the börek are known in the
Turkish cuisine számtalan fajtáját ismerik a
török konyhán
Crescent roll with jam
Wedding scone in Kisújszállás .
(Cubuk, 2016).
Manti, roly-poly filled with meat and yoghurt
59
Drinks
Boza
We have every reason to assume that millet is one of our oldest types of cereals.
Even the Chinese emperors of yore sowed the first millet seeds amidst a ceremony of
great pomp. Researchers consider the genetic centre or fountainhead of this species
to have been around the border area of China and Mongolia (Bellon 1981: 233). In
Asia and Eastern Europe millet cultivation was significant until the 19th century; it was
considered the most important cereal and the No. 1 staple in the diet of the common
people. Due to its high starch content (60%) it was excellently suited for brewing
beer. Its great advantage and cultural historical significance was that being a plant
with a short gestation cycle it could easily be bred even by nomadic peoples. The
sharp beer-like fluid gained from it through fermentation is called boza and is known
in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Monte Negro,
Bosnia, Romania and the Ukraine. Writing about the Kirgiz, György Almásy says, ‘I have
already mentioned the alcoholic beverage of the nomads, the millet-beer called
magzyn, as well as the similar fermented drink referred to as buza or szra. Although
consumption of these is forbidden, they are relatively widely used.’(Almássy 1903:
694).
Boza making (internet source).
60
Pogácsa (salt cake).
It is highly probable that boza, the drink produced by fermentation from millet, was
first made by the Turkic peoples of Central Asia in the 10th century – it is from here that
it spread through the Caucuses to the Balkans and Hungary. In the Ottoman empire
it was brewed in practically every village or town, it was the most widely drunk liquid,
probably due to contaminated drinking water. (Among the nomads kumis played a
similar part.) It retained its popularity until the 16th century when sultan Selim II finally
banned what was called Tartar boza, a brewed beverage containing opium. He is
associated with the first description of alcohol-free sweet boza, a favoured drink of
the Albanians. This drink remained popular for a much longer time, so much so that
17th century traveller Evliya Çelebi described that in Istanbul there are some 300 points
selling boza, and the activity has developed into an industry employing a thousand
people. Boza was particularly popular among janissaries, but the common people also
drank it. The army itself also included a great many boza-brewers. Since it contains
little alcohol, in moderate quantities it does not cause inebriation, it was considered a
roborative drink.The Ottomans also referred to it as janissaries’ joy.
Linguists attribute the Hungarian word boza to the Kuns, although it was known
among the Hungarians even before the arrival of the Kuns. The earliest known
occurrence is in the inscriptions on the gold treasure of Nagyszentmiklós. Although
millet was known to the Hungarians very early, the first time it appears as a place-name
(Kölesér) was recorded in 1138 in Bihar County (Bellon 1981: 234).
There are plenty of sources that mention boza. Primate Miklós Oláh commemorates
the drink in his descriptions of Hungary as follows. ‘On the planes of the Kun people,
besides wines which are brought there from a distance, there is one more drink
commonly consumed, made after its own style from millet and water, which they
call bóza.’(Szarvas-Simonyi 1890: 302). This Hungarian drink is also mentioned in the
Érdy Codex (1526-1527). 3 Millet was used in a crushed form, ground in a dry-mill or in
wooden ‘millet mortar’ before use. This procedure was described by medical student
Pál Márton who accompanied English governor L. Hudson as a translator along his
travels in the 1820’s through Constantinople all the way to Smyrna. Accordingly, millet
was first roasted on hot stones, then ground by hand-mills. In a roasted state millet
keeps for a long time, this is the explanation why the Kun used to transport it and brew
boza from it when the weather was suitable. Millet is a yellow colour, once roasted, it
gets a brownish tint and this alone could give boza its colour. Rough-ground millet
flour was cooked in water over a low fire to a thick, porridge-type consistency. Due
to its high starch content during the cooking it turned gluey and released a lot of
sugar which allowed it to start fermenting easily. Subsequently it was cooled down
and left to stand for a few days. Pál Márton’s writing reveals that in the Turkish and
Tartar method the fermentation lasted eight hours. The liquid began to produce a
foam, and after the fermentation the sediment settled and the liquid on top became
purified. This is what they called sweet boza. It is highly likely that in order to accelerate
fermentation they added lactobacilli through sourdough which caused it to have a
slightly sharp, stinging flavour, due to the carbon-dioxide it now contained. A chemical
analysis of boza from Pancsova in the late 19th century revealed that 100 cm3 contained
1.62-1.75g of alcohol (Szathmáry 1932: 39-40).
In Hungarian healing practice boza was considered a medical remedy. The famous
doctor Gáspár Kőrösi considered it a medicine. When Palatine Tamás Nádasdi’s wife
3
[Linguistic Relics. Old Hungarian Codices and Printed Documents]. Vol. 4. Bp. 1876.
61
grew ill, he prescribed her to drink boza and she did indeed recover – probably due to
the lactic acid’s ability to kill bacteria. In 1554 he wrote, jokingly, ‘My Lady, wife of the
chief Justice of the Kuns, is in such health, perhaps from drinking boza, that she seems
healthier than Methuselah himself.’(Paládi 1966: 79; Bellon 1981: 252). Another doctor
has also commemorated the healing quality of boza – the army doctor of Temesvár, a
much-liked student of Linné’s, János Krammer when he toured Hungary. He considered
boza a diuretic substance and often recommended it to his patients for such purposes
(Szathmáry 1932: 39). At first people used millet to brew boza and every nation which
grew this plant was also acquainted with boza. Millet was then gradually squeezed out
by other cereals – one could imagine that boza also sank into oblivion. But this is not
what happened. Kun Captain János Laczka mentions in 1862 that the poorer Kuns use
sweetcorn to brew boza. They grind sweetcorn to flour in a hand mill, knead it into a
scone and dry it or even scorch it inside an oven, then crush it in a container and pour
lukewarm water over it. The liquid then ferments and turns into a yellow drink with a
slight bite. Kun Captain János Laczka also mentions that instead of boza this is called
ciberer. But the flavour and the colour of the two drinks must have been fairly similar
(Szathmáry 1932: 39-40).
Rajmund Rapaics was of the opinion that the production and consumption of
boza was squeezed out by more modern methods of drink production which started
out from the monasteries (Rapaics 1934: 69). It was not forgotten – indeed, in the
Nagykunság region boza was brewed as late as the 1960’s at Karcag, sometimes from
wheat and at other times from sweet corn and referred to an kunsavó. The word boza
was known all over the Nagykunság, but used only in its derivative forms at Kumadaras,
where drunk people were referred to as bozás, bebozitált, bozálkodik – someone who
had taken boza.
62
Boza is a fairly multi-coloured phenomenon in cultural history, a drink prevalent
from Central Asia through Asia Minor all the way through the Balkans and Europe,
brewed at first from millet, later also from other types of cereals, and still brewed today,
when different variants of the drink are still known. Most widely known are Bulgarian,
Albanian and Turkish boza. In the 19th century the Ottoman Turks favoured alcoholfree Albanian boza, while the Armenians liked the alcoholic versions. In Istanbul
and many towns of contemporary Turkey this drink is still widespread and popular,
served most recently with cinnamon or chickpeas. The various types are sold by noted
and prestigious old bozadji (boza vendors) such as Vefa Bozacisi in Istanbul, Akman
Boza in Ankara, Ömür Bozacisi in Bursa or Karakedi Bozacisi in Eskişehir. In Bulgaria
the traditional Bulgarian breakfast is consumed with boza. In Kyrgyzstan it is sold in
the streets in the summer months, but this is the variant brewed from wheat. The
Romanian variant is referred to as braga and is somewhat sweeter than the Turkish or
Bulgarian variant, similar to the boza of the Macedonians.
Coffee
We owe the custom of drinking coffee to
the Turks. Tradition has it that coffee had
come from Arabia, from the city of Mokha
in Yemen through Persia. In the 14th - 15th
centuries it was used not only for pleasure
but also as medication. In Istanbul coffee
shops opened as early as the 1550’s.
Suleiman the Great restricted coffee
consumption in 1552 and later coffee Turkish coffee (Izmit, 2016).
drinking was banned on multiple occasions
in the empire. These prohibitions did not
last long, however, as coffee irresistibly set
out to conquer the world. Coffee became
the national drink of the Turks. It spread
from various parts of Turkey to Europe
through Armenian merchants and reached
Hungary, too. In Pest and Buda from 1579
onwards there were Turkish coffee makers
(kahvendji) making the black drink with
its enticing scent in coffee shops Káhve
Háne (Ketter 1985: 165). Coffee drinking
became a part of our dietary habits. It grew
so popular that by the early 18th century
coffee shops turned into veritable cafés
and gradually became the centres of the
social life of the community. The phrase
kávéház (coffee house or café) first appears Turkish coffee (Karcag, 2016).
in the epistles of Kelemen Mikes in 1738.
Today coffee is so popular in both Turkish and Hungarian gastronomy that our life is
unimaginable without it. Coffee-drinking has become a ritual. If you smell the scent
of coffee lingering about a house when you enter you can be sure you are a welcome
visitor.
Sweets
Honeycomb toffee is originally an Armenian sweet, but it reached Hungary through
Turkish mediation. The same is true of gingerbread, Hungarian mézeskalács. Beekeeping was a considerable source of revenue for farmers. In the Jászság area people
paid a one-tenth tax on bee-keeping to the Turks. In 1671 the Jász villages record that
63
they paid a tax of butter, lambs and pigs collected from house to house and also paid
a tenth of bees and wine (Bathó 2007: 23). As far as we know today, the first Hungarian
gingerbread guild was founded in Pozsony in 1619, but Kassa was also seen as a centre
of gingerbread-making as early as the 17th century. The regulations of the gingerbreadmakers’ guild of Debrecen are known from 1713. This city is one of the most significant
centres of this activity to this day, where excellent quality gingerbread has been made
for centuries.
The beneficial health effect of quince jelly was already mentioned in the famous
Herbárium of 1778. Quinces were produced in substantial quantities in the 17th
century. The first cookbook which survived in the Hungarian language, printed in
Miklós Misztótfalusi Kis’s printing house at Kolozsvár, describes no fewer than 7 recipes
for quinces. Scones (pogácsa) are much liked among Hungarian savoury cakes and
since the word itself is of Old Turkic origin (bagandja), we have reason to believe that
it was already known to the conquering Hungarians and the effect was only further
enhanced during the Ottoman Turkish era.
Summary
64
The most prominent traits of Hungarian dietary habits during the time of the Turkish
administration were that dishes were made mostly with butter, they used lots of
dairy products and seasoned their dishes intensely. Boiled pastas and dumplings
were added as garnish to main courses, or used to go in soups. Characteristic
dishes include different types of pâté, soft blood and liver sausages (hurka), hard
meat sausages (kolbász), jellies, doughnuts, pancakes and strudels. Preparation
techniques included grating, curing, interlarding, coating in breadcrumbs, steaming,
roasting. Naturally, in Turkish administration areas Turkish culinary habits came into
the foreground, and people used the traits of Turkish cuisine. We borrowed scones
(pogácsa), lángos (savoury doughnut fried in fat or oil), bejgli (a Christmas sweet cake)
and stuffed cabbage from the Turks. As regards herbs and spices, they introduced
parsley, cumin, aniseeds and horse radishes into this country. In the dessert category
they imported grillage, sweet-loaves, biscuits, ‘floating islands’, gingerbread,
honeycomb toffee and the habit of coffee-drinking. This is also when poppy-seeds,
tomatoes and aubergines appeared. Under Turkish influence people began to grow
almonds, sour cherries, figs, walnuts, grapes, peaches, apricots and cherries. It was
through Turkish mediation that paprika, now an indispensable element of Hungarian
gastronomy, came to this country. All in all we can say that in Hungarian culinary
culture the Turkish influence has brought significant changes which make their
effect felt to this day. They have made our culinary culture more colourful, they have
resulted in many shared dishes and as a result, Hungarian and Turkish tastes are fairly
close to each other.
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Food, Culture and Identity:
On Turkish and Hungarian Cuisine
Adem Koç*
The subject of this study is on the function of the “emphasis on identity” in the contexts
of the diversity of sociocultural and cultural expression other than the known biological
function of food (feeding oneself ).
The field studies made in Ankara (Çubuk), Eskişehir (Alpu), Kütahya, İzmit (Kocaeli)
and Tekirdağ in Turkey and in Karcag, Kisújszállás, Jászberény, Jászfényszaru and
Budapest in Hungary and a scanning of the literature gave direction to the study.
The Connection among Cuisine, Culture and Identity
Culture is a symbolic field. Symbols are generally related to language. However, just
as there are flags, which represent countries, there are also nonverbal symbols. The
only living creatures who can use this field of symbols are human beings. Culture is
not about individuals one by one and independent from each other; it is an attribute
unique to individuals as members of a group. Culture is transferred within the society.
We learn our culture by observing, listening, talking and by entering interactions with
other humans. The cultural beliefs, values, memories, expectations, forms of thoughts
and actions erase the differences among persons. The process of becoming cultured
joins persons together by providing shared experiences (Kottak 2008: 52). We can
make the following proof with the definitions by Kottak: Animals also hunt, human
beings also hunt, but human beings make food. Consequently, to cook food can be
included in culture, which is a symbolic field.
According to Malinowski, function always expresses the filling of a need. This starts
with the simplest action of eating and extends to a sacred action (Malinowski 1992:
28). Other than meeting the basic biological needs of foods, societal functions such
as gifts, sharing, mutual support, providing for the unity of family and clan, friendship
*
Asst. Assoc. Prof. Dr., Faculty Member, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir/Turkey,
[email protected]
69
and communications; religious functions are emphasized, such as blessings and
abundance ceremonies, religious rites and incantations. Food cults, foods at religious
rites and sacrifices provide persons with ties to the strengths of destiny and the
benevolent abundance forces (Malinowski 1990: 31-41).
Bringing nourishments to a suitable condition for human consumption and the
process of consumption behaviors are removed from being solely a biological action
and are transformed into a cultural action (Beşirli 2010: 159). It explains Claude LéviStrauss’ (2013: 46) culinary triangle in the form of “raw, rotted, cooked” for food and
provides the opportunity for the culturalization of cooking.
Figure 1. Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Culinary Triangle.
“Raw” is normal, “cooked” (smoked) and “rotted” (boiled) are given and transformed
in The Culinary Triangle by C. Lévi-Strauss. Besides, since “rotting” is on the nature side,
cooking is classified as “culture”. According to Hayati Beşirli (2010: 159-160), “the actions
in the process of the production, transport, storage and use of food items” makes it
possible to examine carefully the subject of nutrition and food in the context of the
cultural concept. Ethnologist Mahmut Tezcan states that culture:
1. Is the basic sign of what we will eat.
2. Culture has been learned. Food habits are also learned at an early age. It does
not change for a long period of time after being learned.
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3. Foods are the complementary parts of culture (Tezcan 2000:1)
and indicates the linear and dependent relationship between culture and food. There
are some attributes under consideration that could be counted as basic in almost
every cuisine in the world. These are defined as the attributes that make that cuisine
separate from the others. Every cuisine acquires an identity with these attributes.
However, most of the time, these are limited by religion and beliefs and the fauna
and flora unique to the region (types of animals and plant cover) (Şavkay 2000: 10).
Another factor in the diversification of cuisine is the relations experienced with the
neighboring peoples or nations. Persons who immigrate due to reasons, such as
wars, natural disasters, economy, etc. also realize a cultural immigration when coming
together with other societies. The eating-drinking habits are also an important part of
this cultural migration.
Persons of different races, cultures and identities, who are forced to live together
for whatever reason, rather than emphasizing the differences, find the means for
sharing their originalities, which is a method that is also supported by the UNESCO.
The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions1 (2005) wants to prevent a single typification and consequently, the
forming of a single, dominant culture and persons becoming isolated “by taking into
consideration that culture takes diverse forms across time and space and that this
diversity is embodied in the uniqueness and plurality of the cultural expressions and
identities of the groups and societies making up humankind”. In this context, one of
the most important problems confronted by the Turkish and Hungarian cuisines are
the decrease of production in their cuisines. In the field studies made in Turkey and
Hungary, production was realized in the kitchens, but it was observed that problems
were experienced in the transfer to new generations, because the newly educated
population (young people) in Hungary are leaving their families to live in Budapest
and this has been the cause of the cuisine habits becoming different and of orienting
towards prepared foods. Actually, this situation is not very different in Turkey. However,
still at the present, it is also observed that the women are continuing the food cooking
habits and food cooking traditions for special days and ceremonies in the cuisines of
both countries. This, at the same time, also nurtures the state of belonging to the local
culture and identity.
To feel a state of belonging to the local or national culture is also dependent on
food preferences: We are what we eat. In that case, to eat something is not only to feed
oneself. In daily life, our bolting of food standing up most of the time without being
aware, is a meaningless food action. However, in the Turkish and Hungarian families,
dinners, special day meals, wedding and funeral meals are not only overlapping with
the action of feeding oneself. The meal together with itself, has the eater also engage
1
https://www.unesco.org.tr/dokumanlar/kulturel_ifadelerin_cesitliligi/SOZLESME.pdf
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in other cultural actions. In the Turkish cuisine to slaughter a sheep and fix söğüş
(boiled meat that is served cold) and subsequently to fry meat or to prepare güveç
(stew cooked in earthenware cooking pot) for guest; and in a similar manner, the
Hungarian’s cooking birkapörkölt is not a simple action for feeding oneself. The action
of food is transformed into an action filled with cultural meanings that surround all its
aspects.
The definition of culture by Edward B. Tylor gives us an idea on this subject:
“Culture... is a complicated whole, which includes within it knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, traditions and all of the other abilities and habits obtained by persons as
members of a specific society” (Tylor 1871: 1). The important point in this definition
is the expression, “obtained by persons as members of the society”. Consequently,
persons learn their own culture within a process of “culturalization”. While a meat dish
eaten alone by a Turk or a Hungarian is a biologically simple feeding on its own, the
birkapörkölt or güveç shared with guests emerges as the result of culturalization. In
other words, foods nourish the physiology of humans biologically with their material
aspects and besides this, the psychology is also nourished with the historical and
cultural heritages, which are presented to eaters as spiritual. As Zen Master Taigu
Ryokan stated:
Everyone eats rice
Yet no one knows why
(Ryokan, 1996: 157).
Sometimes persons do not know what or why they eat. People do not only eat rice.
They consume it as rice pilaf, soup, stuffed, etc. Everyone has a reason when eating
rice: to fill oneself, to gain weight, to get well, to have children, to bring abundance,
etc. As it can be observed, when we consume a nourishment, we are also consuming
its cultural equipment. However, this consumption is just the opposite for him/her; in
other words, it makes him/her live the cuisine culture.
The Saucepans are Boiling: We do not Eat Fast Food, We Make our Own!
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The words of a Nogai Tatar woman, one of the source persons with whom we talked
in Alpu County of Eskişehir Province, “We do not eat fast food, we make our own!”
has the attribute of a manifesto. The food that she prepares herself preserves her
own cultural heritage and identity. Foreign food distances itself from food. Actually,
to consume fast food is to lose one’s own memory. Since fast food prevents the
consumption of local flavors, it is dangerous from the aspect of the cultural heritage
of many countries in the world. The periods of time spent in the kitchen are also
decreasing due to reasons, such as the city culture, technology, fast life, working
hours and couples working. Consequently, fast foods also enter into the cycle and
meals are evaded.
Photograph 1. Eskişehir (Alpu), Turkey.
Photograph 2. Jászberény, Hungary.
In this context, it appears to be just for countries to enter into regulations themselves
for protecting the diversity of cultural expression and projects, such as slow food and
are also serving a purpose for raising healthy generations. Both to prepare and to eat
is a process. The use and transfer of local knowledge during preparation and sharing
is important for the transfer and keeping alive of the cultural memory for making the
special food preparations for specific days and ceremonies. It is necessary to include the
generations who are being raised in these processes for a sustainable cuisine culture.
The houses in Turkey and Hungary in the present-day have the appearance of a
workshop despite every sort of difficulty and the obstinate insistence of the dominant
cultures of globalization. The Turkish and Hungarian women produce food, almost like a
factory and continue to cook food. This production appears to be of extreme importance
in the continuation of identity. The transferring of the food varieties, cooking techniques
and the areas of use to the newly raised generations in both countries is also serving for
the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage. In the narrow sense, the Nogai Tatars
of Eskişehir Province in Turkey continuing to make “göbete, çibörek, kaşık börek, üyken
börek, kalagay, balaban, etc.” and the Kumans at Karcag in Hungary to make “birkapörkölt,
sarma (dish made with grape/cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and/or rice), tarhanya,
kolbast, etc.” shows that the cultural memory and heritage are being preserved. At the
same time, it also has a communicational function for the indicator of the identity of the
73
city or country at a higher structure. Today, “gulyas and birkapörkölt” have become the
indicator of Karcag in the narrow sense and Hungarian in the broad sense and çibörek, for
the Tatar and citizens of Eskişehir, and güveç (stew cooked in earthenware pot) in Konya
and Kütahya, etc. have become the indicator in the narrow sense and of the Turkish
identity in the broad sense. Vedat Milör, the flavor master of Turkey, by stating, “In a good
güveç (stew) you eat a meal, which is made complete with each other from the aspect of
many layers and flavors.”2 of the güveç derivatives, which are most special meal, and at the
same time, he believes it is a flavor that would also represent Turkey.
“Goulash” and “güveç”, which are composed of similar mixtures, but whose cooking
techniques can change, is given by some researchers as an example to prove the
similarity of the Turkish-Hungarian cuisines. Moreover, the question, “Kul aşı, gulaş mı?”
(Is it cooked food or goulash?) can come to mind. It is probable to encounter the willing
cultural and etymology experts, who attempt to establish a tie between Goulash and
Kulaş. However, Hasan Eren, who has made significant studies on Hungarian, absolutely
rejects this etymology experiment. Moreover, Zülfü Livaneli, the famous author and
singer, also got his share from this rejection.
Zülfü Livaneli wrote in a newspaper column, “We do not know that the goulash,
the meat boiled in the cauldrons of the Ottoman army during the Rumelia campaign
and that was distributed to the soldiers, was for this reason called ‘kul aşı’ and was later
transformed to goulash.”3 Hasan Eren, acting from Zülfü Livaneli’s article, put the final
note on the discussions as follows:
As it is known by extensive intellectual circles, the name goulash given
to the famous dish of the Hungarians and is a Hungarian derivative. At
the root of this derivative is hidden the word ‘gulya’, which is used as ‘herd
of cattle’. The name ‘gulyás’ is given to the cattle herder in Hungarian.
The ‘-s’ at the end of this name is a suffix, a suffix similar to the suffix
-lı, -li, -lu, -lü in Turkish. The name gulyás given to the Hungarian dish
we have mentioned, is a name remaining from gulyáshús, which has
the meaning of ‘herdsman meat’... It is understood that goulash came
to Turkey in recent years, through the European languages, such as
German or French (Eren 1999: 659-661).
Hasan Eren, with this well-organized etymology study, rejects these fabricated stories
by saying, “Kul aşı did not become goulash!” In the study by Osman Karatay that examined
carefully the Hungarian and Turkish history, he mentions shared words of approximately
700. It was determined that there are more shared words between the Hungarian
and Turkish languages than between the Finnish and Hungarian languages. Even if
2
74
3
https://www.vedatmilor.com/ulkemizi-guvecle-temsil-edelim/
Zülfü Livaneli, “Kul aşı gulaş olmuş!” https://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/1999/06/16/y29.html
the word goulash is used in the title of the article, this is not mentioned in the careful
study. However, he also emphasizes the thesis that the Hungarians and Turks are two
related groups, who come from the Ogurs (Karatay 2016: 105-128). Németh, Rásonyi and
Vásáry are also of the opinion that there is a relationship of relatives (Doğan 2007:4). The
relationship between the two peoples has not broken off at all in the historical process.4
A Friendship Message: We are Flesh and Bone!
The Goulash and potatoes with meat dishes are both filling and provide energy due
to the materials they contain (meat, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, etc.). From
the aspect of presentation technique as soup or as a meal, it meets the needs in a
single item for the Hungarian villager working in the fields and for the soldier at the
front. Birkapörkölt and güveç, which are prepared even more specially, have become
the codes of value given to guests from the aspect of offering food. These dishes,
which can also be used as an indicator of the national identity, are also attributed to
an archaic structure. Meat is the most valuable nourishment item. Consequently, the
sharing of meat is an indicator of the importance placed on the opposite side. The meat
closest to the bone is the most valuable meat. At the same time, with the statement of
meat with bones in the Turkish culture, “We are flesh and bones” symbolizes “sincerity,
friendship, unity”, and briefly, “peace”. Owing to this, the presentation of “meat with
bones” to guests in the Turkish culture from Siberia to Anatolia has a special meaning.
Furthermore, to see meat with bones in a dream in the Turks has the meaning that “a
very favorable work will be realized and it will bring happiness”.
Ögel transfers the knowledge, “The best meat is that which adheres to the bone
/ Etin yeğreği oldur kim sünğüke ulaşu oladır”, which was encountered in the medical
books that were written in Ancient Anatolia. Also, the following proverb said by the
Kyrgyz Turks also states the flavor of meat with bones: You cannot be satiated with
conversation without spending the night together and you cannot be satiated with
meat without chewing the bone” (Ögel 1978: 368). A person for whom a sheep is
slaughtered and who is presented the brain of that sheep5 means that he/she is a
4
The ethnic and cultural closeness between the Turks and Hungarians coming from history was the cause
of the Turkish-Hungarian fact of brotherhood. The Hungarians who came or who were brought to Anatolia during the Ottoman period mixed and joined with the Turks. The place names in Anatolia having
Hungarian names are testifying to what was experienced within this historical process. The Turkish-Hungarian relationships based on a closeness coming from the past, became rather strengthened during the
Atatürk period and a great number of Hungarian scientists, experts, engineers and workers expended
efforts in the structuring of the new Turkey (Çolak 2006: 36).
5 mengiledi. er mengiledi: The man ate brain. This is the root-meaning. Later, this word in the spoken language acquired a meaning corresponding to tûbâ leke (I have got some good news for you) in Arabic. Due to
this use, the slaughter of a sheep for the good of someone and to present to this person the brain, which
is the most valuable organ of the animal, is to honor that person. Subsequently, this expression became
a mold, which was used for everyone, who had flavorful foods (DLT 2005: 343).
75
great person who is respected. Later, this saying was also said for everyone who eats
good food (those who are powerful and rich) (Ögel 1978: 329).
Photographs 3-4. Presentation of meat with bones in Hungary and Turkey.
In the Oğuz Kağan epic poem, it was clearly indicated which pieces of the sheep
slaughtered at the great feasts would be eaten by which clans. Which Turkish military
company would eat which piece was announced previously as a definite custom so that
fights did not emerge among the clans and the Turkish sections. This thought was the
image of the “portion or share” system in the Turks. The meat share of a sheep was the
narrating in a different manner of the perception of a state and law in a much broader
meaning (Ögel 1978: 335). In this context, the following proverb of the eleventh century
Turks is important from the aspect of understanding the subject: “Two sheep’s heads
cannot cook in one pot. / İki koçngar başı aşıçta bışmas.”Even if Ögel made an interpretation,
such as saying that it was due to the smallness of the pot, it is striking that a single ram’s
head within a meat dish cooks in cauldrons. Related to this proverb, Ögel made the
interpretation “Two khans in one state” or “two heads in one association are impossible”
helps in solving the loaded meaning of the messages of the food (Ögel 1978: 265).
Photograph 5. Birkapörkölt, Hungary.
76
Photograph 6. Güveç, Turkey.
The half a ram’s head left by preparing it within the birkapörkölt, which is only cooked
by men at Karcag County in Hungary, can be thought of in a similar manner, because the
tradition of dividing up the meat of the animal especially for guests has spread from Siberia
to Anatolia and up until the Hungarian plain. The divisions are made by the oldest male at
the gathering or the dinner table during the meal. The head of the animal is distributed
specially. The tradition of the division to those at the dinner table of the head of the sheep
in the serving of birkapörkölt in Karcag is by the Thamade (oldest and most respected
persons in community) and among the peoples in Kazakhstan or the Caucasian peoples
and consequently, similar interpretations continue among the Caucasian peoples who
live in Turkey. According to the Adyghe Habze customs the Thamade directs the dinner
table. The part cut from the ear is given to the youngest. The meaning of this is, “Do not
do wrong, be careful”, that is, it is a warning to be careful in service. The nose part is given
to the Thamadekodze (assistant to the Thamade). This means, “Be careful, so that there will
not be a dangerous situation or incident”. This is a safety warning. The eye part is given
to the Kengeseğ, who is the adviser of the Thamade. This has the meaning of seeing and
spying on everything. The brain belongs to the director, that is, the Thamade. It would be
possible to govern well with a brain that works soundly (Tuna 2014: 281). The fact that
the division of the ram’s head is made by the oldest male and greatest male at the dinner
table prior to the presentation of the birkapörkölt in Karcag is striking in its being similar in
meaning, such as the division of the ears, eyes and brain.
Photograph 7. Birkapörkölt.
77
The cooking by males of the goulash in pots given the traditional name of bogrács
is an attribution to a masculine structure. The Hungarian shepherds in the ninth century
would take foods that they could carry with them before setting off to bring the herds
to graze. Meats cut in small chunks cook until the oil is absorbed on a slow fire together
with onions and other taste producers and later the food would be dried and stored
in animal skins made from the rumen of sheep. It was prepared in the form of a meal
or soup by adding water to the dried food in the amount that would be eaten.6 This
technique is overlapping with the form of use of tarhana (dried foodstuff made chiefly
of curds and flour), which is widespread among the Turks. These are “portable foods”
from the aspect of the preparatory technique of foods, such as pastırma (pastrami-like
beef that is smoked or dried in the sun after being treated with spices), sucuk (sausage
flavored with garlic), tarhana and kurut (any dried dairy product, especially dried yogurt).
Photographs 8-9. Tarhana (Turkey and Hungary).
It is observed that foods, such as tarhana, dried beans, rice and bulgur, as a cultural
image in the present-day, have be carried within Turkey and in the exits abroad. This
form of behavior, which is observed with other peoples together with the Turks, is
the effort to continue the dependency, which is almost to the soil, of the tastes and
smells, by bringing to foreign places the products that are grown in the soils of their
own region. At the same time, the condition of putting into action the thought of “not
remaining on the road” in the archaic nomad culture is: the carrying of food.
Especially, to offer foods that show their own identity is a widespread application
when guests come to the house or when families of different cultures come together.
At meetings where the families of different nations are guests with each other, it is
attempted to serve the national dishes and drinks. In this context, the “palinka (fruit
brandy), wine, paprika, goulash, birkapörkölt, tarhonya, etc. foods and drinks served
during the field studies are the symbols of the Hungarian identity. In a similar manner,
6
78
See Károly, János and Mihály 2000, for extensive information related to the traditional Hungarian cuisine;
see László 2015, for some similarities in the Turkish and Hungarian cuisine.
the offering of regional dishes and drinks, such as “sıkıcık, cimcik, göbete, çibörek, ayran
(drink made with yogurt, water and salt), pickles, etc. are symbols that put into the
forefront especially the region and consequently the Turkish identity.
Tarhana is an imaginative soup in the Turkish cuisine culture. A similar situation is also
encountered in the Hungarian cuisine culture. Tarhana is “making dough small that is
prepared with yeast and yogurt, which is benefitted from in making soup”. It is tarxana,
tarxwana in Persian; having the meaning of “thick pottage, frumenty, portable soup”. The
forms tarxana in Bulgarian, tarhana, tarana in Serbian, trahana in Romanian and tarhonya
in Hungarian have been taken from the Turkish (Eren 1999: 395). There are also tarhanas
made with different materials in various places of Anatolia: göceli white tarhana with
yogurt and red tarhana with peppers and beans. Among these, the most famous is the
Gediz (Kütahya) tarhana. The foods based on dairy products, which have an important
place in the Turkish cuisine culture, continue to enrich the dinner tables in the presentday. Even though there are many shared features of the Turkish-Hungarian cuisine, it is an
interesting point that yogurt is not included in the Hungarian cuisine.
Conclusion
The differentiation and the molds of behavior according to “agricultural structure and
the nomadic culture, the effect of the neighboring nations and the socioeconomic
levels in the formation of the Turkish and Hungarian cuisine cultures and the factors
that differences are shown in the foods according to the regions, the tradition of eating
food in a group, the dinner table arrangements, and ceremonies, etc.” at the same time,
have also provided for the formation of cuisines and drinks by also putting the national
identity into the forefront.
The behavior towards a single typification of the food preferences, which develop
connected to globalization, which could prevent the diversity of cultural expression,
also compose a serious threat for both peoples.
The dishes, which appear to be shared in the Turkish and Hungarian cuisine, such as
“goulash, birkapörkölt, stew, tarhana, sarma and pickles,” appear at the same time as the
symbols of the national identity. Nevertheless, although “börek (flaky pastry filled with
thin layers of food, usually cheese or meat), çörek (round/ring-shaped/braided cookie
or bread roll, usually sweet), sweet desserts and drinks” also continue to be produced
locally, it can be stated that these have the flavor and strength to represent both the
national and the universal of these products as well. The women of the present-day in
both countries continue to work in their kitchens like a factory.
In this context, the following are the similarities of the Turkish and Hungarian cuisine:
- Can be prepared as a joint file in the UNESCO programs,
- Can be presented at special days or festivals where foods are in the forefront,
79
- Can be presented and explained at joint food competitions, and
- Can be represented reciprocally for these two cuisine cultures at the gastronomy
departments in universities.
References
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159-169 (in Turkish).
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Üniversitesi Yakın Dönem Türkiye Araştırmaları Dergisi 2006, 5 (10): 27-43 (in Turkish).
Doğan, İsmail. “Macar Ulusal Kimliğinin Oluşumunda Türk Etkisi” (The Turkish Effect on the
Formation of the Hungarian National Identity). Ankara Üniversitesi Dil, Tarih-Coğrafya
Fakültesi Dergisi. 2007, 47 (2): 1-12.
Eren, Hasan. Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü (Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language).
Ankara: Bizim Büro Basım Evi, 1999 (in Turkish).
Karatay, Osman. Türklerin Kökeni (Origins of the Turks). Ankara: Kripto Kitaplar, 2016 (in Turkish).
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2000 (in Hungarian).
Kâşgarlı, Mahmûd. Dîvânü Lugâti’t-Türk (Turkish Language Glossary). Erdi, Seçkin and Yurteser,
Serap Tuğba, trans., eds. İstanbul: Kabalcı Yayınevi, 2005 (in Turkish).
Kottak, Conrad Phillip. Antropoloji: İnsan Çeşitliliğinin Önemi (Anthropology: The Importance of
Human Diversity). Altuntek, Serpil N., et al., trans. Ankara: Ütopya Yayınevi, 2008.
László, Szentesi Zöldi. Isztambuli Vendégség. Valera Kiadó, 2015 (in Hungarian).
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Food and Culture: A Reader, 3rd ed. New York & London: Routledge, 2013, pp. 40-47.
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Bilimsel Bir Kültür Teorisi (A Scientific Cultural Theory). Özkal, Saadet, trans.
İstanbul: Kabalcı Yayınevi, 1992 (in Turkish).
———. Büyü, Bilim ve Din. (Çev. Saadet Özkal), İstanbul: Kabalcı Yayınevi, 1990 (in Turkish).
Ögel, Bahaeddin. Türk Kültür Tarihine Giriş IV: Türklerde Yemek Kültürü (Introduction to Turkish
Cultural History IV: Cuisine Culture in the Turks). Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1978 (in Turkish).
Ryokan, Taigu. Great Fool: Zen Master Ryokan-Poems, Letter, and Other Writings. Abé, Ryuichi and
Haskel, Peter, trans. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996.
Şavkay, Tuğrul. Osmanlı Mutfağı (Ottoman Cuisine). İstanbul: Şekerbank Kültür Yayınları, 2000 (in
Turkish).
Tezcan, Mahmut. Türk Yemek Antropolojisi Yazıları (Writings on the Anthropology of Turkish
Cuisine). Ankara: T. C. Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2000 (in Turkish).
Tuna, Rahmi. Adige Xabze: Adige Etiği ve Etiketi. (Adyghe Habze: Adyghe Ethics and Etiquette).
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Tylor, Edward Burnett. Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy,
Religion, Art, and Custom, v. 1. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1871.
‘Djanfeda, Chincha, Goher’ Turkish
Aspects in the Past of Viniculture at
Jászberény
Edit Bathó*
Introduction
Besides the famous vine-growing areas of Hungary (Miskolc-Abaúj, Eger-Visonta,
Villány-Siklós, Somlyó, Tokaj-Hegyalja), a more modest claim is made by the extensive
vineyards of the Great Plain which in fact provided 65% of Hungary’s vine-growing
area up until the second half of the 20th century. In the central and Southern parts of
the Great Plain (e.g. at Keecskemét) vine-growing has been continuous since Roman
times, carried on by all the subsequent peoples of the later centuries (Hungarians, Kun,
Jász etc.) (Katona – Dömötör 1963: 125-127). One characteristic region of the vinegrowing area of the Great Plain is the Jászság which is a landscape of scattered trees
and bushes stretching to the West of the Tisza by the foot of the Mátra hills, flanked by
the rivers Zagyva and Tarna. This is where a people of Alan origin called the Jász settled
in Hungary after they had arrived, along with that other population group, the Kun, in
the 13th century. The region later came to be named after them (Jászság).
The beginnings of vine-growing at Jászberény (16th-17th centuries)
Vine-growing goes back over a long time in the land of the Jász. The earliest surviving
records date back to the 16th century, the age of the Turkish administration.
During the period of its Turkish administration (1552-1682) the Jászság region
managed to retain its relatively privileged position since, as an area owned by the
treasury as part of the khasz of Hatvan, it paid its taxes directly to the Sultan’s court
(Fekete 1940: 7-8). The earliest census of the Hatvan sandjak comes from 1550. The
census of the town of Jászberény, enlisted under the fifth nahiye1, and of the 12 Jász
villages, does not include an itemised list of all the taxable products. Instead we find a
*
1
Dr. Bathó Edit PhD. ethnographer, Director of Jász Museum,
[email protected]
An administrative unit corresponding to Hungarian ’járás’ within a Sandjak. The Sandjak of Hatvan comprised 14 nahiye. In: Bayerle, Gusztáv, 1998. 277.
81
note saying that in former times, the age of the kings, the town of Jászberény, along with
the twelve villages, used not to pay the tenth and the djiye tax, but instead was used to
paying a set amount of 700 Flóri per annum (counting a Flóri to be the equivalent of 50
Akche), 2500 kila2 of wheat and 2500 kila of barley. Therefore, true to earlier custom, this
is how it was recorded in the sultan’s new defter. This meant that at the beginning of the
time of Turkish rule the Jászság area constituted a separate tax unit and paid its own tax
into the treasury of the Turks, probably with the mediation of the land steward (Fekete
1968: 7-8). The census of the sandjak of Hatvan, dating back to 1570, shows, however,
that the nahiye of Jászberény now included 15 villages and 8 farmsteads which paid
many different types of tax, including the barrel tax (Bayerle 1998: 36-37, 76-96).
The barrel tax in Acha34
Jászberény
Kisér
Jász Apáti
Ágó
Bódok Ház
Kürt
Ladáni Szengyörgy
Négyszállás
Dósa
1800
180
120
375
162
60
175
60
125
Gáli Szengyörgy
Jász Ladán
Kerek Udvar
Alataján
Mihál Telek
Mizse
Jákó Halma
Áruk Szállás8
98
90
30
45
140
60
60
280
The territory of the fields of Berény in 1565 covered 47,141 kat. hold, 1,251 of which
were vineyards (Blénenny 1943: 207). We have no data to say when these vineyards
were planted. What we do know from surviving sources is that in 1556 and 1557
the Jász villages gave detailed accounts of sales of wine at various annual occasions
(Christmas, Carnival, Whitsun etc.) and paid their royal dica5 (gate tax). Records of Eger
castle for 1587 also contain references to vine-growing around Berény, as the Jász
‘measure certain numbers of barrels of wine each year’ for the castle (Gyárfás 1885. IV.
145., Szabó 1982: 176).
2
82
Kila was a dimension of volume used in Hungary’s Turkish administration territories from the 17th century
onwards.
1 kila= 3 ‘Pozsony measures’ = 140 kg (of grain)
3 Akcha – a silver coin, the basic unit of currency under Turkish administration. In the middle of the 16th
century one Akcha equalled 2 Dénár and 50 Akcha amounted to 1 Forint. This rate rapidly became inflated by the end of the 1550’s. In: Bayerle, Gusztáv, 1998. 278.
4 At this time Árokszállás belonged to the nahiye not of Jászberény but of Hatvan. In: Bayerle, Gusztáv,
1998: 36-37.
5 Dica is a term which includes the gate tax. Dica is a tax unit levied on any single gate (household), the
rate of which was re-defined by each Parliament over the 16th and 17th centries. In: Magyar történelmi
fogalomgyűjtemény [A Hungarian Encyclopaedia of Historical Concepts] II. 1980. 808.
The Turks, who administration the
Jászság area between 1567 and 1690,
converted the Franciscan church of Berény,
its monastery and the surrounding area into
a plank castle which they named Djanfeda
(meaning a place for sacrificing souls).
From the South and East the castle
is bordered by the river Zagyva and its A drawing of the Turkish Plank Castle
impassable, swampy marshland, from the (Djanfeda) of Jászberény.
North by a plank wall fortified by a circular
bastion. Further natural protection is provided by the water of the Csincsa (Djindja),
a tributary of the Zagyva, which runs some 150 m from the plank wall. In the area
just outside the plank there stretched the part of town called Yedam, inhabited by
gunsmiths, wheelwrights and other artisans belonging to the Turkish garrison. The
plank castle of Berény was not particularly significant, there were no high-ranking
commanding staff living in it, only the Turkish mounted guard.
The Turkish army stationed in Berény was forced to flee the troops of German
General Tieffenbach and set everything on fire along its way. This was when the socalled Turkish vineyards outside the plank were destroyed and only the more remote
vineyards were spared (Fodor 1942: 249-250, Gyárás 1885: IV. 150-153). After the Turkish
army fled from the plank castle of Berény, in the first few days of May scribe Gáspár
Keresztury and thirtieth-controller Gergely Horpácsi from Ónod inventoried all of
the abandoned assets of the Turks, such as the military wagons, the mills on the river
Zagyva, their autumn and spring sowing, their fields of barley and millet, as well as
the vineyards around the planks of the town. Referring to the last they note that these
were mostly destroyed during the flight of the Turks.
Records of this inventory allow us to conclude that the vineyards of Berény were
in possession of the Turks, but they had them worked by the local inhabitants (Gyárfás
1885: IV. 149-150, Fodor, 1942: 249-250). The Turks were extremely partial to grapes and
the divine liquid produced therefrom. Although their religion strictly prohibited them
the drinking of wine, they believed ‘the Hungarian Plain is very far from the Almighty’
and so they took their share of it as they desired (Katona – Dömötör 1963: 126). This
is reflected by a proverb common in the Jászság area: ‘He drinks like a Turk at Berény’
(Prückler 1934: 68). It must be noted, however, that as regards the soldiers of the Turkish
army stationed in Hungary, only a certain portion of them were ethnically Turkish –
most of them belonged to various other peoples of the Balkans (Andrásfalvy 1957: 59).
This way it is imaginable that the mounted guard of the Berény plank also included
soldiers of a non-Muslim faith who were free to drink wine without further thought.
Based on data from letters surviving from the age of the Turkish administration
(1570-1682) we have every reason to assume that grapes were introduced at
83
Jászberény by the Turks. These letters repeatedly contain lines like ‘up till now they were
not engaged in planting and cultivating grapes’. The idea is plausible, as the favoured
and ancient drink of the Jász was the boza, this mildly alcoholic beverage brewed from
millet, which was only squeezed out by wine production (Bathó 2014: 11).
In 1640 inhabitants of the city addressed a request to the Sultan’s court ‘that, lacking
vineyards, they should be allowed to plant them once more’6. Sultan Ibrahim I issued a
decree regarding the matter which was forwarded by the pasha Musa to the sandjak
beg and kadi of Hatvan (Hegyi 1988: 73. Letter No. 49).
The raya of the town of Berény, lying in the liva of Hatvan, who present this
decree of the Sultan to you, had come to us and told us the following. Their
village is on the edge of a range of fields and up till now its raya had not
been given to planting and producing grapes and were therefore in great
want. Now they had acquired grape stems from another area and had the
intention to plant new vineyards in their village. They wish to start growing
grapes within the fields of their village and thus, in order to further the
prosperity of their village and create new vineyards they had sought my
highest leave to grant that the owners of these fields should not burden them
with demands of the tenth part and the tax in the following 5-10 years (on
the new vineyards). Therefore I give my
permission as Sultan and command
that when they come to you with my
highest order you should look into
the matter. If there are no vineyards
on the lands of said village but there
are areas suited for the planting of
vineyards, and if such planting would
indeed prove good and useful, do not
allow anyone to interfere with the
planting of new vineyards in the area
and prevent it. For the newly planted
vineyards to start flourishing as is due,
the farmers of the vineyards should
be burdened by no taxes or tenth
parts by the owners of the fields in the
subsequent 16 years. Do not allow
The Letter, in Turkish, on the Plantation of
such claims to be made and should
Vineyards.
6
84
Jászberényi török levelek magyar fordítása [Hungarian Translations of Turkish Letters] (MS). Translation by
Repiczky, János, 1851. Letter No. 48. (Library of the Jász Museum)
someone do so after all, prevent them – and in that manner strive to secure
the prosperity and flourishing of the area.7
Eventually, the people of Berény planted
their Belső Öreghegy vineyards in 1662 on
the banks of the river Zagyva, in the area
called Sárkányszög and gained a 7 year tax
holiday (Pesthy 1978: 67, Fodor én: 253).
From this time on, vine-growing became
increasingly widespread and more and more
farmers decided to plant grape-stems. It is
more than probable that the inhabitants of
Fényszaru and Apáti also planted their vines
around this time on the higher and sandier
parts of the area (Bathó 1995: 117). This is
the period when it became common on
the Plain, including the Jászság area, to use
the word ‘hegy’ (hill) to refer to any vineyard,
since grapes were originally only planted
on elevations, hillocks or hillsides (Katona –
Dömötör 1963: 126).
The Old Vineyards of Jászberény in the 1780’s.
However, the inhabitants of Jászberény, belonging to the khas of Hatvan, could
not remain long in the enjoyment of their tax holiday granted by the Sultan, because
the begs of the nearby castles (Szolnok, Eger, Hatvan) frequently demanded them
to provide food, drink and various practical items. As a result of frequent looting the
inhabitants often sought the assistance of the Sultan by letter and many of them
moved from the town to neighbouring counties.
In October 1668, Sultan Mehmed IV wrote the following to the kadi of Hatvan,
‘I therefore command… that the begler beg of Eger, the sandjak begs of Hatvan and
Szolnok and other leading officials be severely warned that they must not go against the
seriat and khanum and demand for themselves cloth, firewood, hey, wine, butter, barley,
candle wax or anything else, they must not snatch anything in a violent manner or without
payment nor otherwise harass anybody…” (Hegyi: 138-139. Letter No. 124. )
Payment of the tenth part on wine was waived only for farmers who were willing
to plant new vineyards, all other inhabitants had to pay tax on their wine, as on many
other types of produce. This is confirmed by a census of the services provided by the
town of Jászberény in 1670. ‘In the town of Jászberény, each hearth yielded one Forint
7
Hegyi Klára, 1988. 73. Letter No. 49.
85
per annum to the Turkish landlord, to the Turkish emperor the totality of the inhabitants
paid 60 Forints. Each house gave butter to the landlord; they did not give wood and hey,
but provided 15 scythe-men for a week’s work instead. They paid a tenth part of all kinds of
produce, such as wine, lambs, pigs and bees, too (Botka 1988: 305-306).
The Turkish troops left the Jászság area in 1690. In 1699 János Pentz, Eger chamber
prefect performed a methodical census, on commission by the court at Vienna, in the
area of the Triple Jászkun District. The tax-payers and taxable objects included in the
census also mentioned how many ‘hoe cuts’ of vineyard the farmers were cultivating
(Blémessy 1943: 246). Vineyards were recorded in ‘hoe-cuts’ (vinea fossores), and one
‘hoe cuts’ of vineyard in the Jászság corresponded to approximately 200 contemporary
‘négyszögöl’ (one ‘négyszögöl’ is 3,6 m2) (Fodor 1942: 260-261, Blénessy 1943: 246, Szabó
1982: 176). The census also recorded people’s occupations, although in this respect it
was incomplete, since all they recorded besides farmers were shepherds. This way at
Jászberény they also mentioned 4 vine-shepherds (Fodor 1942: 439). In 1699 vineyards
were only recorded in three places within the Jászság – the other two besides Berény
being Apáti and Jászfényszaru. Other villages did not have vineyards at this time.
Vineyards at Jászberény in the 18th-19th centuries
The area covered by vineyards grew considerably in the 18th and 19th centuries,
particularly at Jászberény, the largest community of the Jászság and the economic hub
of this region. The vineyards were first planted in dense, black soil, but a considerable
portion were also established over sandy areas. Besides the already existing vineyards
in spring 1807 a new vineyard called Neszűri szőlőskert was planted on a vast cow
pasture to the South West of the town. The practice of planting grapes to tie down the
sandy soil became particularly widespread during the philoxera epidemic devastating
plantations in the second half of the 19th century. In and around Jászberény vineyards
in 1828 amounted to 1.220 kh, in 1852 to 1.433 kh, in 1879 to 977 kh and in 1895 to
1.318 kh (Herbert, no date. 160, Novák 1998: 373-374). The vine pest which infested the
entire country in the 1880’s, philoxera destroyed the vine plantations in black soil also
at Jászberény, and only the vineyards in sandy soil survived.
Types of grapes and fruit in the vineyards; the harvesting of grapes
86
Kadarka Grapes.
Farmers grew a number of different types of
grapes in the vineyards of the Jászság. The
oldest type was the pale red kadarka, referred
to in popular parlance as Turkish góher or
Turkish grapes (Andrásfalvy 1957: 58, Szabó
1982: 177). Perfumed in its scent and flavour,
kadarka was probably imported into this
country by the Turks. This plant is resilient,
yields abundantly and gives good quality
wine. The colour of filtered kadarka is ruby
red (Katona – Dömötör 1962: 132). Besides
this, they also grew bright red Szlankamenka
grapes called Oportó, the greenish yellow
Risling,which has a smell similar to reseday,
yellow or pale pink Kövidinka, Mézesfehér,
Ezerjó with its greenish white colour, as well
as Saszla, Izabella and Delavári grapes (Bathó
2014: 100).
For a considerable period, farmers
planted the different types mixed, not
differentiated even by rows, just randomly
– as they did in other wine-growing areas
of the country. There was also a habit
of planting pumpkins or sweet-corn in
amongst the scattered stems of grapes. The
authorities would make frequent attempts
to stem this practice, but to little avail – the
custom remained rife for a long time to
come. It was only around the end of the
19th century that farmers began to separate
the different types of grapes and to plant
grapes in rows. They now kept a distance of
63 cm between stems and 95 cm between
rows. Between rows they would create
small banks of sand (bakhát) This type of
cultivation with rows and banks of sand
remained common until the middle of the
20th century and it was only industrial-scale
grape cultivation that brought about the
transfer to what is known as the ‘quadrat’
method (where the distance between
stems and rows was the same) and later
still the chord method of cultivation,
where the new shoots were supported
by outstretched wire. The chord method
remains common to this day not only in
Hungary, but other countries also.
A Vineyard with Earth Banks and Fruit Trees,
Jászberény, 1960’s.
Square Plantation Vineyard, Jászberény, 1997.
photograph by Baráth, Károly.
Kadarka Grapes Planted with the Chord
Method, Jászberény, 1974.
Vineyard Planted with the Chord Method
Near Rodosto Turkey. 2016. Photograph by
Bathó, Edit.
87
In Jászberény up until the middle of
the 20th century practically all farmers had
vineyards, where they planted not only
grapes but all kinds of fruit trees (Jász semiwild apples, long plums, pears that ripen
at the same time as barley, cherries), thus
catering for the fruit need of their families.
The fruit was eaten fresh when in season,
but they also used to sun-dry, candy, bottle
them or make jam. These delicacies then
Bunches of Grapes on a String in Beyparazi
(Turkey), 2014. Helytörténeti Múzeum.
served to improve the diet of the winter
Photograph by Bartha, Júlia.
period. It was a common way of preserving
grapes employed by the Jász population to select bunches which did not drop their
fruit, tie them up on thin string and hang them on a post in the attic where they
would dry slowly, while the berries of the fruit remained sweet and tasty. In the winter
period family members would often eat these with white bacon, bread or on its own
as a sweet. This manner of preservation was also known to Turkish people and is used
to this very day. The vineyards of Jászberény operated a hill region organisation – an
institution for landowners, renters and vine farmers without any legal mandates but
a self-governing and decision-making character. Its goal was to serve and protect the
interests of vine-growers. It operated according to the rules and regulations passed by
the community through annually elected officials (vine-manager, vine-sheriff, notary)
(Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon 2., 1979: 518). The operation of the vine-hill communities was
suspended in 1949 by a government decree (Sebők, March 1996).
88
The unique ambiance of the vine-hills of
Jászberény was created by the characteristic
huts (kunyhó or gunyhó) which usually
stood at the base of the vineyard with their
end toward the sloping road. Their door
and window usually faced the vineyard.
Because buildings in this area were mostly
built from mud, the huts were also built
from this substance. The oldest of them were
plastered wood-and-wicker structures, but
Vine-grower’s hut in the vineyard of
from the middle of the 20th century onwards
Jászberény, 1959. Photograph by Tóth, János.
battered mud walls and clay-brick walls
became common. Most of the huts were a single-space structure with a small window
on the narrow side and a door on the long side. There were also some that consisted of
two separate spaces – in cases like this there were two doors cut into the long side of the
building and sometimes people even added a veranda or porch to the front.
For a long time these huts were built with thatched roofs, but after the second
half of the 20th century it became common practice to use tiles which offered more
protection from the weather and were easier to maintain. The oldest of the huts had
no ceilings but only a roof. Later, however, people started creating ceilings in all huts
and used the resulting attic space for storage. The walls were usually whitewashed and
only in the second half of the 20th century did they start to paint the walls different
colours – by this time most of the vineyards functioned as hobby gardens.
These huts were very plainly furnished. Usually in each there was a little table, a
wooden bed structure filled with straw called a dikó, a few shelves on the walls and
a stool. There was a dead window in which they kept a candle or later a petrol lamp.
In one corner they would deposit the tools for tending to the vines, as well as the
cauldron used for open-air cooking, the tripod on which it was suspended and a few
other pots and pans. Stoves were only built in the vineyard guard’s huts, because he
had to live out on the vine-hill all year round.
The hut was usually used in the period
between spring and autumn, during the
period when the vineyard needed to be
worked. After the day’s work the family
members would usually go home, but
the more senior male members would
stay at the vineyard from the opening of
the season in spring until it was covered
Cooking a cauldron sunk into the ground,
in late autumn. During these works it was Jászberény, 1960’s.
common for the women to cook outdoors.
For this they would dig a round hole in the ground, make a fire inside it and place the
cauldron on top.
One of the most important events for vine-growers each year was the harvest
which was carried out jointly by members of the community on a mutual help basis.
Family members young and old would all take part at the harvest. They would arrive
by horse and cart early in the morning, roast some bacon on skewers over the fire and
then instantly set to work. Women and children picked grapes in wooden buckets
or round wooden tubs, while the men carried wicker baskets called puttony on their
backs, haversack style. One man with a puttony was usually accompanied by 3-4
pickers. Children were in charge of picking up single berries that dropped. The grapes,
once picked, were tipped by the puttony men into pressing sacks which were placed
into pressing tubs at the end of the vineyard where women and children pressed them
with their feet. The juice of the vines was channelled into collecting tubs. After the
second half of the 20th century it became more common to transport the grapes from
the vineyard to the house or farm after picking and process them there.
89
For breakfast, the harvesters usually ate bacon roast on a skewer. The traditional
harvest lunch, mutton stew, was cooked in a cauldron by one of the male family
members8. After finishing work for the day they would eat what was left over and then
sing together. Jász people were in the habit of indulging in a bit of a dance to mark
the end of their harvest work. The harvest ball used to be held directly after the harvest
in the local pub or restaurant, later it was moved to the grand hall of the community
centre. The ball usually started with a funny procession headed by young lads on
horseback, followed by young men and young girls and women in national costumes
carrying a vast bunch of grapes. After them came three carriages with young people
in fancy clothes. The harvest procession marched down the city singing songs and
arrived by evening time at the venue of the ball. The ball room was decorated finely
with grapes and guarded by mock guards. If anyone was caught stealing, the young
lads acting as guard would take the ‘culprit’ to the judge who would issue his penalties
next to the wine-barrel. Tradition has it that the harvest ball was used by many young
people as an occasion to get engaged (Bathó 2014: 124).
The decline of wine-growing at Jászberény
Jászberény as a town of favourable features still possessed considerable vineyards as
late as the 20th century. The manner of vine-growing became entirely transformed
during the socialist period (1945-1989). Most vineyards were expropriated by
agricultural cooperatives and state-owned farms which thus boasted a flourishing
viniculture and wine trade in the second half of the 20th century. After the transition
period of 1989 the co-operatives were disbanded, the land was restored to private
ownership and the new owners applied new business strategies. They ploughed in
the vineyards and began to cultivate the land in different ways. Many farmers planted
woods in place of the former vineyards.
After WWII the small plots of vineyard still owned by the general public, rarely
amounting to more than a few rows, continued to operate as private gardens. (Neszűr,
Kishegy, Bánhegy, Antalhegy). Over the 1970’s and 1980’s these gardens gradually
turned into hobby allotments where the owners built week-end cottages. This is
where many families went to recuperate from a week’s work, while attending to the
most pressing tasks of the vineyard. During the decade of the 1990’s, however, the use
of these week-end allotments changed considerably. The old people who had owned
them died and the younger generation, often working three shifts in a factory, had
no energy or motivation left to work in the garden at week-ends. Many of them also
lacked the knowledge required for such work. This way most of these gardens fell into
disuse. The vineyard huts collapsed, the once flourishing vineyards became overgrown
with weed. This was the decline of the vineyards of Jászberény. Today there is hardly
90
8
In the Jászság region dishes prepared in the cauldron called bogrács were only made by men.
any viniculture to speak of at Jászberény. There are a few farmers still cultivating
vineyards – they produce, process and sell. Thy continue a former great tradition of
viniculture preserved today by not much more than a few statues along the road, the
sadly dilapidated vineyards and human remembrance.
Literature
Andrásfalvy, Bertalan. A vörösbor Magyarországon [Red Wine in Hungary]. Néprajzi értesítő,
Budapest, 1957: 49-67.
Bathó, Edit. A szőlő termesztése a Jászságban [Vine-Growing in the Jászság Region]. Jászsági
Füzetek, Jászberény, 2014: 52.
Bayerle, Gusztáv. A Hatvani Szandzsák adóösszeírása 1570-ből [Tax Records of the Sandjak of
Hatvan from 1570]. Hatvany Lajos Múzeum Füzetek, Hatvan, 1998: 14.
Blénessy, János. Jászberény népesedése és gazdasági fejlődése a legrégebbi időktől 1705-ig [The
Population of Jászberény and its Economic Development from the Earliest Times until
1705]
In: A Jászberényi Jászmúzeum Évkönyve 1938-1943 [Annals of the Jász Museum of
Jászberény]. Jászsági Könyvtár 3. Budapest, 1943: 207-256.
Botka, János. Latin és magyar nyelvű források a Jászság XVI-XVII. századi történetéhez [Latin and
Hungarian Sources on the history of the Jász in the 16th - 17th centuries]
In: Szolnok Megyei Levéltári Füzetek [Szolnok County Archive Publications], Szolnok, 11.
1988: 179-345.
Fekete, Lajos. Török birtokrendszer a hódolt Magyarországon [The Turkish Land Ownership
System in Administration Hungary]. Budapest, 1940.
A Hatvani Szandzsák 1550.évi adóösszeírása [Tax Records of the Sandjak of Hatvan from
1570]. Jászsági Füzetek 4, Jászberény, 1968.
Fodor, Ferenc. A Jászság életrajza [A Biography of the Jász People]. Budapest, 1942.
Gyárfás, István. A Jász-kúnok története I-IV [The History of the Jász and Kun People]. Budapest,
1885.
Hegyi, Klára. Jászberény török levelei [Turkish Letters from Jászberény]. In: Szolnok Megyei
Levéltári Füzetek 11, Szolnok, 1988.
Herbert, János. Jászárokszállás nagyközség monográfiája [A Monograph on the Town of
Jászárokszállás], Karcag, (no date).
Katona, József – Dömötör, József. Magyar borok-borvidékek [Hungarian Wines and Vine-growing
Regions], Budapest, 1963.
Novák László. Adatok a Jászság településnéprajzához [Data on the Population Ethnograpy of
the Jász Region]. In: Jász Múzeum Évkönyve 1975-2000. Jászsági Könyvtár 4. Jászberény,
1998.
Pesthy, Frigyes. Helynévtára I. Jászkunság. Kecskemét-Szolnok [A Dictionary of Place Names. I.
Jászkunság Region, Kecskemét and Szolnok], 1978.
91
Prückler, József. Jászberényi rajzok [Drawings from Jászberény], Jászberény, 1934.
Repiczky, János (translator). Jászberényi török levelek magyar fordítása (kézirat) [Hungarian
Translations of Turkish Letters from Jászberény] Jász Múzeum Adattára (JMA) (no date).
Sebők, József. Jászberényi Hegyközség [The Hill Region Community of Jászberény]. Jászkürt,
year VIII, No. 5. p 5., 1996.
Szabó, László. Jászság [The Jászság Region]. Budapest, 1982.
92
“Traditionality” and Sustainability
of Foods in Turkish and Hungarian
Cuisines
Selcan Gürçayır Teke*
The Traditional Cuisine Interaction Project of Turkey and Hungary aims to set forth the
shared features and differences between the two countries by focusing on the cuisine
existing in both countries at the present. In that case, first it is necessary to succeed
in acquiring clarity to what is understood by the term “traditional food/cuisine” in
both cultures. The truth of the matter is that the word “traditional” is a debatable
and problematic concept. When this concept is brought together with food, then it
is observed that the expression of this ambiguity continues. Should the materials be
obtained through traditional/natural means for a food to be considered traditional?
Should the cooking techniques be traditional? Should the forms of presentation be
traditional? Is there a relationship between the traditionality of the environment where
foods are consumed and the traditionality of foods? Do foods become traditional
because they are prepared with rituals or are they prepared with rituals because they
are traditional? For a minimum of how many generations should the forms of preparing
foods, which we define as traditional, have been transferred? Does the relationship with
the concepts, such as identity and state of belonging of traditional foods determine
their traditionalities? Do the symbolic meanings of foods provide for or strengthen their
traditionalities? In light of these questions, it was observed that together with there
being slight differences in both cultures in the definition of traditional cuisine and food
when considered in the Turkish and Hungarian cultures, they were expressed in similar
forms. In the field studies, traditional cuisine was used for defining the foods coming
to the present-day by being prepared sometime in the past. Sometimes due to the
traditionality of the cooking techniques (cooking on sheet iron, cooking surrounding
it by lighting a fire) they were characterized as traditional and sometimes they were
defined as traditional because they were associated or moreover, were identified with
*
Dr., Lecturer in the Department of Turkish Folklore, Faculty of Literature, Gazi University, Ankara/Turkey,
[email protected]
93
a region or a group, because these foods were a characteristic, which continued a
religious group or ethnic identity and which separated that ethnicity or religious group
from others. Sometimes, the criteria of recognition and prevalence were the reason for
defining foods as traditional. Sometimes, due to the traditionality of the environments
in which foods were presented brought into the forefront the thought that those
foods were also traditional. In this article, every one of the justifications, which are the
cause of characterizing a food as traditional, will be opened to debate with examples
from both cultures. How the traditional foods have lived on in the present-day, to what
extent they have been changed, how they responded to the loss or change in the
environments of transferring traditional foods, in other words, it will also be treated on
how they could be sustainable.
First, what is meant related to traditional cuisine is that it should be something
that was known by those living in the past and that it was transferred to us. The fact
that a cuisine was transferred from generation to generation is the first criterion in
its characterization as traditional. The fact that the materials, preparation and cooking
techniques, form of presentation, where they were presented and the forms of
consumption show similarities with the generations who lived before us, basically
provides for separating that food from others and making it traditional. If we were
to borrow from Jack Goody, when cuisine culture is mentioned, then we can talk
about a traditional cuisine in the proportion that we can mention its traditionality
in the production, distribution, preparation and consumption stages (Goody, 2013).
It is an indisputable fact that traditions change and transform within time. As Anne
Kaplan also expressed, “To see change as the enemy of tradition is an emotional error...
Persons change their traditions in a continuous manner for fitting them into their lives;
a fixed tradition... is one that is dead” (Quoted from Kaplan, 1986 by Humphrey, 1989:
163). Consequently, the traditional foods and cuisine culture are also changed by the
generations, and the blending of new cooking techniques, new materials, new forms of
presentation of the traditional cuisine culture is under consideration. Cuisine is open to
innovations, but at the same time, is an area that also preserves conservatism. Persons
are open to both new flavors and new tastes and to technological innovations, which
make their lives easier in the kitchen, and with the identity consciousness provided by
food, they are conservative due to the social and cultural meanings or only the food
eating habits and flavors they are accustomed to eating. Consequently, it can be stated
that cuisine is an area where tradition and modern sometimes clash and sometimes
reconcile differences. Technological developments and the rapid spreading of the fast
food culture have provided for experiencing a process, which weakens the traditional
cuisine culture.
94
Even if the difficulty in understanding the definition of traditional food/cuisine is
preserved, it can be said that the thought that traditional foods are foods that take
a long time and are difficult to prepare is also valid for the Turkish and Hungarian
cultures. Just as there are traditional foods, which could be brought up until today
by being transferred among generations, there are also traditional foods that were
abandoned with some justifications by the generations and have not reached the
present-day. Among the basic difficulties experienced in the continuation of the
traditional foods is that fact that the preparation processes are difficult and that it
requires a long period of time. The fact that it requires a definite period of training
in the preparations of foods and that the preparation is hard and difficult, makes it
difficult to continue the existence of the traditional foods within the lifestyles of today.
The plum pestil (thin sheet of sun-dried fruit pulp), which is made at Şair Şeyhi Village
in Kütahya Province, is not made very much by the village women in the present-day.
The fact that prepared beverages and drinks have a rather broader range of flavors
and that they can be purchased inexpensively and easily, has been the cause of the
gradual disappearance of this traditional taste. Zehra Kipir narrated with the following
statements the making of plum pestil to the extent that she remembered it from her
mother, “The plums are cooked, boiled, put through a sieve, put on a tray, set out in the
sun and hung on a string. In winter, it is cut, and by melting, it is drunk with pilaf.” She
summarized the justification for not making this traditional taste with the words, “We
cannot be bothered to make it, we are not making it.”
Couscous, which is defined as traditional and unique to the region at Kartepe Village
of Karatepe County in İzmit Province, is known in the present-day, especially by the
elderly women, but its production is gradually decreasing. The villagers say that they
cook this traditional food for the visits of some of the Hungarian guests, who come to
visit the Tökeli İmre Monument, which is located in the village. The food is traditional in
the village, but at the same time, is observed to be an imaginary food and they benefit
from this traditional food for stating themselves to another culture and is only known
in theory by the younger generations with the justification of the difficulty in making
it, but is not made by them. After bringing it to the shape of lentils by kneading bulgur
with flour, it is rolled by hand by two women who sit on the side of a dough tray/trough
and after rolling for 2-3 hours the couscous is realized and obtained. Subsequently, it
is boiled in a kettle and dried. Ayşe Özkan, who operates a grocery store in the village,
gave information for the making of couscous with the statements, “Couscous is a very
difficult job. Bulgur is brought to the shape of lentils with flour. Two persons roll it in a
tray/trough. It takes a lot of time. They understand. Our elders are boiling it in a kettle
and dry it later.” Actually these flavors, which are not learned, will disappear together
with the deaths of the carriers of the traditional knowledge, due to the difficulties in
its production. For what period of time the couscous is rolled and what shape it takes
when the production is finished is a traditional knowledge. The loss of this knowledge
makes it necessary to rediscover by trial and error when it is decided to make these
flavors once again. A Hungarian drink called martz is a drink we encountered in
95
Budapest, for which information is found in theory on how it was made in the past, but
has been forgotten since it was not transferred in the sense of implementation. This is a
drink made with the mixing of sugar, aniseed and water and served to children during
holidays. It was tried by the source person with whom we talked, but since it was not
known in practice how it was made, the tests were unsuccessful. They obtained a very
bad flavor and abandoned making this drink.
Actually, food is also closely related to lifestyle and one of the important factors
in the change of cuisine culture is the change in lifestyle. If we were to speak about
Turkey in particular, the foods consumed from a single dish in the past have left their
place to the foods that can be eaten as a group or separately according to work
hours, together from separate plates with the establishment of the modern working
conditions of today and with the perception of hygiene. The traditional foods, which
were the tradition of eating from a single dish, could find a place for themselves in
the world of today, but it could be realized when the forms of presentation changed.
The tirit food, which is made for special guests or at Ramadan in Kütahya, is served
by boiling a turkey and placing it on a rather large tray, and surrounding it with yufka
(bread baked in very thin sheets) dampened with turkey gravy. Eating it from a single
tray is one of the dominant points of the traditionality of the food. However, the eating
of this food from separate plates in the present-day has been solved with the formula
of preparing it separately for each plate. Our source person Hediye Demir stated that
her daughter prepares this food separately for each plate, but that this was somewhat
difficult. In a similar manner, the yufka böreği (flaky thin sheet of pastry filled with thin
layers of food, usually cheese or cooked ground beef ) made in Kütahya, is a food eaten
by separating it with the hands and by putting it in the center of the tray. Both the
difficulties in preparing it and the technique of presentation have paved the way for a
decrease in the preparation of this börek.
A significant share of the traditional foods is being abandoned with the
changeability in traditional flavors and tastes.1 The food called talkan, which was made
up until recently among the Nogai Turks of Alpu County in Eskişehir Province, is among
the traditional foods that has been forgotten along with the closing of the mill in the
region. Chickpeas are broiled with corn and are made into flour by being brought to
the mill. It is eaten by mixing it with yogurt with sugar. Talkan is a food that is made for
keeping one full, especially at sahur (meal taken just before dawn during the Ramadan
fast) during the month of Ramadan. Certainly, the closing of the mill is one of the
justifications for not making this food any more. However, another justification is that
the flavor of this food is not liked, especially by the new generation. There are many
1
96
See Jean-Louis Flandrin, “Tadın da Bir Tarihi Var” (There is also a History of Taste). Yemek ve Kültür Dergisi,
2008, 11:92-101, for detailed information on the subject of change in taste.
tastes existing in the present-day, which are thought to be more flavorful and could
take the place of this taste that could be defined as snack food. The coming into the
forefront of these tastes has been the cause of taking the place of the foods, which
were consumed for meeting the same needs in the past.
One of the basic characteristics of the change in traditional tastes is encountering
other cultures, that is, the entering into the interactions of different cuisine cultures.
When the economic yield of cuisine is considered, then it is observed that touristic
tastes have been able to provide for a change and transformation of traditional tastes
in a rapid manner. The traditional pide (pita, a slightly leavened, flat pizza-like bread)
called kemences langos, which is baked in a traditional oven and that we encountered in
Hungary, has been shaped in time according to the palates of tourists. In the tradition,
this pide is baked by putting sour cream and salt on the dough and in recent years, is
baked by putting onions and pork on it. Thus, this pide, which is sold to tourists during
festivals in the streets, has become a more popular food. While the baking technique of
kemences langos has preserved its traditionality, it is observed that it has become more
enriched from the aspect of materials.
When it is also considered that the kitchen is at the same time a technical area, then
it can be evaluated that technical developments and new technologies are a threat
in response to the traditional tastes. The fact that the pots and pans or the cooking
equipment used in the past are not existing in the present-day has provided for taking
on the condition, which makes it difficult to prepare these foods at home and as a
result of this, these traditional foods can only live in memories. It is also impossible to
say that the tandırs (ovens consisting of a clay-lined pit or a large earthen jar buried
in the ground), kuzines (small, iron, wood-burning cook stoves) and sacs (pieces of
sheet iron used for cooking/baking) as food cooking equipment have been able to
find a place in the modern Turkish kitchen. It is thought that these foods, which are
evaluated as traditional due to their cooking supplies, are also disappearing with the
decrease in the use of this equipment or that their traditionalities have been lost with
the new cooking techniques. For example, the su böreği (a börek made of layers of
noodle-like pastry filled with cheese/meat), which was definitely served to guests
coming during the religious festivals in Kütahya, while it was a börek baked on pieces
of sheet iron in a wood fire in the past, it is now baked in an oven. Naciye Keler, our
source person, thinks that the food has lost its traditionality by this means, by saying
that su böreği cannot be baked in an oven. A type of macaroni called ovma, which is
prepared in Kütahya as preparations for winter, is both difficult to make and is prepared
with a special gözer (coarsely meshed sieve). Those who do not have this gözer in their
homes abandon this traditional taste. When cooking or preparation equipment are
not preserved in a home environment, then we are confronted with them at business
enterprises, cultural protection associations and museums. The dried bean soup
97
cooked in a large, earthenware jar surrounded by a fire lit in the middle, together with
vegetables, such as onions, carrots and potatoes, that we encountered at the Skansen
Museum in Hungary, is considered to be traditional due to its cooking technique.
This dish, which is an ideal food for families engaged in agriculture, is put into large,
earthenware jars surrounded by rather large fires lit in the middle. Generally, this dish is
prepared by men and is also in harmony with the lifestyles of farmers, because it cooks
in a long period of time by coming and stirring it at specific intervals. The names of the
families, which are written on the large, earthenware jars, prevent the foods from being
mixed up with each other, because the villagers cook their foods around a single fire
that they light. It is almost impossible to find a place for this cooking technique within
the modern kitchens and modern lifestyles.
98
The statement of our source person in Kisujszallas, “Traditional foods remain in the
past. They exist during festivals, but are not in daily dishes.” It provides for us to see
the open relationship between rituals and traditional foods. The most important areas
of life for the traditional foods are related to the traditional applications. When these
applications are abandoned or when they change form, then the changing or the
disappearance of the traditional foods is also under consideration. However, when the
difficulty of the “traditionality” of rituals is considered, then actually the traditional rituals
and applications can also be observed to be the safety valve of traditional foods. The
irreplaceable foods of weddings at Karcag in Hungary are chicken soup, birkapörkölt,
kolac (pie, cake), a caramelized cake with sugar given the name of pörkölt pie to the
bride in Jasbereny and at weddings in Tekirdağ, keşkek (a dish made of pounded meat
and wheat), cabbage, paça (jellied trotters – it is made with garlic and milk in the
area) and stew made with onions and tomatoes are the traditional dishes identified
with traditional applications. The dishes at traditional rituals are also becoming
traditionalized due to the meanings that they carry. The cake called rustiyush kolac
is carried in the hand of the best man at weddings in Jaszfenyszaru and symbolizes
the wish, “to continue the marriage in a happy manner eternally”. It is only made at
weddings and is a cake that is distributed by the neighbors. Also, in Kumanistan,
when going to see the mother and child before forty days have passed after birth, a
meal (lunch) called komatal, which is brought by the close relatives or neighbors, is
one of the meals related to traditions. Within this meal is the special cake given the
name of çörek (a round/ring-shaped/braided cake) and the shape of folding the cake
resembles the female sexual organ and symbolizes the wish that the woman who has
just given birth will recover as soon as possible. It is valid for funerals at İzmit, Kütahya,
Tekirdağ and moreover, in many areas of Turkey, that helva (halvah, sweet prepared
with sesame oil, various cereals and syrup or honey) is made with the objective of
removing the smell and of the house of the dead being known. Similarly, to remove
the smell by frying dough in oil or by making helva is done at İzmit and Kütahya for
kandils (one of five Islamic holy nights when the minarets are illuminated), but this
time it is done with the perception of “Birds are filled by the smell, a blessed day”. While
making square vermicelli, which symbolizes “that life has ended” for the vermicelli put
into the soups cooked at funerals in Kumanistan, at weddings, long vermicelli is put
into the soups, which symbolizes, “that life and the marriage would last for a long time”.
Our source person stated that this form of preparation was also continued at Karcag
up until recently, but now it has been forgotten. The change in form of traditional
rituals has led to a departure from these rituals of the traditional foods in both cultures.
The salon weddings, which have taken the place of traditional weddings, both for the
Hungarians and the Turks, have decreased the preparation of traditional dishes, which
were identified with weddings. Modern foods and cakes are offered to the guests at
salon weddings. Even though the making of helva, a traditional flavor, is still done in a
widespread manner at funerals in Turkey, it is also known that the distribution of pide
with meat and ayran (drink made with yogurt and water) has gradually become more
widespread in recent years. A similar situation is encountered in Hungary. Our source
person in Kisujszallas said that now the funeral meals are brought from restaurants,
but stated she recalled that forty years ago, for the death of her father-in-law, chicken
soup made with square-shaped vermicelli, birkapörkölt and her father-in-law’s favorite
foods were cooked.
The traditionality of foods strengthens even more with the symbolic meanings that
they express in rituals. The symbolic meanings assumed by foods at rituals, such as
weddings, funerals and kandil, come to a status of being one of the basic motivations
in the cooking of these foods. A similar situation can also be followed in the symbolic
meanings of foods in the Alevi (member of a religious group in Turkey that revers the
Caliph Ali) culture. The chicken, eggs, keşkek and fig compote given at the Nevruz
(holiday celebrated at the vernal equinox) religious ritual is a traditional menu, “which
has been preserved ever since Hacı Bektaş Veli” and has symbolic meanings. The
giving of chicken and eggs together symbolizes the perception of cycle, while the fig
compote symbolizes the oneness and unity of God, that is, it symbolizes oneness and
abundance. The fig is single in appearance, but when it is opened, one is confronted
with hundreds of seeds. Whereas, milk symbolizes cleanliness and purity. According
to what Mahrem Tezoldu, our source person stated, this religious ritual, realized on 21
March, is the start of the new year according to the ancient Turks. Every one of these
foods, “provides for the cleansing of the intestines and for discarding the deposits of
winter”. It is thought that these foods which are eaten “would be the reason for rising
healthier the next day and for starting the new year better.”
Another basic factor of food in the continuation of traditional foods and in the
adaptation to new lifestyles is thinking of food as a part of an identity, by equating it
with a certain ethnicity or religious group. In this situation, food is transformed into
a tool that satisfies the feeling of identity and belonging. Marie Hèléne Sauner-Leroy
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stated that food became fixed by laying an “ethnic” meaning, especially on some
foods, and that it was endeavored to prepare it in the same manner. Sauner-Leroy
set forth that this situation could be observed in an easy manner in immigrants drew
attention to the fact that immigrants who selected a food for themselves, reflect
this to their identities and thought of it as a food that symbolized them. The eating
habits related to collards of the Black Sea residents who immigrated to France and
the way of behaving for Indreja bread of the Ethiopian Jews who immigrated to Israel
can be shown as examples (2012: 163-164). The foods belonging to these groups,
which separates them from other groups, assume a distinctive function. Traditional
foods, especially when they remain under the influence of different cultures, assume
roles in the definition of group belongings and identities. For the Jasz and Kuman
peoples with whom we talked during the field research in Hungary, the traditional
foods had become the condition of an area that they thought were continuing their
identities. This is also valid for the Nogai Tatars at Eskişehir and the Alevis and Bulgarian
immigrants with whom we talked at Tekirdağ in Turkey. The pörkölt pie (hazelnut cake,
caramelized with sugar) given to the bride at weddings in the city of Jaszbereny and
the pigeon soup cooked for women who had given birth are foods that have been
identified with the Jasz culture, which is unique to the region. The pastries given the
names of kırma and dızmana by persons who are immigrants from Bulgaria at Çeşmirli
Village of Çorlu County in Tekirdağ Province are foods that have been brought to the
condition of a part of their identities. The çiğbörek (a fried börek made with raw ground
meat, onions and spices), köbete (börek with chicken), katlama, kaşık börek, ovmaç soup,
ükenbörek, sarburma, sorpa (it is made from veal) and palace dessert are the traditional
dishes coming into the forefront, which reflect identity in the Nogai Tatars. The foods
in the Alevi communities, are foods that both strengthen the group identities and
that express symbolic meanings. The aşure (pudding made of cereals, sugar, raisins,
etc.), which is cooked during the month of Muharrem (the first month of the Muslim
calendar) and which is also known as the month of mourning, is a traditional dessert
observed between the Alevis and Sunnis. The form of eating these traditional foods
has also become traditionalized. The eating of sacrifice meat cut in the worship of
companions by only the companions, that is, not being eaten by singles, who are not
companions, are also the traditional habits formed around traditional foods.
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It is observed that some traditional foods represent that region or have acquired
the attribute of coming to mind when that region is mentioned. In this context, a
relationship can be established between the foods becoming imaginary and
traditionality. The pişmaniye (a sweet that has the texture like cotton candy) from İzmit,
where the monumental tombs of İmre Tökeli and Queen Zirini are located, is famous.
Pişmaniye, which is a traditional flavor belonging to the region, has become a flavor
that is produced in small enterprises, not in homes. There are fourteen workshops
in İzmit that produce pişmaniye. In obtaining this traditional, regional taste that is
described as a food learned from Iran, while previously it was a style of production
dominant in home-type workshops with emphasis on manpower, in the present day,
it has acquired emphasis in industrial-type workshops and machine power. This sweet,
which does not have an important place in the daily food consumption of the people
of the region, is mostly brought as a gift. Especially, this taste, which we are accustomed
to seeing at the bus terminals in Turkey, is a sweet, which shows both the regional and
the traditional attributes. The mezeskalacs, honey cakes, that we encounter in Karcag
are one of the traditional tastes produced in small enterprises in Hungary. These
sweet cakes, produced from honey, flour, sugar, fresh eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and
cloves, are one of the traditional tastes, which is learned within the master-apprentice
relationship. It is known that Debrecen could be described as a center from the
aspect of mezeskalacs. Mihail Andrashi, our source person stated that previously, there
were over ten thousand masters in this sector, but in the present-day only thirty-five
masters remain. It is stated that this traditional dessert has lost its former importance
in response to the desserts coming from the West. Previously, in the periods when the
number of masters was few, the recipe was secret, whereas, in the present-day it is set
forth that the recipe is not kept secret and that giving shape and color and the forms of
decoration have acquired importance. The molds in which the honey cakes are poured
are obtained by hollowing out from pear tree wood. In this sense, a number of the cake
masters are also masters that make their own molds. These cakes, which are edible,
but mostly come into the forefront with their visualities, have become a part and have
been made imaginary in the gift sector.
It is conspicuous that the traditional foods in Turkish and Hungarian cuisines
are closely related to “the past” and “to being transferred for several generations”. It
is observed that the traditional flavors, with changes in the production, cooking and
serving, are also able to continue their existences today. However, some flavors, due
to the difficulties in their preparation, are being abandoned by both cultures. Whereas,
another reason for the abandonment of the traditional tastes stems from thinking
that they do not address the palates of today. Thinking that foods are an inseparable
part of rituals also contributes to the traditionality of these foods. However, as it can
be observed in the wedding and funeral examples, it is seen that together with the
change in the form of traditional rituals, it is also gradually ending the relationship
of these traditional flavors with these rituals. The symbolic meanings (good wishes,
therapeutic attributes) given to these traditional foods confronts us as one of the basic
motivations in the continuation of the traditional foods. Ethnic and religious groups
continue the traditionality of foods by making foods that they think have become
a part of their own identities. These traditional foods, just as they are distinctive and
separate them from other groups, they show the quality of a unifier that meets in a
shared denominator with their own groups. Also, acquiring imaginariness by equating
some dishes and foods to a specific region strengthens the traditionality of the dishes.
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The traditional cuisine culture is one of the fields that makes traditional knowledge
become known. Providing for the transfer of this knowledge between generations also
has the meaning of transferring and continuing the knowledge of humanity obtained
through experience for hundreds and thousands of years. When it is considered from
the aspect of the UNESCO, the sustainability of this knowledge is of vital importance
from the aspect of the respect felt for the creativity of humans and for preserving
the diversity of cultural expressions. It is also of great importance for both cultures to
transfer to future generations the knowledge related to the traditional cuisine culture
by the nongovernmental organizations setting into action the open-air museums for
the traditional tastes, which do not have the opportunities to retain their existences in
response to the strong capital in an important economic sector, such as food.
References
Flandrin, Jean-Louis. “Tadın da Bir Tarihi Var” (There is also a History of Taste). Yemek ve Kültür
Dergisi. 2008, 11: 92-101 (in Turkish).
Goody, Jack. Yemek, Mutfak, Sınıf Karşılaştırmalı Sosyoloji Çalışması (Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A
Study in Comparative Sociology). Güran, Müge Günay, trans. İstanbul: Pinhan Yayınları,
2013 (in Turkish).
Humphrey, Lin T. “Traditional Foods? Traditional Values?” Western Folklore, 1989, 48(2): 162-169.
Sauner-Leroy, Marie Hèléne. “Yemeğin Değişken Anlamları ve Göç” (The Changeable Meanings
of Food and Migration). In: Avcı, Ayşegül, Erkoç, Seda and Otman, Elvin, eds. Yemekte
Tarih Var Yemek Kültürü ve Tarihçiliği (There is History in Food: Cuisine Culture and
Historiography). İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2012 (in Turkish).
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Cuisines United with Photographs:
To Follow the Cuisine Cultures in
Visual Texts*
Ezgi Metin Basat**
Nourishment, which is one of the basic needs of mankind, is a universal necessity.
However, the shaping of this need according to context and lifestyles, transforms
nourishment from a physical need to a social activity. Whereas, the equipment and
supplies of cuisine present striking data from the aspect of the transformation of the
“eating” action to a cuisine culture. In this study, the equipment and supplies used in
the kitchen are examined in detail as a visual text that presents striking data related to
cooking techniques.
When it is considered that the changes of nourishments found in nature are
transforming cuisine into a cultural product, that this transformation is shaped by
kitchen equipment and supplies, then it is possible to state that the cuisine culture can
also be read through this shaping. According to Levi Strauss, to cook food is universal
within human societies. Cooked food is the condition of transforming raw food
culturally. Whereas, what is rotten is the condition of transforming in a natural manner
what is raw and cooked. Frying and smoking are on the side of nature, whereas, boiling
is on the side of culture. Smoking is on the side of culture and frying and boiling are
on the side of nature from the aspect of results (quoted from Goody 2013: 43). It is
observed that the natural cultural relationship determines the cooking techniques
of food by taking into consideration the cuisine triangle diagram of Levi Strauss. In
this relationship, it is possible to state that food has assumed social functions and
has been transformed into a cultural text. According to Mary Douglas, besides the
biological realities of food, it is also related to the social realities. According to her, food
is transformed into a code, whereas, the things that set forth the message coded are
*
The photographs used in this article were taken during the field study in Turkey between 17-23 April
2016 and in Hungary between 9-18 May 2016 by Tuna Yıldız, a doctoral student at the Department of
Turkish Folklore at the Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, and by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adem Koç, a staff member
at the Department of Turkish Language and Literature of the Gaziosmanpaşa University in Tokat, Turkey.
** PhD.at the Department of Turkish Folklore, Gazi University, Ankara/Turkey,
[email protected]
103
the patterns of the social relations. Consequently, food is brought to the condition of
the symbol of social relations. A correspondence is shown between the given social
structure and the structure of symbols, which are expressed on this structure (quoted
from Goody 2013: 46).
It can be stated that nourishments, which are a biological requirement, are
transformed into a cultural action with cooking methods, by considering the
statements of Strauss and Douglas. In this transformation, while the cuisine culture
determines the cooking nourishments of societies with fire, putting in ovens to bake,
drying and frying, on the other hand, it is important from the aspect of reflecting the
shared tastes of societies that are different from each other. Consequently, it is possible
to read from the cooking techniques the extent to which the cuisine culture is original
or universal. Whereas, kitchen equipment and supplies recognize the opportunity
for reading the cooking techniques as a visual text. Careful examination, on the one
hand, of ovens, stoves and barbeques, and on the other hand, of colanders, sinis (large,
round copper/brass trays) and storage containers, can present significant data easily
and quickly about the cuisine culture of the kitchen. Here, nourishments are removed
from being a basic need and are transformed into a cultural tool, which reflects
taste. In other words, as it was also stated by Civitello, to provide nourishment and to
establish dominance on a nourishment are different points. That is, actions, such as to
produce, to prepare with equipment, to cook, etc. are important from the aspect of
setting forth their specificity to the culture (quoted from Nahya 2012: 80). When these
cooking techniques mentioned and the kitchen equipment and supplies, which make
these techniques functional, are examined carefully, then they are transformed into
documents for the transfer of the cuisine culture.
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It is rather easy to obtain information about the shape attributes of kitchens, which
can be read as a visual text, and about the equipment and supplies located in these
kitchens for the foods cooked. Also, as stated by Özge Samancı, questions on whether
or not foods are prepared by being mashed, fried, boiled or in a closed manner can be
answered through these documents. Furthermore, there can also be the opportunity
to learn most of the time the types of foods cooked in kitchens from the names of
the aforementioned pots, saucepans and dishes in documents since they also include
areas of use. Accordingly, it can be stated that the cooking techniques, which are
shaped by the cuisine culture, and the form of the equipment and supplies used in
these techniques are functionally unique. Whereas, in the transfer of this originality,
it is observed that it answers many cultural questions of the kitchens, like an
ethnographic object. As stated by Barthes, culture is an agreement reached between
those who create it and those who consume it. Consequently, photographs, which
are visual text, can give answers to many ethnographic questions from the clothing of
persons to the accessories (Barthes 1992: 45). When kitchen equipment-supplies are
approached from this viewpoint, then the shapes reflected by cooking techniques
are striking.
According to Peter Burke, paintings, statues and printings provide the opportunity
of sharing to future generations the knowledge and experiences on the previous
cultures that have not been put into writing (Burke 2009: 13). When kitchen equipment
and supplies are considered to be a visual text, then it is possible to say that they would
be evaluated as one each source related to the cooking techniques of foods and the
forms of eating. Just like William Burroughs expressed, since no one can say something
that they do not know at all, then you also cannot show something that you do not
know at all (quoted by Yaykın 2009: 137). For example, the photograph taken at the
Thököly İmre Memory house located in İzmit, Turkey, which symbolizes the takeover of
Buda, has the attribute of constituting an example of the pictures considered by Burke
as “the eyewitnesses of history”.
Photographs 1-2. İzmit, Turkey. Thököly İmre Memory house. Paintings by Frans Geffels, 1686.
Photograph 3. Jaszbereny, Hungary.
105
In the first two photographs above, the takeover of Buda is narrated in one
painting and the detail of it is observed. Within the details of the painting, pörkölt
(stew), which is one of the important foods of the Hungarian cuisine, is being cooked
and the cooking techniques of this food are striking. Pörkölt, which was also served
frequently during the field studies, is cooked today in large kettles with similar
techniques. For example, the cooking technique in the third photograph, which was
taken in Jaszbereny on 12 May 2016, is rather like the cooking technique observed
in the painting. As it can be observed, food was cooked with similar techniques in
the two different visual texts. Here, it is also possible to follow the historical processes
through photographs of a food, which constitutes a cuisine culture. As it can also
be observed in the examples, our interest for the objects emerging before us in the
photograph and our form of giving meaning are connected to our acquaintance with
these objects, because just as İhsan Derman expressed, the visual perception, which
is only a part of the object observed, contains more than we have seen (Derman,
2010: 31). Consequently, it is possible to say that the memory of visual perception
is closely related with cultural codes. In a similar manner, the photograph of the
painting given below was taken at the kitchen section of the Esztergom Fortress
Museum. A kitchen dating back to 1542 observed in the painting appears in the
photograph. Here, at first glance, it provides for us to obtain an idea on the cuisine
culture about the kitchen equipment and supplies and food cooking techniques.
The sizes of the kettles and that collective foods were eaten from the small ones
and that boiling and straining techniques were used in the form of colanders and
spoons are understood from the painting. In the photograph observed next to the
painting, it is striking that the spoons have similar attributes to those in the painting.
Nevertheless, it is possible to read as a visual, which transfers that the boiling and
straining techniques were used.
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Photographs 3-4. National Museum of Hungary. – Esztergom Fortress Museum.
Just as it can also be observed in the examples above, the kitchen equipment
and supplies, just like oral and written sources, provide striking data on the cuisine
culture. Here, it is observed that the names of the equipment and supplies and the
shape attributes can be read, just like a visual text. For example, in the article titled,
“Osmanlı Mutfağında Kullanılan Sofra Gereçleri” (The Dinner Table Supplies Used in
Ottoman Cuisine) by Ayşe Erdoğdu, the Ottoman cuisine culture is studied carefully
through miniature paintings. Erdoğdu stated that in the Surname, which describes
the circumcision ceremony held for 52 days and 52 nights in 1582 for Prince Mehmet,
the son of Sultan Murad III, there are in many miniature paintings, most which
represent metal, ceramic and porcelain dish shapes and that plates, glass jars, shallow
cooking pans, coffee cups, trays, bowls and saucepans were forms that were used
frequently. For example, in a scene, which shows the procession of the helva (sweet
prepared with sesame oil, various cereals, and syrup or honey) makers, it shows clearly
that helva is being made in a copper saucepan with a long-handled ladle. Also, in
the miniature painting drawn by Levni, which reflects the circumcision ceremony
of Sultan Ahmed III’s princes, many ideas can be obtained on the cuisine culture
reflected in the miniature paintings. It is observed in these miniature paintings that
the round, sini/table diagrams were repeated in all the feast dinner tables. Lidded
metal covers, bowls and shallow cooking pans, blue and white bowls and plates,
porcelain pots with jewels, and generally, censers, small flasks for sprinkling rose
water, decanters, spoons, silver washbowl for washing hands and face, long-spouted
pitchers and coffee cups on a tray as a set, were the types of containers pictured the
most (Erdoğdu 2000: 65). Just as it can be observed in the examples, it is possible to
follow the traces of the cultural dynamics in general through visual texts, whereas,
especially in the cuisine culture.
Özge Samancı expressed that the pots, such as shallow cooking pans, saucepans
and kettles, used in the cooking of food in the palace kitchens and sometimes in the
serving of food, were produced from copper and that sal ammoniac and tin were
continuously provided to the kitchen for the tinning of these items. Large, shallow
copper dishes were used for pilaf, lamb and kebap, trays for baklava, börek (flaky pastry
filled with thin layers of food, usually cheese or cooked ground meat) and kadayıf
(various kinds of sweet pastry) and frying pans were used for mücver (a fried patty, the
chief ingredient of which is squash), eggs, fish and to fry oil, butter, etc. Equipment, such
as meat cleavers, bone cleavers, ground meat cleavers, small cleavers and standing
boards were used since the cutting and processing of meats were realized in kitchens.
Equipment and supplies would be found, such as copper colanders and ladles, jam
ladles, lokma (a small, round syrupy fried cake) ladles, soup ladles and wooden ladles
used in the cooking of stews, etc. When the kitchen equipment and supplies are
examined carefully by considering the examples given by Samancı, then it can be said
that the forms of transforming nutriments in the kitchens also emerged. The frying
107
pans, colanders and cleavers found in the kitchen, can also provide for our obtaining
detailed information about the food of the culture used in that kitchen to the extent
of the oral and written sources. When all of these are taken into consideration, then
it is possible to say that a detailed inference from the photographs about the cuisine
culture of Turkey and Hungary for both cuisines when the shared cuisine attributes
are considered. Especially, it is striking from the aspect of reflecting the equipment
and supplies used to the cooking techniques. For example, of the two photographs
given below, one was taken in the field studies in Hungary, whereas, the other one
was taken in Turkey.
Photograph 5. Karcag, Hungary.
108
Photograph 6. Eskişehir, Turkey.
If it were to be evaluated specific to the examples, then it is possible to say that
similar food cooking techniques are used in both cuisines. As it can also be observed in
the photographs, the presence of an oven in the kitchens gives an idea on the change
of dough in both food cultures. It is also possible to see in the field photographs the
other food forms obtained from dough. In the photographs given below, equipment
and supplies, such as graters, fine sieves, dough cutting machines and dough boards,
are used in the cuisine in both cultures. The making of tarhunya is in the left-hand
photograph, whereas, the making of mantı (a ravioli-like dish served with yogurt) is
in the right-hand photograph. Along with the originality of the foods, it is possible to
detect a sharing in the manner of transforming dough and in the cooking techniques.
However, even the existence of these equipment and supplies give information for
passing through the procedures, such as sifting and cutting of the dough. In a similar
manner, it is possible to follow the processes of change in the dough in the right-hand
photograph. Besides this, it can be said that in both photographs, women take an
active role in the foods obtained from dough.
Photograph 7. Kisujszallas, Hungary.
Photograph 8. Kütahya, Turkey.
Frying, in a manner similar to the examples given above, is one of the techniques
used in the transformation of nutrients. It is known that foods are consumed by frying
in many different geographies. For example, in the two photographs given below, the
cooking stages of nutrients produced with the frying techniques have been displayed.
Here, despite the use of similar techniques, it is possible to say that potatoes and
dough have been shaped in the kitchens of different cultures.
Photograph 9. Jazsbereny, Hungary.
Photograph 10. Eskişehir, Turkey.
Whereas, drying is one of the methods used for storing nourishments. Especially,
the culture, which examines carefully the drying of nourishments in the process of
109
preparations for winter, shelter important clues for the tastes and the forms of storing
nourishments. For example, it is possible to follow the traces of a shared cuisine culture in
the two photographs given below. It is observed in both photographs that peppers are
being dried as preparations for winter. This is also important from the aspect of reflecting
the similarity within both cuisines of the nourishments that should be stored for winter.
Photograph 11. Jasfenyszaru, Hungary.
Photograph 12. Çubuk, Ankara, Turkey.
As it can also be observed in the examples given above, they can be read as a
visual text as of the appearances of the objects and they reflect the cuisine culture in
the context of the functions on which they are found. In other words, the presence
of equipment and supplies, such as a fine sieve, bread dough tray/trough and
rolling pin in a kitchen, which is studied carefully, the nourishments dried and the
forms of presenting foods are important from the aspect of reflecting the characters
of kitchens. Besides this, it is also possible to say that the cuisine cultures, with their
joint undertakings and differences, are within a network of interaction. Similarly, large,
earthenware jars, glass jars and skewers also present striking data about the storing
culture. Whereas, these examples mentioned can be read with ease on photographs
in different time segments. Pots used for the carrying and storing of food materials, the
equipment and supplies used for preparation and the dinner table order are important
indicators that provide for our understanding the cuisine culture.
110
Photograph 13. Kisujszallas, Hungary.
Photograph 14. Tekirdağ, Turkey.
As it can also be observed in the examples given above, it is possible to use the
equipment and supplies used in the cuisine of that culture as one each source in the
solution of the cuisine culture. It is observed that these equipment and supplies, just like
written and oral sources, reflect the food cooking techniques. Besides this, it is possible
to say that important functions are undertaken in following the historical process of the
cuisine culture in museums and other exhibition areas, which reflect the cuisine culture.
In other words, finding bread boards, ovens, colanders, ladles and fine sieves in a kitchen
transfers easily to field researchers that dough raw material nourishments are cooked in
that culture. It is possible to read the photographs located below from this viewpoint.
Photograph 15. Jaszfenyszaru, Hungary.
Photograph 16. Karcag, Hungary.
Photograph 17. Kütahya, Turkey.
111
As it can also be observed in the three photographs given above, the kitchen
equipment and supplies and the shape attributes of kitchens present data related
to the cuisine culture. For example, in the photograph taken in Hungary on the left,
it is possible to understand when looking at the kitchen equipment and supplies
that the boiling and straining methods are used from the colanders, whereas, that
nourishments are consumed by making them smaller from the graters and large stone/
wooden mortars. In addition, from the peppers hanging on the wall, it is possible to
understand that preparations for winter are made by drying nourishments. Whereas,
when Photographs 16 and 17 are examined, then it is observed that in the photograph
on the left, there is a kitchen example from Hungary, whereas, in the photograph on
the right, there is an area used as a kitchen in Kütahya, Turkey. While it is observed that
food is eaten at a table in the kitchen on the left, food is consumed on a sini on the floor
in the kitchen on the right. Nevertheless, it is possible to say that the equipment and
supplies hanging on the walls that include long-spouted pitchers and storage pots in
both photographs, provide data for both cultures.
In conclusion, it can be said that the examination of kitchen equipment and supplies
gives noteworthy information on the cuisine culture of the kitchen, just like oral and
written texts. Here, it is possible to examine carefully this aforementioned equipment
and supplies as one each visual text. In this study, the photographs taken in the field
studies were examined carefully as visual sources having the meaning of original
and shared cuisine attributes of both countries. Accordingly, it is possible to interpret
on the cooking techniques, which form the cuisine culture, through the equipment
and supplies used. Especially, the functions of the equipment and supplies and the
shape attributes are striking from the aspect of also reflecting the historical processes
and methods. Consequently, it is possible to say that the equipment mentioned is
transformed into a visual text of the nourishment culture.
References
Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida, Fotoğraf Üzerine Düşünceler (Camera Lucida: Reflections on
Photography). Akçakaya, Reha, trans. İstanbul: Altıkırkbeş Yayınları, 1992 (in Turkish).
Burke, Peter. Afişten Heykele Minatürden Fotoğrafa Tarihin Görgü Tanıkları (Eyewitnessing: The Uses
of Images as Historical Evidence). Yelçe, Zeynep, trans. İstanbul: Kitap Yayınları, 2003 (in
Turkish).
Derman, İhsan. Fotoğraf ve Gerçeklik (Photographs and Reality). İstanbul: Hayalbaz Yayınları, 2010
(in Turkish).
112
Erdoğdu, Ayşe. “Osmanlı Mutfağında Kullanılan Sofra Gereçleri” (The Dinner Table Requisites
Used in Ottoman Cuisine). Çevik, Nihal Kadıoğlu, ed. Hünkar Beğendi Ankara: Kültür
Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2000, pp. 61-71 (in Turkish).
Goody, Jack. Yemek, Mutfak, Sınıf Karşılaştırmalı Sosyoloji Çalışması (Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A
Study in Comparative Sociology). Güran, Müge Günay, trans. İstanbul: Pinhan Yayınları,
2013 (in Turkish).
Nahya, Nilüfer. “Evin Kalbi: Gaziantep’te Bir Kültürel Mekân Olarak Mutfak” (The Heart of the
House: Kitchen as a Cultural Place in Gaziantep). Nahya, Z. Nilüfer, ed. Şehir ve Mutfak
Kültürü (City and Cuisine Culture). Ankara: Ürün Yayınları, 2012 (in Turkish).
Samancı, Özge. “Alaturkadan Alafrangaya: 19. Yüzyılda Osmanlı Saray Mutfaklarında Kullanılan
Araç ve Gereçler” (From Turkish Style to European Style: The Equipment and supplies
Used in the Ottoman Palace Kitchen in the 19th Century). Samancı, Özge and Bilgin, Arif,
eds. Türk Mutfağı (Turkish Cuisine). Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2008 (in
Turkish).
Yaykın, Murat. Fotoğrafın İdeolojisi “Algıda Gerçeğin Bozulumu” (The Ideology of Photography “The
Distortion of Reality in Perception”). İstanbul: Kalkedon Yayınları, 2009 (in Turkish).
113
The Role of Herbs and Spices in
Turkish Cuisine in Hungary
Andrea Bán*
Introduction
The best way to knowing, understanding and accepting a people is to start studying
its cultural history – and one way to do that is by exploring its cuisine.
In my paper I explore and present the ways in which the use of herbs has changed
among the Turks living in Hungary. As the common aphorism holds, ‘Tell me what
you eat and I’ll say who you are.’ This and similar proverbs indicate that once you are
acquainted with the diet and foods of a people or an ethnic group you will also have
learnt a great deal about the community in general.
Over the centuries, the different foods have migrated along with the people and
under the influence of changing circumstances they, too, have changed and evolved.
This migration has contributed to the variety and multiplicity of foods. A difference
in even one ingredient will result in flavours characteristic of the given region or
people. Sometimes it is enough to change the quantity of a spice or additive or to
omit or add one, a variation in the manner of preparation due to circumstances in
the environment or the technical facilities and the result is a new dish. The natural
environment spreading out under our feet, all the plants that we only need to reach
out our hands for and they give us food as we go along, all provide additional features
to the cuisine and gastro-culture of any nation adapting to the characteristics of the
landscape, the soil, the climate and the geographic position. A further feature that has
contributed to the appearance of different food variants is the free or illegal trade (or
smuggling) of commodities among countries.
During my research my goal was to find out whether and to what extent the
culinary habits of these Turkish people changed after they had moved to and settled
in Hungary. If so, how is this noticeable? How far do these people preserve their
traditions? What are the herbs and spices they even use in this country? Are these the
*
Bán Andrea ethnographer, PhD aspirant, Institute for Ethnography, University of Debrecen,
[email protected]
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traditional variants and where do these people acquire them? If they are not available
in this country, what do they use for substitutes? And, most importantly, how does the
Hungarian cuisine influence the flavours of the traditional Turkish dishes, how far and
to what extent have changes taken place. Naturally, the reverse also applies. It is easily
possible that the Turkish people who have entered employment and started a family
in this country (including those in mixed marriages) also affect Hungary’s culture as
part of a kind of 21st century impact.
It is important to note that the shops established to serve the needs of these
Turkish people are also visited by many Hungarians. Also most Turkish restaurants
follow their business interests when they offer mostly ‘Hungarianised’ versions of their
Turkish dishes, to suit local taste. This way we can subtly hint that the impact of living
together has already gently started to affect both cultures.
Turkish administration in Hungary had a favourable effect on our foods and our
culinary culture. During these 150 years the two nations passed on a great deal of
knowledge to each other. One such transmission was the use of intensely seasoned
dishes, as well as mutton roast on a spit, stuffed cabbage or stuffed vine-leaves, to
mention but a few (Ketter 1985:. 158-160). There are also a number of plants which
became wide-spread due to Turkish influence. They played a great part in both export
and import. It was during the Turkish period that a great many people began to
grow ornamental plants such as roses, tulips, hyacinths and lilacs. The same is true of
crops such as cucumbers, almonds, currants, cherries and quinces (Surányi 1985: 6162). Although rice was first grown in Europe in the 8th century by the Moors, the first
plantations in Hungary appeared during Turkish rule. The need to supply the kitchen
of the Turkish army caused the Turks to establish rice plantations in the South of the
country – this production was reduced after the Turkish administration not to gain
momentum again until the 20th century, when breeds adapted to our climate began
to appear (Ketter 1985: 158-160).
Aubergines (tojáscsucsor, törökparadicsom in Hungarian) originally come from
Southeast Asia and India and found their way to this country through Turkish mediation
to become an increasingly popular food. This is where we must also mention sweetcorn
(Zea mays), poppies (Papaver somniferum), tomatoes and red paprika1 (Capsicum
annuum) (further Hungarian names include törökbors and pogánypaprika).
There is a minor historical legend surrounding the introduction of paprika into this
county in the 17th century. According to legend it was a Hungarian maidservant who
pinched the seeds of ‘Turkish pepper’ from the garden of Mehmed Pasha of Buda. The Pasha
saw the pretty young woman carrying her pitcher of water and had her taken to his Seray
1
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Bartha (https://www.szoljon.hu/jasz-nagykun-szolnok/magazin/a-magyaros-gasztronomia-torok-eredete398371 2016.07.21.)
without delay. Locked inside the curious garden the young beauty could observe some very
special flowers, including the paprika plant which was growing its bright red crops just then.
She observed how the Turkish people dry the red fruit of the plant, grind it into powder and
use it to season their dishes. Because she liked the flavour she got hold of some of the seeds
of the plant. However, the young woman could not bring herself to forget her former lover, a
young farmer. One day she had a lucky strike – she found a secret passage that her master
had built and through this she could get out in the night to meet her loved one. One day she
sneaked out carrying a small sack of seeds she had picked and gave it to her former fiancé,
instructing him to take it home and plant the seeds. The young farmer did her bidding. By
the following year every garden in the town was abundant with the paprika seedlings. The
Hungarians grew very fond of the new red spice.
Although the legend about the young lovers is loveable, it is more likely that the
plant, seen today as the national spice of the Hungarians, spread wide due to the
activity of a handful of Bulgarian gardeners whom the Turks had invited into this
country (Swahn no date: 174-177).
The Turks, who were also extremely fond of the fiery fruit of the paprika plant, had
come in touch with it through Spanish and Portuguese mediation in the 16th or 17th
century. Today there are innumerable variations and types in terms of flavour, colour,
shape or growth rate. Hungary is now thought of worldwide as one of the leading
producers of paprika, as well as a number of other plants, herbs and spices such as basil,
garlic, parsley or various types of onions. In Turkey the most intensely produced herbs
and spices are aniseeds, chili, bay leaves, oregano, poppies and sage (Swahn, no date: 9).
Herbs and spices in Turkish cuisine
Herbs and spices are substances we use in making or preserving our foods, due to
their active agents (scent, flavour, aroma, colour or preservative effect). Mostly they
come from plants (herbs and other plants produced for this purpose), but some others
come from fungi, animal or mineral sources. According to another definition a spice is
the part of a plant with an intense flavour or aroma which we add in small quantities
to our food in order to preserve, enhance or modify the flavour or smell of our foods.2
It is hard to tell how long humanity had been using herbs and spices. We cannot
even estimate the century, but it is probable that flavouring goes back as far as cooking.
Relevant testimony comes from the remnants of food and drink which were found in
dried form on the surviving fragments of clay dishes placed inside graves next to the
deceased (Swahn no date: 11-19).
Naturally, as gastro-culture changes continually and special foods appear and
influences are adapted from different cultures, various plants can act either as herbs
2
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C5%B1szer (2016.08.27.)
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and spices or as core ingredients of main courses – such as dill, the leaves of vegetables,
paprika, tomatoes, mint, lemon, yoghurt or cheese…
’Turks of This Land’
Turkish people living in Hungary are either new immigrants from Turkey or are persons
of dual citizenship (born in this country) living here with their families mostly in the
major cities. They employ themselves either in commerce (textiles, foods, jewellery,
household products), as wholesale or retail traders, business owners in the service
industry (restaurants, fast food places), market vendors or the employees of any of
these. A considerable number are visiting students studying at our colleges and
universities. The Turkish food shops and restaurants opened in order to serve the needs
of these people conjure up a tiny little Turkey inside Hungary.
The spread of grocery offered by these shops and the manner in which they display
their spices, seeds and kernels, pickles or packaged products are no different here from
the appearance, quality, packaging or range of choice offered back in Turkey. These
shops draw their custom from two sources. One type of customer – the majority – are
Turks who are attached to what they got used to in their own country; the rest are
Hungarians who like or are interested in Turkish cuisine. As I have learnt, these little
shops make sure they stock everything that is required in order to cook the foods
of the authentic Turkish cuisine. They procure these goods with the help of Turkish
suppliers and wholesale traders.
Customers can buy not only the foods and drinks such as tea or coffee, but also the
cooking dishes and cups or glasses needed for preparation and service. Most of the
Turkish inhabitants of this country feel a profound sense of patriotism and a respect for
their original homeland – retaining their identity even when living at a great distance
from Turkey they are deeply attached to the traditional Turkish flavours and dishes, to
their manner of preparation and the raw materials used therein.
The cuisines they follow may be categorised into three types.
1. Authentic Turkish cuisine. Traditional dishes, flavours, preparation, herbs and
spices; meals in accordance with the time of day; using raw material purchased
in Turkish shops and coming from Turkish import. They will not substitute, not
even the fresh vegetables, only if they are absolutely unable to buy Turkish
import products.
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2. Mixed cuisine. This means a place where Turkish and Hungarian dishes are
served alternately. There may be several reasons for this, such as a simple liking
for Hungarian food, Turkish-Hungarian mixed marriages; children get used to
Hungarian dishes at school canteens and claim similar dishes as those they
have been socialised on. Many Hungarian university and college canteens are
aware of the diverging religious and dietary needs of foreign students studying
in this country and serve a spread of dishes also suited to their taste, but the
choice is still rather narrow. This also motivates Turkish students to familiarise
themselves with Hungarian cuisine and eating our foods. Similarly, in order to
meet children’s needs, the foods served may include items such as hot dogs and
hamburgers which are not characteristic of Turkey and are imported even into
our country.
3. Households that cook Hungarian dishes. Although this is very rare, and it is hard
to declare that any such household is 100% Hungarian, but there are some
which are predominantly so. This is the result of mixed marriages, but these are
mostly Turkish people who are unable to acquire Turkish import all the time
because there is no shop to meet their needs near where they live and acquiring
such products is difficult.
It is important to point out that even in kitchens preparing Hungarian dishes or
adapting a Hungarian style to any extent people do not use pork, in line with Muslim
prohibition, and substitute it with beef, mutton or poultry.
Acquiring products
As I have just mentioned, Turkish people are very much attached to their own foods
and drinks. The Turkish shops are stocked by Turkish suppliers, importers or wholesalers,
whether we are talking of dry goods, fresh vegetables or meats, frozen, dried or tinned
products.
People insist not only on the sight of well-stocked stores but also the experience of
being served in the right way. Turkish customers like products of the meet counter to
be ready to cook. This means that it is cleaned, chopped, washed, pre-packaged so you
only need to rince it through and can get down to cooking straight away.
They have a broad range of foods made from minced meat, which is put through
the mincer two or even three times until they reach the consistency that Turkish
people favour.
The cultivated plants of Turkish gastronomy in Hungary
The Turkish dietary spread eaten in a normal day, and the mealtimes are practically
identical between the Hungarian and the Turkish peoples. Hungary’s Turkish
inhabitants, belonging to various Turkic groups, follow their traditional Turkish cuisine
and make their dishes accordingly.
The three mealtimes are distinguished in the same way as in our culture, but the
dishes eaten at these mealtimes, and the foods eaten between mealtimes are different.
For snacks Turkish people eat mostly oily seeds prepared in any number of ways, sweet,
savoury and spicy (chickpeas, sunflower seeds, pistachio, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts,
walnuts etc.).
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Breakfast
Breakfast is eaten together. It is very ample and varied. There are several types of
cheese served: harder, softer, white, salted etc. They very rarely eat smoked cheese, it
is not characteristic in this part of the world – white soft cheese are far more common.
Another typical breakfast food is a type of pastry rolled out thin and stuffed with
various types of stuffing (meat, spinach, potatoes, cheese) – this is called börek. This
is accompanied, as all other meals, with yoghurt, cottage cheese and cut meats. On
the breakfast table you wil always find various salads (mostly made from cucumbers,
tomatoes, onions, olives, aubergines and pumpkins and raw fresh herbs such as dill,
parsley and mint). Although compared to green plants available in Turkey the spread
is narrower in Hungary. In Trukey, village people just walk out to their garden and pick
what they had grown, or whatever nature had placed on their plate: porcsinkeserűfű
- madárkeserűfű (Polygonum aviculare), pitypang (Taraxacum officinale), pásztortáska
(Capsella bursa-pastoris), papsajtmályva (Malva neglecta), lórum (Rumex obtusifolius),
kövér porcsin (Portulaca oleracea), csalán (Urtica dioica), to mention but a few plants
that constitute the ingredients of people there. The modest range available in this
country consists of cultivated herbs such as pre-heated dill, mints, chives, spring onions,
parsley and celeriac leaves. To a smaller extent Turks living in Hungary use potted herbs
also, mainly relying on the offer of the supermarkets. For flavouring they use lemons.
Flavoured spreads from aubergines
Turkish people like to mix the sweet and the savoury, this is why they usually end their
breakfast with jam (fig, sour cherry, apricot, grape, melon or strawberry), honey and
tahin pekmez, a traditional ending to breakfast. Pekmez is a very sweet grape MUST
cooked until thick which they spread on bread and eat as a sweet. Honey is also eaten
on bread, not in the tea.
It is common to include menemen (similar to Hungarian lecsó) ont he breakfast
table. The ingredients are the same as Hungarian lecsó – onions, tomatoes, tomato
paste, paprika. It i made with eggs, the same as in Hungary, but they chop the
ingredients much smaller than we do, and flavour it with chili, olive oil, garlic, oregano,
parsley and black pepper. Turkish people chop their vegetables very small for any salad,
claiming that the flavours come out much better that way – as anyone will testify who
has tasted them. This is particularly true in the case of vegetables gown under a hotter
climate, which arrive in the shops and restaurants all the way from Turkey.
Lunch
Soups
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There are a number of similarities in the flavouring of the dishes these two nations
make for lunch. However, Turkish dishes are lighter and not as fatty as ours, their soups
are more sour. This is also related to the climate – in hotter weather it is refreshing to
eat and drink slightly sour things. They are very fond of cream soups, but meat soups
and bouillons are also a part of the cuisine. One basic ingredient much used for soups
is bulgur. Bulgur is a type of durum wheat rich in fibres, which is harvested before it is
fully ripe. It is then pre-cooked or steamed for a short time and dried in the sun. During
that time the grain completes ripening. It is sold in two sizes – one variant consists
of half and whole grains, another of grains crushed small to the size of semolina.)
Further ingredients are sweet corn, different types of lentils, spinach, dried and fresh
beans, mushrooms, cabbage, peas, parsley, carrots, celeriac and potatoes. Herbs used
are peppermint, lemon, paprika (chili, hot, sweet, ground, pulbiber, garlic, red onions,
spring onions, leaks, thyme, tomatoes (whole, pealed, puréed), celeriac, carrots, parsley,
nutmeg, dill, oregano. Other flavour enhancing agents used as a spice include salt, sugar,
vinegar, butter, yoghurt, sour cream and cheese.
Second course: the subject of the present paper are mainly plants and their use
in the diet of Turks living in Hungary. It is only in passing that I wish to speak about
similarities in the cuisine of the two peoples and their causes but I do not aim to survey
the entire repertoire, as we are looking at one of the richest and most varied cuisines
of the world.
The period of Turkish administration has brought many advantages. Dishes that
the Hungarians adopted from the Turks probably include stuffed cabbage or sarma
which plays a role in both Turkish and Transylvanian cuisine to this day; and is still
referred in Transylvania as sarma.3
The same is true of pörkölt type dishes. The technique used in pörkölt is so ancient,
that probably even the Hungarians of the age of the Takeover made most of their meat
dishes in this way. To fry and seal the diced cubes of meat before further cooking is still
the first move of any good mutton dish to this day, and as we know, mutton is the most
important meat staple both in the Kunság area and in Turkish cuisine. Naturally, pörkölt
was not made in the same way in the past as it is today, as paprika was not introduced
to Europe, including Hungary, until the 16th century.4 The method of cooking pörkölt
varies also from one province of Turkey to another, which is mostly related to the
quantity of onions or water used. One informant from Yogzat province who was born
in Akdagmadeni said that their pörkölt is similar to that cooked by the Hungarians –
with plenty of sauce on top, made with lots of onions and chicken paprika is flavoured
with yoghurt. One modification in Hungary is that we add sour cream, a richer and
more creamy substance, and this informant claimed that this makes Hungarian pörkölt
3
Bartha https://www.szoljon.hu/jasz-nagykun-szolnok/magazin/a-magyaros-gasztronomia-torok-eredete398371 (2016.07.21.)
4 Bartha https://www.szoljon.hu/jasz-nagykun-szolnok/magazin/a-magyaros-gasztronomia-torok-eredete398371 (2016.07.21.)
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more tasty and flavourful. Another informant who had come from a village near
Istanbul described their local pörkölt as a drier dish made with less sauce and adding
little onion. Ground red paprika, black pepper, tomatoes and paprika are indispensable
spices in making both of these variants of pörkölt. It is interesting that the informant
from Azerbajzhan mentioned marjoram and mint in place of paprika when describing
their variant of pörkölt.
As a side-dish to go with meat dishes they use either potatoes, also popular in
Hungary (prepared in many different ways), rice, bulgur (the half and whole grains)
or steamed vegetables. Of the cultivated plants the most widely used are aubergines
(raw and dried), paprika (the type used for stuffing, dried or raw), red lentils, cabbage,
chickpeas, dried beans and, last but certainly not least, grape leaves which are used in
both a raw and a pickled form for their dishes.
Turks living in Hungary also use a wide array of herbs. They prefer spice mixtures
prepared and sold in shops. The range of herbs and spices used for main courses is
similar to those used in soups, but it also includes cinnamon, basil, marjoram, capers,
cumin, coriander, ginger, bay leaves, allspice, pine kernels and blueberries. They also
use white wine to enhance flavours.
Starters, salads, vegetable spreads
Apart from the vegetables mentioned before, aubergines are also used frequently as
an ingredient for salads. They use a wide range of spreads made from vegetables, but
aubergines are certainly the most widely used plant. It is flavoured with any of the
herbs and spices described above.
Cakes, sweetmeats
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Turkish cuisine, true to its standard, is also rich in cakes and sweetmeats. While Turkish
people have a clear preference for ready-to-cook products and deep-frozen cakes,
there is also a great deal they make at home. Turkish cakes are very sweet, they use
lots of honey, sugar syrup, fruit syrups (date, pomegranate, carob etc.), fruit jams (fig,
apricot, strawberry, rose). Dried and candied fruits also appear both as raw materials
and as flavouring, as do seeds and nuts (pistachio, sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds,
chickpeas). Cakes are usually flavoured with orange water, rose water, cinnamon,
vanilla, grated coconut, yoghurt or cocoa. Turkish people also have pancakes and what
Hungarians call lángos (savoury doughnut fried in oil). They had never tried eating
pancakes with jam, sugar and cocoa etc. Even cottage cheese is eaten in savoury
form only. They were used to eating pancakes with sour cream, savoury minced meat,
etc. However, because they like sweet flavours, they soon came to like the Hungarian
version and now prepare their pancakes in the same way. Their lángos is the same as
the Hungarian variant.
Besides sour cream, honey is the only thing that Turks living in Hungary regularly
buy in our shops or at our markets. They find them much nicer. Turkish people used to
the flavours of very white soft cheese have also grown fond of Hungarian hard smoked
cheeses and made them a regular raw material in their kitchen.
By contrast, as regards the quality of rice, Turkish people have such high expectations
that even the most expensive rice available in this country does not hit the standard of
the cheapest rice they would purchase in Turkey.
I must make separate mention of the range of choice they expect in terms of
chickpeas and olives – one reason they avoid Hungarian shops is that they fail to meet
these expectations.
As regards the chances of substituting green herbs and vegetables, all of my
informants replied that they like the Turkish types and mostly shop in Turkish shops,
but if they fail to get access to Turkish products, they will buy fresh products at
Hungarian markets (paprika, tomatoes, cucumbers, celeriac, parsley, carrots, onions,
garlic, aubergines, pumpkins or fruit), but are unlikely to buy them in the supermarkets.
There are some cultivated plants which they can only access in Turkish shops: yardlong beans (Vigna unguiculata) or the fruit of the carob plant.
It is worth mentioning briefly that some of the restaurants and fast food places
run by Turkish people in Hungary and offering traditional Turkish dishes are not all
that traditional any more. Due to business policy, some of these restaurants hope
to increase their audience by altering some of the recipes. As they put it, they have
‘Hungarianised’ their cooking. This does not mean modifying the meat – using pork is
out of the question even if the goal is to please us or to increase profits. ‘Hungarianising’
means they have introduced Hungarian flavours into dishes which allowed it. They
transformed their dishes into more full-bodied, fatty and spicy courses.
Herbs
A brief description of the herbs most commonly used by Turks living in Hungary and
their use
Bay leaves (Laurus nobilis – Defne) This is an evergreen garden herb. The active
agent is the leaf which is used in both raw and dried form. In folklore medicine its
leaves were crushed and placed on wounds, scratches and burns because it contracts
the blood vessels and reduces bleeding. If stored in oil, the leaves produce a unique
flavour (Vermeulen 2005: 164-165). It is used for flavouring soups, vegetable purées,
sauces, gravies, marinades, meat dishes and pickles.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum – Karabiber): this is an indigenous shrub of the tropics.
One of the most widely used herbs of Turkish and Hungarian cuisine. The Hungarian
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word (bors) is of ancient Turkic origin and had come into Turkish from Iran through
commerce (Rácz 2013: 155-156). They use it as a spice. It gives a hot, piquant flavour
to soups, meat dishes (roast or grilled meats, stews and ragouts). It is a spice used for
sauces, gravies, salads, side-dishes and savoury cakes.
Lemon (citrus x limon – limon). In both popular diet and popular medicine this is a
ver important plant. In cases of sore throat it is recommended to eat the flesh of a lemon
mixed with sugar (Vermeulen 2005: 87-88). They use the peel, the flower and the juice
of the fruit alike. The juice is used against fever and high blood pressure, it improves
digestion and is the No. 1 home remedy against stomach and liver complaints. People
suffering from a cold are made to smell lemon flowers. In the region of Bursa people
pour hot water over lemon zest and 7-8 leaves of mint (Menthae – nane) and drink the
resulting drink. In the area of Döşemealtı it is common for wool dyeing masters to place
ground lemon zest into the dye to render the colour more lasting (Bartha, no date: 42).
If you place a slice of lemon over an insect bite it reduces the swelling (Vermeulen
2005: 87-88). It is used widely in the patisserie industry and medicine in a number of
ways even today. Lemon is used to flavour soups, salads, sweets and cooling drinks.
Lemon grass (Melissa officinalis - oğul otu, kovan otu, turuncan, limon otu): in popular
medicine a herb tea made from the leaves of lemon grass is recommended against
stomach complaints. It is used most commonly by people suffering from insomnia. It
reduces profuse menstrual bleeding if administered as a bath (Bartha, no date: 42). It is
considered an elixir of life for body and soul. Due to its antidepressant quality it gives
the body a new lease of life. If made into a tincture and flavoured with honey it has a
relaxing, soothing effect and is therefore recommended before seep. It has the capacity
to reduce cramps and nervous stomach pains (Vermeulen 2005: 184-185). Besides its
remedial effects it is used to enhance the flavour of refreshing drinks (szörbet-sörbetserbet), soups and sweets, which lends a lovely cool, refreshing flavour on hot days.
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare - raziyane, rezene, tatlı anason): the seeds, flowers and
roots are used likewise. A tincture of the seeds improves the appetite and helps get
rid of winds. Nursing mothers also drink it hoping for plentiful milk. It is also good
for people with kidney problems as it enhances urine secretion. The root, if boiled
with honey and bandaged over the wound will cure the bite of a dog with rabies. In
veterinary medicine it is known as an effective remedy against poisoning (Bartha no
date: 42). In folk medicine the tincture of fennel is used to this very day as a remedy for
the eyes, as it has the quality to improve the eyes. Women used to drink it to prevent
obesity, men drank it after major feasts to help them feel better (Rácz 2013: 434-434).
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Garlic (Allium sativum - sarmısak) Garlic is one of our most healthful plants. It medical
qualities strengthen the body, cleanse the veins and thus it is used in the case of
cardio-vascular diseases. It also restores the blood’s cholesterol level (Vermeulen 2005:
36-37). The juice of garlic boiled with pine leaves will stop a toothache. Head wounds
are rubbed with a mixture of garlic, olive oil and honey. It is also good against coughs
and a hoarse voice. Combined with fig leaves it is stuck on insect bites and the bite of
dogs with rabies. If consumed with olive oil, it will start urine production and improve
general health. The ashes of garlic mixed with honey will get rid of rashes and reduce
blood pressure. People usually take its cloves, boil them, crush them, mix them with
flour and make small balls of which they swallow a few each day. In Erzurum women
in labour are made to smell garlic to help the placenta detach more easily (Bartha no
date: 44). Garlic has long been one of the most characteristic flavoured herbs used in
folk gastronomy. It is used to season meat dishes and vegetables purées (in Hungary,
for these are not characteristic in Turkey), salads, cheeses and other dairy products
cut into thin slices or crushed. It makes a delicious cream soup! It is used both as a
seasoning and as raw material in cooking.
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is both a medical and a cooking herb. It is excellent again
nausea. It was also used against asthma. Its characteristic spicy, piquant and sweet
flavour is known to many as the typical spice of oriental foods. It is often consumed
with just a small bit of cheese (Vermelulen, 2015: 309-310). The rhizome of ginger is
ground and added to fish dishes, meats, sauces, salads, cakes and drinks. Ginger can be
the spice of any kind of food.
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris - kekik, kekik otu): The active agent is in the flowers, the leafy
stem and the leaves. The pressed oil is used for improving the appetite, in the case of
indigestion, or is boiled with water and vinegar and used as a gargle or against toothache. The same tincture if used as a foot-bath will alleviate rheumatic pain. During
epidemics it is used to disinfect clothes. The part of the plant above the root is used
in fabric dyeing. Wool tanned first with alum will turn yellow, tanned first with chrome
it will turn brown and tanned first with copper sulphate it will turn greenish grey. In
Isparta if a woman wants to conceive she will tie some thyme over her womb. A tea
made from thyme is supposed to render childbirth easier (Bartha no date: 43).
Dill (Anethum graveolens – Dere otu): this plant is considered sacred in Egypt and
was introduced to Europe during the Roman Empire. It was used in popular medicine
to cure headaches and vascular disorders (Surányi 1985: 239). It is also known and
used as a substance suited to strengthen the stomach, get rid of winds and gall and
help lactation. Its tincture was also widely used against insomnia and colic. ‘Dill water’
is known as a carminative, digestive substance and as helping sleep, while today it is
an important component of liquid medication for children (Rácz 2013: 384-385). Its
culinary application is to use the flower and leafy stem in pickles. It is very good for
enhancing the flavour of salads, soups, meat dishes, sauces, gravies and cakes.
Coriander (Coriandrum sativum – Kişniş) – this is an ancient spice which is konwn
to have been grown in Egypt as far back as 1500 BC and which was introduced to
Europe by the Romans (Surányi, 1985: 240). Meats were stored and preserved after
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rubbing ground coriander into them. The parts used are the seeds and the leaves. The
oil pressed from the seeds is an additive to perfumes. As a spice it is used for seasoning
meat dishes, pickles, soups, cakes and drinks. It is one of the important ingredients for
curing ham. An indispensable spice of Oriental cuisine (Vermeulen 2005: 94-95).
Cumin (Carum carvi – helps the secretion of stomach acid, cures digestive pain.
Excellent against menstrual and intestinal cramps. Carminative and thus forms a part of
tea mixtures for babies. The carvon contained in the seeds is excellent for disinfecting
the intestines, it is known to kill bacteria and fungi. The young green leaves are mixed
into salads and, directly before serving, into soups. Besides flavouring potato and
cabbage based foods and meat dishes it is often sprinkled on top of bread and other
bakery products (Vermeulen 2005: 78).
Mint, peppermint (Menthae piperita – nane): it is grown and known worldwide for
the active agent in its leaf and its essential oil. It was first transferred from the Holy
Land to Greece and from there with the help of merchants to the countries and Asia
and Europe. The active agent is in the leaf which is used in popular medicine as a tea
for enhancing the appetite, as a carminative, a tranquiliser or against inflammations of
the stomach and the intestines. Used as a gargle it helps sore throats, or as a compress
against inflammations. Women tie a few leaves of mint over their womb to help
fertility. In Erzurum women in childbed used to drink mint tea against cramps of the
lower abdomen (Rácz 2013: 514-517).
Oregano, wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare – keklikotu) this plant is grown both
as a medical and a culinary herb. This is the herb grown and exported int he largest
quantities in Turkey. In folk medicine its tea was given to people to combat internal
infections. For sore throats and bronchitis or for aiding digestion they made a stronger
tincture (Vermeulen 2005: 211-212). As a cooking herb it is used for sauces, on pizzas,
for pasta and meat dishes (grilled or roasted), for salads (raw), or for flavoring vinegar,
bear and other alcoholic beverages.
Paprika (Capsicum annuum – Biber, Kırmızı biber, şili) Earlier we have already spoken
about the spreading of paprika in Turkey and Hungary. Depending on its type it can
be sweet (used for salads or too cook), very strong and hot (Cayenne or Chili paprika)
which is used as a spice either raw or dried. Red pepper is also used in a dried form
and crushed to larger flakes. It is used in a wide array of foods. Today, pörköl and gulyás
are unimaginable without the flavour and colour it produces. It is a basic ingredient
and spice in soups, meat dishes, pastas and salads in raw, boiled, steamed, fried, grilled
or dried forms (whole, diced or ground). It is an important raw material and spice for
various lecsó ype dishes.
126
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum – Domates) tomato is another vegetable and herb
which came to Hungary with Turkish mediation. Its first written mention occurred in a
catalogue by one Heindel in 1651 (Surányi 1985: 216-218). Besides gastronomic use it
also has considerable medical effects. The alkaloid called tomatin is used to produce
creams against fungoid infections and inflammations5. In folk medicine a compress of
green and red tomatoes was used to suck out open and poisonous wounds, swollen
sores (Rácz, 2013: 585). Tomatoes first became popular as an ornamental plant, today
they are one of the most wide-spread herb and vegetable. It is used widely – in sauces,
salads, pickles, drinks, in a puréed form (often as raw material or flavouring for the
former), in soups and lecsó types foods. It is excellent for enhancing the flavour of
meats.
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea – Ispanak) this is a cultivated pant with a slight laxative
effect and a high iron content. It is used as a vegetable to cook and a salad. Turkish
people eat it raw as a salad.
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum – Maydanoz) this is a widely known medical herb in
popular medicine due to its digestive and diuretic effect. There are many sub-species
which differ either in the shape of the root (root parsley), or its length or thickness or in
the leaf (leaf parsley), which can be smooth or frilled. In the kitchen they use both the
root and the leaves as flavouring or raw material for soups, side-dishes, meat dishes,
salads, but frilled leaves are also used for gastronomic decoration due to their bizarre
appearance.
Rosemary (Rozmarinus Officinalis – kuş dili) this plant is popular in Turkey both as
a gastronomic and a medical herb. The tea is taken against stomach and intestinal
complaints, the extract is rubbed to ease the pain of rheumatic joints. It probably came
to Europe through Turkish mediation. The alcoholic extract or rosemary was the first
distilled perfume used in Europe (Aqua Reginae Hungaricae). During the Great Plague
there were many superstitious methods of protection existing among the general
public and the medical profession alike. Melius himself warns, ‘…although its smoke
will purify a house where Death is present, but it will only get rid of the smell, not the
Death itself.’ In Hungary today it is known mostly from folk songs, but in Transylvanian
folk cuisine its use as a herb is still widely known (Bartha no date: 41). Before the
appearance of refrigerators people used to rub dried and ground rosemary leaves into
meat which used to preserve it for a long time – it did not go off and received a fresh
flavour. The preservative effect is also the basis of its medical quality (Rácz 2013: 635).
It is used in many dishes, mostly to flavour meats, primarily roasts, soups and salads.
Carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus – Havuç) are an important vegetable and
vitamin source originally from Asia. Its use is versatile. In its raw form it is used as a
5
Technical Terms. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003. Answers.com 28 Mar. 2010.https://www.answers.
com/topic/tomatine
127
salad. In cooking it is a raw material or flavouring for soups, sauces, gravies and meat
dishes. Baby carrots are used for pickling.
Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum, formerly Caryophyllus aromaticus) is the scented
bud of a tropical tree on the Spice Islands of the West Indies (Rácz 2013: 686-688). It
will significantly modify the flavour and bring about a special aroma if added to ham or
cabbage. In popular medicine chewing a clove stopped toothache (Vermeulen 2005:
281). It is also good against digestive problems. It is a versatile spice used for meats
and sweets alike.
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua - akasya) the fruit when ripe contains 30% saccharide as
well as pectin, tannins and the essential oil which creates the flavour so characteristic
of the fruit of the St. John’s fruit tree. Ground carob stops diarrhoea and protects the
intestines from excitants. The pressed juice of the seed is used against vomiting and
reduces hunger.6 It was first cultivated in the East and we have the Arabs to thank
for spreading it, who make a fruit syrup from it called kaftan – a substance known to
purify the voice and thus well known among singers. The seed when dried has a very
constant weight and this was used for a long time in weighing precious stones – the
word keration, meaning seed, is the root of the word karat still used today for the
weight of gold (Rácz, 2013: 690-691). Carob syrup is one of the most commonly used
syrups in Turkish cuisine when it comes to adding a sweet flavour to any dish. The
candied variant of the fruit is also eaten.
Vöröshagyma (Allium cepa - soğan) is a vegetable and flavouring of primary
importance in Turkish households. It enhances appetite if consumed in yoghurt
together with chicory (Cichorium intybus - hindıba) and vinegar. It makes the body
more resilient and onion juice mixed with honey improves the eyesight. In Erzurum if a
pregnant woman is threatened with premature birth they make her drink the juice of
onion skin. The external, yellowy brown skin has long been known and used for dyeing
wool and fabrics. It produces a pleasant yellow or olive green colour depending on the
tan used first. It is highly valued, hence the proverbial warning that onion skin is the
shirt of angels, it must not be burnt. Popular belief also holds other prohibitions – on
Friday nights you are not allowed to eat onions and when there is a waning moon you
are not allowed to plant onions or work the land in any way at all. Small children all
know the riddle ‘A bearded old man grows underground – what is it?’ (Yer altında sakallı
baba) the answer being none other than onion (Bartha no date: 44-45). Popular belief
also holds that a string of onions worn around the neck is able to keep the devil at bay.
It prevents disease and is an excellent medical herb (Vermeulen 2005: 34-35). It is used
as raw material or flavouring in a number of dishes. Cream of onion soup is not only
delicious – it is much recommended in the autumn and winter period against colds.
128
6
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szentj%C3%A1noskeny%C3%A9rfa (2016.08.25.)
It provides the basis for pörkölt and other stews and determines their thickness. It is
used widely for soups, meats, pastas and salads, boiled, fried, steamed, raw or grilled.
Sage (Salvia officinalis – ada çayi, kutas bitki, ada éayi) the active agent is in the leaves
and the flowers. As a dyeing plant it will colour wool yellow if tanned with alum, light
brown if tanned with chrome and greenish grey if tanned with iron sulphate (Bartha
no date: 45). Pour hot water over the flowers and used the liquid to purify the urinary
tract, to stop draining the strength by sweating or to cure stomach complaints. The
leaf is used frequently as an element of herb mixtures both fresh and dried. It makes
for excellent flavouring for roast meats and salads.
Celeriac Zeller (Apium graveolens – Kereviz). In popular medicine it is used widely as
a diuretic. It is not to be used by pregnant women. Commonly advised as a remedy
against joint aches, rheumatism and asthma (Vermeulen 2005: 47). It is known to
enhance sexual desire. Celeriac is grown both for its leaves and its root. The leaf is used
fresh or dried and crushed; the root is used fresh cut into round slices or diced fine and
dried. It is a flavouring and raw material used for soups, meat dishes, sauces, gravies
and salads.
These are the herbs and spices used most widely by Turkish people living in
Hungary.
To sum up, my investigations have led me to the conclusion that Turkish cuisine
and gastronomy has always been rich in the use of herbs and spices which so magically
enhance the flavour of our foods. These have remained constant as time passed, even
though new ones have been incorporated due to various social, commercial and
weather influences, but we can safely declare that overall the traditional and authentic
kitchen of the Turks has retained its ancient gastro-culture passed down for centuries.
Sun-drying is not a novel technique, as the migrant peoples of the Oriental Hun
empire (Hungarians, Turks and other ethnic groups) already used this method to
preserve a great portion of the food they produced. In Turkey this is natural to this
very day. They sun-dry their tomatoes, paprika, aubergines and other cultivated plants.
Sun-drying is also used for juicy fruits (plums, apricots, dates, figs, apples and grapes).7
References
Balázs, Judit. Török „ízelítő” kézirat https://mek.oszk.hu/00100/00133/00133.htm, erişim tarihi:
2016.08.23.
Bartha, Júlia. Adatok a török nép etnobotanikai ismeretéhez. Keletkutatás. (ősz), 1996.
Bartha, Júlia (2011). szeptember 4. https://www.szoljon.hu/jasz-nagykun-szolnok/magazin/amagyarosgasztronomia-torok-eredete-398371 erişim tarihi: 2016.07.21.
7
https://receptjeink.blogspot.hu/2011/12/keleti-konyha-kincsei.html (2016.08.27.)
129
Bernáth, Jenő. Vadon termő és termesztett gyógynövények Budapest, Mezőgazda Kiadó, 1993.
Hanna, Parrot. Gyógynövények és gyógyteák T-REX’94 Kft, 1998.
Hergenç, Gülay. Bitkiler Beslenme, Sağlık ve Hastalıkta Istambul, Nobel TIP Kitabevleri, 2015.
https://receptjeink.blogspot.hu/2011/12/keleti-konyha-kincsei.html, erişim tarihi: 2016.08.27.
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C5%B1szer, erişim tarihi: 2016.08.27.
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyarorsz%C3%A1g, erişim tarihi: 2016.08.27.
Jethro, Kloss. Gyógyító növények Törökbálint, GABO Könyvkiadó, 1988.
Ketter, László. Gasztronómiánk krónikája Budapest, Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, 1985.
Kıssné Dogossy Éva – Zsoldos Márton. A természet kincseskamrája – gyógynövényekről,
magvakról, gyümölcslevekről mindenkinek Kisújszállás, Pannon – Literatúra KFT, 2007.
Nıko, Vermeulen. Gyógynövények enciklopédiája Budapest, Ventus Libro Kiadó, 1998.
özv. Szűcs, Antalné Bagossy Klára. Eredeti Magyar Alföldi Szakácskönyv Mező-Túr, Nyomtatott
Gyiko k. Könyvnyomda, 1983.
Rácz, János. Növénynevek enciklopédiája – Az elnevezések eredete, a növények kultúrtörténete
és élettani hatása Budapest, Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2013.
Sımon, Tibor - Seregélyes Tibor. Növényismeret – A hazai növényvilág kis határozója Budapest,
Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, 2003.
Surányı, Dezső. Kerti növények regénye Budapest, Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, 1985.
Swahn, Jan-Öjvind. A fűszerek zamatos története Budapest, Gulliver Könyvkiadó Kft.
Szalaı, Miklós. Halimbai füveskönyv Nyíregyháza, Black&Whıte Kiadó.
Technical Terms. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003. Answers.com 28 Mar. 2010. https://www.
answers.com/topic/tomatine, erişim tarihi: 2016.08.24.
Ünsal, Ayfer T. Ayintab’tan Gaziantep’e Yeme İçme, Eylül, 2009.
130
131
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133
The Drinking Culture in the Shared
Turkish and Hungarian Cuisine:
Health, Rituals, Traditions
Tuna Yıldız*
“To eat” is not only a form of action realized for feeding oneself. Also, eating is not
based only on the consumption of solid foods. Consequently, the codes behind eating
food should be examined carefully. A reason for calling the cuisine culture the eatingdrinking culture most of the time is that the formation of the drinking culture is at least
as rich as the cuisine culture. In this context, “beverages”, which sometimes remain in
the shadow of the food eating action, are an important part of the cultural memory
at least to the extent of foods. To drink alcohol has an important world of ritual from
the sacrifice rituals presented to gods to the religious rites of fencing of the shaman.
Consequently, the drinking action, whether it is alcoholic or nonalcoholic, is composed
of practices, which remain in the memory from the rituals, which are based most of the
time on rather ancient pasts.
As it has been stated above, very little place has been given to the cultural
accumulation, which is formed around and on beverages in most of the studies
made on food. Consequently, to study carefully the beverages from the aspect of the
Turkish and Hungarian cuisine and the cultural experience, which has formed around
them, would also be helpful in eliminating the deficiency constituted in this field.
In this paper, the place of the beverages, such as rakı (unsweetened, anise-flavored
alcoholic drink), palinka (fruit brandy) and şerbet (sherbet, nonalcoholic drinks made
with sugar and spices or sugar and fruit juice) included in the Turkish and Hungarian
cuisine have been mentioned in the cuisine culture of both countries and has set
forth the similarity of the cultural codes formed around these drinks. No matter how
much the alcoholic drink culture is shaped according to the consumption of alcoholic
and nonalcoholic beverages, the similarity of the cultural codes formed around the
Turkish and Hungarian drinking culture is striking. The data used in this study was
*
Phd. Student at the Department of Turkish Folklore, Gazi University, Ankara/Turkey,
[email protected]
135
obtained from the field studies realized between 17-23 April 2016 in Ankara, Eskişehir,
Kütahya, İzmit, Tekirdağ and İstanbul, Turkey and between 9-18 May 2016 in Karsag,
Kisujszallas, Jaszbereny, Jaszfenyszaru and Budapest, Hungary, within the scope of the
“Turkish-Hungarian Traditional Cuisine Interaction Project”. The Turkish and Hungarian
beverages, which appear to be different from each other at first glance, were observed
to be rather similar from the aspect of the cultural codes formed with a deeper look.
Beverages have been in a place surrounded by health and ritual since the oldest
times and have been the part of a tradition. The connection between beverages
and ritual can be observed in the events that we can be confronted with at every
moment in our lives in the present-day, such as in the celebrations, festivals, special
days and congratulations, the moments when family members come together and in
the conversations held with close friends. Besides, beverages have been an important
part of the traditions ever since the oldest periods of history. For example, in the work
titled Shamanism Primitive Fencing Techniques by Mircea Eliade, when mentioning
the shaman religious rites in Central and Northern Asia, he mentions that alcoholic
beverages were offered sometimes to the spirits and sometimes to the gods by the
shaman (Eliade, 1999: 225, 229). The “beverage” mentioned as the part of a ritual by
Eliade, also continues its existence in different forms in the present-day. The şerbets
used in the transition rituals, which emerge before us in the example of Turkey, are
just like the alcoholic beverages presented for the transition to a different situation by
the shaman in the shaman religious rites in the ancient periods of history. The loğusa
(woman recovering from childbirth) şerbet, the wedding şerbet, the şerbets, which are
offered at the mevlits (chanting of the night of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in
memory of a dead person), which are recited seven days after the funeral, are a part
of a transition ritual. Besides, these, rakı, which has an important place in the Turkish
culture, and palinka (fruit brandy), which has the same value in the Hungarian culture,
are beverages that are also the part of a ritual.
Although the alcoholic beverages called Rakı and Palinka have contents and
production techniques different from each other, it is possible to say that both produce
similar codes for the cultures to which they belong. Rakı has an important place in the
Turkish culture of today for many reasons, such as rakı is not drunk without appetizers,
rakı is drunk in the evenings, the fact that drinking rakı is a symbol of strength and
status with the expression “lion’s milk”, it is drunk more at special moments with guests,
it is an indicator of the national identity, it is consumed as a drink at festivals and due to
reasons that it provides health on behalf of eliminating toothaches and shows that it
represents an entirety of rules in its own context.1 Besides this power of representation
1
136
See: https://blog.milliyet.com.tr/raki-icme-kurallari-ve-tavsiyeler----/Blog/?BlogNo=71156 for a detailed
list that describes the rules of drinking rakı.
in the present-day, at the same time, it is one of the oldest Turkish drinks. In the book
titled The Turkish Religions Prior to the Islamic Faith: Shamanism, Yusuf Ziya Yörükan
said that the ancient Turks would sprinkle rakı on the graves when they passed the
graveyard when going to sacrifice rituals and after eating the meat from an animal
that has been ritually sacrificed, first the white shaman drank rakı and later, everyone
who participated in the ceremony would drink rakı or kımız (koumiss, fermented mare’s
milk). The author also added that the rakı or kımız drunk at this ceremony was obtained
by boiling and distilling and that is was an alcoholic beverage, which had the name of
araga/arakı (Yörükan, 2016: 70). As it can be observed, rakı, while it is produced with
its own cultural codes and is drunk with its own unique rules in the present-day, is a
beverage that was used for scattering in the shaman religious rites in the past, at the
sacrificial ceremonies and for expressing respect for the ancestral spirits.
First, it was observed that palinka was offered at every home visited during the
field studies carried out in Hungary. Palinka is an alcoholic beverage that has a high
ratio of alcohol and that is produced from various fruits. Whereas, the aspects that are
shared by palinka and rakı, as was stated previously, are that they have similar codes.
During the collections made in Kisûjszâllâs, the source persons said that palinka was
the first beverage offered to guests for showing respect. Other than this, palinka is
an indicator of strength and status that can be drunk a single time and is a drink that
is consumed the most at national festivals. It is one of the most important images
of Hungary and is an expression of the national identity. The source person named
Judith Kis, with whom we talked in Jászberény, said that just like rakı, palinka is also
used to eliminate toothaches and with the intention of health for stomach disorders.
As it can be observed, even though the contents and the form of making rakı and
palinka are different beverages from each other, they could produce similar cultural
codes by passing through similar consumption stages. The alcoholic beverage culture
in Hungary also presents rather different products. For example, in the discussion held
at the Katlan Tóny Restaurant in Budapest, the source persons mentioned a beverage
called marc or murci, which is obtained from raisin clusters or from a mixture of other
types of fruits, honey, anise and water and generally, this drink is given to children and
was used as a beverage at religious holidays in the past. Other than this, the varieties
of wine in Hungary are quite a lot.
Other than rakı and palinka, which are alcoholic drinks, the Hungarian and Turkish
cuisines resemble one another from the aspect of nonalcoholic drinks. The şerbets are
beverages that also enrich the nonalcoholic drinks section in both cuisines. There is the
opinion of many researchers about the making of şerbet passing to Europe during the
Ottoman period. One of these is Arif Bilgin. According to Bilgin, the spread to the West
was via the Ottomans and similar words are used for the word şerbet in the Western
languages today. Bilgin stated that the word şerbet passed to Italian in the sixteenth
137
century and later took the name of sorbetto and is the name of a beverage consumed in
the Italian cuisine. The sorbetto of the Italians became sorbet in French and was derived to
the word sorbete in Spanish. The Germans, just like the French, used sorbet, the Serbians
and Croatians used the word serte and the Portuguese by using sorvete were acquainted
with this drink (Bilgin 2012: 49). This similarity explained by Bilgin was also observed in
the field studies made in Hungary. The source persons call şerbet, sörbet in Hungarian.
Novotny Antal, from the source persons, said that şerbets, such as elderberry, lemonade
and raspberry became widespread in Hungary in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries
and could be a clue for following the traces of the transfer mentioned.
The source persons in the talks held at the Kisûjszâllâs Reader’s Association and at
the Katlan Tóny Restaurant in Budapest stated that the varieties of şerbet in Hungary
are generally sour cherry, elderberry, raspberry and lemonade. It was stated that şerbet
in Hungary is generally drunk during the hot summer weather for cooling off. It is
possible to say that both the varieties, production and the time of use of şerbet in
Hungary resembles that in Turkey. While the source persons during the field studies
made at the Aşağıçavundur Village in Çubuk County of Ankara Province in Turkey said
that they made the sour cherry şerbet for cooling off, generally during the hot summer
weather, whereas, they said that in winter they make stewed fruit from fruits, such as
apples, pears, grapes and mulberries that they had dried in summer.
138
In the article called “Our Making of Şerbet from the Past to the Present” by Eren
Akçiçek, by quoting from the article with the title of “Turkish Cuisine in the Eleventh
Century” by Reşat Genç, he said that the Turks dried for winter the dried fruits called kak
and gag in the eleventh century, whereas, in the summers, other than wine, they made
and drank fresh fruit juices called çahir or süçik (Ayçiçek, 2002: 969, quoted from Genç).
It is also possible to encounter the existence in the eleventh century of the şerbets that
were consumed by making with different techniques as seasonal that also confront us
in the field studies in Turkey and that continue in the present-day. The şerbet tradition,
which continues its existence in Turkey, in the present-day, even if it is not used as
frequently as in the past, whereas, it is not used very often in Hungary since alcoholic
beverages are consumed in a more widespread manner. In the talks held at the
Reader’s Association in Kisûjszâllâs, the source persons said that şerbets were generally
consumed by women or were given to children. The reason for this was since the
drinking of alcoholic beverages was not very widespread among women and children.
Even if the expressions of this by the source persons in a small settlement region like
Kisûjszâllâs did not present valid data for all of Hungary, it could be observed as one of
the causes related to the use of şerbet not being widespread in Hungary. Other than
these reasons, the offering in an extremely rapid accessible manner of the industrial
closed fruit juices, is another cause of the use of şerbet not being widespread as in the
past in both Turkey and Hungary.
The şerbets used in Hungary and Turkey, other than the resemblance from the
aspect of only the cultural codes to each other of the beverages, also resemble each
other in the uses for health. There is the use for health by making şerbet by collecting
the same herbs from nature in the culture of both countries, other than the similarities
in the use of rakı and palinka for toothaches and stomach aches, which was mentioned
previously.
After the field study made by Dénes, Papp, et al., information was set forth about
how some herbs collected from nature were consumed among the people in the article
titled, “Wild plants used for food by Hungarian ethnic groups living in the Carpathian
Basin” (Dénes, et al., 2012:381). For example, agrimony, which is expressed with the
words párlófü, tüdüfü and bojtorján in Hungarian, is consumed as tea, both in the
Hungarian culture and in the Turkish culture. It is believed in Turkey that it is beneficial
for indigestion, diarrhea and rheumatism pains. Red centaury (Centaurium erythraea)
is known with the names of cintória and ezerfű in Hungarian and is used as tea. In
the same manner, this plant, which is used as tea, is thought to be beneficial in the
treatments of stomach diseases, wounds and pain therapies in Turkey and Hungary.
Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) and cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) are plants, which are
thought to be healthful that are made into şerbet in both Hungary and Turkey. It is
possible to increase the subject examples, both from the aforementioned article and
from the article, which mentions the ethnobotanical similarity of Turkey and Hungary
by Julia Bartha titled, “Adatok a török nep etnobotanikai ismeretehez”.
In conclusion, besides the beverages in the Hungarian and Turkish cuisine being
the window of a deep cultural accumulation, they are also consumed abundantly in
daily life. It is necessary to state that the Hungarian cuisine has rich and various products
from the aspect of culture, which have been formed by alcoholic beverages and
around them. In contrast to this prevalence of alcoholic beverages in the Hungarian
cuisine, the şerbets and other beverages are consumed rarely and are preferred mostly
among women or among children has been understood from the statements of the
source persons and from the observations during the field studies. Whereas, in the
Turkish cuisine, the şerbet culture is still rather widespread in the summers and winters.
Even if this culture has slowly lost is former vigor in recent periods, the making of şerbet
continues, especially among housewives, and the existence of the tradition of offering
it to visitors continues. Beverages have an important place in both countries from the
aspect of rituals, health and traditions. Different types of beverages have produced
similar cultural codes. This also presents a field of study to researchers that is suitable to
the concepts of “shared cultural heritage” and “shared values” defended by the UNESCO.
While the UNESCO defends the preservation of the shared cultural heritage of the
world, it also adopts the development of cultural interaction among countries on the
“shared codes and similarities”, which are also mentioned completely in this paper. In
139
this context, the similar codes produced by the drinking culture in the Hungarian and
Turkish cuisines shows that the persons from two different geographies could come
together around similar cultural elements. In this paper, the reflections of the drinking
culture of both countries were mentioned briefly, but it is possible to find many more
similar traces with a deeper study.
References
Akçiçek, Eren. “Dünden Bugüne Şerbetçiliğimiz (Our Making of Şerbet from the Past to the
Present).” Koz, Sabri, ed. Yemek Kitabı Tarih-Halkbilimi-Edebiyat (Cookbook: HistoryFolklore-Literature). İstanbul: Kitabevi Yayınları, 2002 (in Turkish).
Bartha, Júlia. “Adatok a török nép etnobotanikai ismeretéhez” Keletkutatás, Kőrösi Csoma Társaság
periodikája. Budapest, 1993, Tavasz, 41-57. Oldal (in Hungarian).
Bilgin, Arif. “Osmanlılarda Şerbet Kültürü ve Tatlıhâne-i Âmire’de üretilen Şerbetler (The Şerbet
Culture in the Ottomans and the Şerbets Produced at the Imperial Dessert Factory).”
Yemek ve Kültür 2012, 29: 48-57 (in Turkish).
Dénes, Andrea, Papp, Nóra, Babai, Daniel and Molnár, Zsolt. Wild plants used for food by
Hungarian ethnic groups living in the Carpathian Basin. Acta Societatis Botanicorum
Poloniae 2012, 81(4): 381-396.
Eliade, Mircea. Şamanizm İlkel Esrime Teknikleri (Shamanism Primitive Fencing Techniques). Birkan,
İsmet, trans. Ankara: İmge Yayınevi, 1999 (in Turkish).
Genç, Reşat. “XI. Yüzyılda Türk Mutfağı (Turkish Cuisine in the XIth Century).” Türk Mutfağı
Sempozyumu Bildirileri (Proceedings of the Turkish Cuisine Symposium). Ankara: Kültür
ve Turizm Bakanlığı MİFAD Yayınları, 1982, pp. 57-68 (in Turkish).
Yörükan, Yusuf Ziya. Müslümanlıktan Evvel Türk Dinleri: Şamanizm (The Turkish Religions Prior to
the Islamic Faith: Shamanism). İstanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat Yayınları, 2016 (in Turkish).
140
The Language of Food by Seasons:
Preparations for Winter
Zeynep Safiye Baki Nalcıoğlu*
“A person who works in summer will have something to eat in winter.”
Turkish Proverb
Seasons in the relationship of mankind with nature play an important role, especially
from the aspect of cuisine culture. The fact that vegetables and fruits are abundant
in summer calendrically, whereas, since sufficient and fresh food cannot be found for
nourishment in winter, then it is necessary to undertake preparations for winter at the
end of summer and generally, during the first months of autumn. The preparations
for winter, which aim to preserve with methods, such as the drying, putting to sleep,
pickling, storing by freezing and canning of foods to be used in winter is based on
guaranteeing the continuity of the life of persons by also taking into consideration
the lifestyles at its foundation. However, when this preparation is evaluated as a
process, then the storage techniques from the carriers of tradition in the process that
passes from making the products obtained prepared for storing, indicates a multidimensional cultural structure to the spaces related to these techniques, the means
and requisites, the transfer of traditions and providing for the sustainability of this
tradition.
In this study, within the scope of the Turkish-Hungarian Traditional Cuisine
Interaction Project, the data obtained from the field studies realized between 1723 April 2016 in Turkey (Ankara, Eskişehir, Kütahya, İzmit, Tekirdağ and İstanbul) and
between 9-18 May 2016 in Hungary (Karsag, Kisujszallas, Jaszbereny, Jaszfenyszaru and
Budapest) were examined within the context of the process for the preparations for
winter. From this aspect, first, it focused on the traditions kept alive in this process in
both countries, whereas, it was concluded with an evaluation of the similarities related
to the products obtained after the preparations.
*
Research Assistant in the Department of Turkish Folklore, Faculty of Literature, Gazi University, Ankara/
Turkey,
[email protected]
141
Helping one another is one of the traditions, which plays a significant role in this
process, besides the preparations, which are continued individually. This tradition, which
is called imece (working collectively) in Turkey, is the undertaking of the work within
cooperation and together with one person or a few persons. The statement by Halime
Ünal from Aşağıçavundur Village of Çubuk County in Ankara Province, “We do it in a
group, one day for one of us and one day for another one of us,” has the attribute of the
summary of the “working collectively” in the context of the preparations for winter. As
a result of the discussions held at the Reader’s Association in Kisujszallas, just as in the
making of tarhana (a dried foodstuff made chiefly of curds and flour used for making
soup), it was observed that for some foodstuffs made for preparations for winter, the
association members came together and made them. The source persons at the Çeşmeli
Hasan Baba Cemevi (house of gathering of the religious ritual called cem for Turkey’s
Alevi-Bektaşi tariqa populations and traditions) at Çeşmeli Village of Çorlu County in
Tekirdağ Province expressed that the preparations for winter were made with everyone
together at the cemevi, whereas, later, they were brought to their homes by being shared.
However, the tradition of “working collectively”, although it continues, it can be stated
that it has changed partially by being adapted to the present-day conditions. Previously,
this tradition, which continued in the form of helping acquaintances and strangers or
without distinguishing between relatives, has been transformed today into the working
together of relatives and moreover, only close relatives. To the question, “Is there the
tradition of “working collectively” in the making of foodstuffs prepared for winter in your
village?” Ayşe Özkan from Karatepe Village in İzmit Province replied, “Now, only close
relatives are helping.” It has the attribute of proving the transformation of this tradition.
The oral cultural products are also another of the traditions that could be evaluated
in the context of the process of preparations for winter. In this context, women, who are
observed to assume the most active roles of tradition carrier in both countries, create
a suitable environment for the oral cultural products by spending time together and
have provided for keeping the oral culture alive. In the discussions held at Alpu County
in Eskişehir Province, it was expressed by the source persons that various folk songs and
poems were sung or recited during the preparations for winter. In the discussions held as
well at the Reader’s Association in Kisujszallas, it was stated that the oral cultural products
were kept alive when preparing foodstuffs for winter. Singing or reciting the use of oral
cultural products can be given as an example of the statements used by Hatice Kiraz
from Çubuk County of Ankara Province when making yufka ekmeği (bread baked in very
thin sheets) for the yufka ekmeği eaten without accumulating it, “The bride made it, the
crow seized and devoured it” and when making cızlama (a flat sweet fried pastry), due
to the fact that too much was eaten, “No one made them, those who ate were not filled”.
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Whereas, the most important indicator is the transfer to the future generations
for keeping a tradition alive. In this context, throughout the field studies, one of the
questions directed to source persons was, “Do your children or grandchildren know this
tradition or do they implement it?” Whereas, the source persons expressed that even if
their children or grandchildren did not implement these traditions, at least they tried to
show these traditions to them. Halime Ünal at Aşağıçavundur Village of Çubuk County
in Ankara Province stated that at the Pickle house in the garden of their houses, their
grandchildren learned to make pickles by watching them. In the field study realized in
Jaszbereny, it was expressed that when cooking the Tamas Kaszai chicken soup with
vermicelli, they could make vermicelli since they learned at an early age and that this
vermicelli was also made at their homes for winter. Furthermore, it was stated that the
tool used for making this vermicelli and how it was made was shown to children at the
museum. Whereas, in the discussions held at the Reader’s Association in Kisujszallas
and at the Çeşmeli Hasan Baba Cemevi in Tekirdağ, the source persons expressed that
when implementing these traditions themselves, they also attempted to bring their
grandchildren next to them for their learning how to do it. From this aspect, the youth
in both countries, who have still not passed to the role of implementer in the tradition
of preparations for winter, are continuing to learn and the transfer of the tradition is
provided with examples of this implementation.
Whereas, the storage techniques are another tradition that could be evaluated in
the process of preparations for winter. However, these techniques have also displayed
some changes connected to the technological developments in the present-day. The
storage method by freezing has become the most used method with the change in
the storage conditions and the ease of preservation of foodstuffs with refrigerators and
freezers. In Jack Goody’s book titled Yemek, Mutfak, Sınıf Karşılaştırmalı Sosyoloji Çalışması
(Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A Study in Comparative Sociology), he expressed that
many activities that we thought to be connected with the preparation of foodstuffs
were related to the preservation of foodstuffs against time in older societies (2013:
284). However, today, the preparations for winter process that can be accepted as an
indicator of the preservation against time and adaptation to the timing of nature, has
been transformed directly to the “freezing compartment” culture (refrigerator-deep
freeze) and has also been reflected in changes in the storage techniques. Furthermore,
the fact that today almost every vegetable and fruit can also be found throughout the
four seasons together with the changing techniques has shown that our perception
of time has also changed. In Mahmut Tezcan’s book titled, Türk Yemek Antropolojisi
Yazıları (Anthropology Articles on Turkish Cuisine), he treats the vicious circle of the
traditional-modern system that has become independent from seasons and that the
consumption in the traditional systems was based on the harvest and season of the
enterprises between abundance and demand and expressed that the choice was
limited based on presence and location. Whereas, Tezcan stated that in the modern
systems, the consumption activity of foodstuffs is always present at a certain price,
that it has become independent from seasons and exists for everyone who can pay for
the choice (2000: 4). Whereas, another viewpoint that questions our time perception is
143
related to women, who play a leading role in the process and transfer of preparations
for winter. The timelessness concept has also emerged for the reasons of preparations
for winter, such as the extension of the periods of education connected to a rise in the
level of education of women in the present-day, their taking a greater place in work life
and technological developments. The data obtained related to women from the field
studies, such as “She has no time, because she is attending school”, “It is difficult work,
it is a waste of time, because she is working” emphasizes the perception of time in the
modern system and the importance of time in the process of preparations for winter.
Whereas, another concept connected to the process of preparations for winter is the
spaces where the foodstuffs are produced and preserved. The pickle house and tandır
(oven consisting of a clay-lined pit or large earthen jar buried in the ground) house that
are found in the gardens of the houses at Çubuk County in Ankara Province provide a
suitable environment for the winter preparations and indicate the continuousness of
these preparations. Istvan Ezsids stated that pickles, tarhana and tomato paste were
made in the garden of the farm at Jaszfenyszaru. Whereas, Aynur Taşdelen, who lives in
city center of Kütahya, expressed that now she bought prepared tomato paste, since she
did not have a suitable garden environment for making tomato paste. These examples
show the effect of space on preparations for winter and that the loss of space would also
be the reason for the disappearance of the tradition. Whereas, pantries/larders are the
special spaces where the foodstuff prepared are stored. It was observed that the pantry/
larder culture has been kept alive, both in Turkey and in Hungary. Erdoğan Korkmaz and
Reyhan Bayram stated that they have rooms given the name of pantry/larder in their
homes at Çeşmeli Village of Çorlu County in Tekirdağ Province. Whereas, the fact that Kis
Judith stated that there were pantries/larders in some of the homes in Jaszbereny also
drew attention to the role of space in the preservation of the foodstuffs prepared.
144
The changes in the concepts of techniques, spaces and time related to
technological developments and a transition to a modern system makes one think at
first glance, that it is difficult to continue the preparations for winter, especially in city
centers. However, the preparations for winter, which are called an organic system in the
present-day and actually can be described as an effort to return to a traditional system,
has reopened to debate this process that is a continuation in a new system. Zehra
Kipir, who works at the Hekim Sinan Medicinal Plants Store in Kütahya, stated, “We no
longer do it because we work. Those who remain at home prepare for winter. We have
become modernized.” It shows that not to prepare for winter has been evaluated as
becoming modern. In the discussions held at the Reader’s Association in Kisujszallas it
was stated that now the preparations for winter are generally not made at home and
that prepared food is purchased from shops. While not to prepare for winter in the
traditional system is observed as becoming modern, whereas, the persons who live
today in the order called the modern system are orienting towards organic products
and are seeing this as becoming modern. Actually, it is observed that this situation is
an effort to return to the traditional system with the name of organic and has been
transformed into the present-day modernism.
Whereas, from this aspect, the sale of products for preparations for winter produced
naturally, is both a return to the organic system, that is, the modernism and needs of
today and also reflects the transformation to the culture industry of the preparations
for winter. Murat Belge in his book titled Tarih Boyunca Yemek Kültürü (Food Culture
Throughout History) stated that science and technology have increased foodstuffs,
have broadened the opportunities for storing and that every one of these are excellent
developments. Furthermore, Belge also questions this situation by saying, “However,
is mechanization very good at the expense of unemployment?” (Belge 2001: 12).
Whereas, the culture industry emerges at this stage about preparations for winter and
it presents a new proposal for solution, both to implementers and also provides for
the continuation of the tradition. In the discussion held with Balku Gyuline, who offers
organic jams for sale at the Skanzen Hungarian Open-Air Museum, she stated, “We
collect the plums at the end of August. We clean them and start to cook them. We
remove their pits. This is a natural thing, we do not even add sugar.” The emphasis on
natural has the attribute of proving this trend. Furthermore, the dried natural fruits
and quince pestil (thin sheet of sun-dried fruit pulp) sold at the Skanzen Hungarian
Open-Air Museum and the pickles, which are stated to be prepared with the traditional
methods and presented for sale at Çubuk County in Ankara Province can be given as
examples of the return to the culture industry of preparations for winter.
Whereas, the shared foodstuffs in the traditional cuisine culture of Turkey and
Hungary, which have lived together for many years and which have a shared history
and cultural interaction, and moreover, attracts attention to the similarity of names
of some of the foodstuffs used in the transformation to products of the preparations
made for winter. When the data obtained from the field studies in Turkey were
looked at in general, it was observed that pickles, vermicelli, tomato paste, tomato
sauce, tarhana, jam, yufka ekmeği, couscous and ovma vermicelli were prepared and
vegetables, fruits and plants were dried. Also, in Hungary, it was observed that pickles,
tarhana, vermicelli, galuska (noodles), sucuk (sausage flavored with garlic), pastırma
(pastrami-like beef that is smoked or sun-dried after being treated with spices), tomato
paste and jam were prepared and vegetables, fruits and plants were dried to be used
in winter. One of the foodstuffs that has a similar name is tarhana, which is called
tarhonya in Hungarian. Even though tarhonya is a foodstuff made in preparations for
winter, it is different from the tarhana known and made in Turkey. Edit Tasnadi, in the
article titled “Macar Mutfağında Türk Yemekleri” (Turkish Foods in Hungarian Cuisine)
drew attention to the sameness of Turkish and Hungarian cuisines and stated that
tarhonya was mostly eaten with foods with meat in Hungary -like pilaf- as a garniture
(Tasnadi 1993: 273). Whereas, it can be stated that the foodstuffs prepared other than
tarhana, are similar, both for type and for flavor.
145
In conclusion, it was observed in the fields studies realized that the processing,
production and consumption procedures of foodstuffs right along with the context
of the preparations for winter of the storage culture were similar and continued in the
cuisines of Turkey and Hungary. The process of preparations for winter also keeps alive
the traditions together with itself and provides for their living by being transferred.
Whereas, women have the most important role on the point of storage and transfer
of traditions. Furthermore, in both countries as well, they have found a place for
themselves in the modern system of the preparations for winter implementations and
in this context, it has also opened to discussion new fields, such as organic nutrition,
culture industry and cuisine tourism. Handling the sustainability of conservation
culture in Turkey and Hungary as a whole with relation to social, environmental and
economic sensibilities is of capital importance with regard to the safeguarding of the
process of preparation for winter as a multidimensional cultural structure.
References
Belge, Murat. Tarih Boyunca Yemek Kültürü (Cuisine Culture Throughout History). İstanbul: İletişim
Yayınları, 2001 (in Turkish).
Goody, Jack. Yemek, Mutfak, Sınıf Karşılaştırmalı Sosyoloji Çalışması (Cooking, Cuisine and Class: A
Study in Comparative Sociology). Güran, Müge Günay, trans. İstanbul: Pinhan Yayınları,
2013 (in Turkish).
Tasnadi, Edit. “Macar Mutfağında Türk Yemekleri” (Turkish Foods in Hungarian Cuisine). In: Halıcı,
Feyzi, ed. Dördüncü Milletlerarası Yemek Kongresi Kitabı, 3-6 Eylül 1992, Türkiye. Konya:
Kombassan A.Ş. Yayınları, 1993 (in Turkish).
Tezcan, Mahmut. Türk Yemek Antropolojisi Yazıları (Anthropology Articles on Turkish Cuisine).
Ankara: T.C. Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2000 (in Turkish).
Resource Persons
Aynur Taşdelen, 49, Kütahya, Turkey, Expert Teacher at the Public Education Center.
Ayşe Özkan, 39, Karatepe Village, İzmit Province, Turkey, Runs a grocery store.
Balku Gyuline, 62, Budapest, Hungary, Works in the Tourism Sector.
Erdoğan Korkmaz, 51, Zile County, Tokat Province, Turkey, Teacher.
Halime Ünal, 60, Çubuk County, Ankara Province, Turkey, Housewife.
Hatice Kiraz, 46, Çubuk County, Ankara Province, Turkey, Housewife.
Istvan Ezsids, 60, Jasfenyszaru, Hungary, Farmer.
Kis Judith, 28, Jaszbereny, Hungary, Personnel at the Jasz Museum.
Reyhan Bayram, 48, Çeşmeli Village, Çorlu County, Tekirdağ Province, Turkey, Housewife.
Tamas Kaszai, 56, Jaszfenyszaru, Hungary, Chef.
146
Zehra Kipir, Kütahya, Turkey, Works at the Hekim Sinan Medicinal Plants Store.
Nogays of Turkey:
Their Ethnic Identity and Acculturation
David Somfai Kara*
Introduction
In the last 150 years quite a few Turkic ethnic groups migrated to the Asian part of
Turkey, mainly due to the expansion and colonisation of the Russian and Chinese
empires. Nowadays we find diaspora groups from Easter Turkestan (Uighur, Kazak and
Kyrgyz from Tarim, Jungaria and Pamir), Khorasan (Özbek and Türkmen from Northern
Afghanistan) and from the Caucasus (Tawlu or Karachay-Balkar, who arrived with the
Cherkes and a few Kumuk from Dagestan). But one of the most significant of these
groups is the Crimean and Nogay Tatars from the territory of the former Crimean
Khanate (1449-1783). There are only estimates about the Tatar population of Turkey
(about 500 thousand) because they have a triple identity: primarily they are Turks
(since in Turkey officially all Turkic groups belong to one nation and people) but they
also identify themselves as Tatars (kırımlı) and Nogays.
Short History of the Nogays
Nogays originated from those nomadic Kypchak Tukric tribes (Cumans) who lived in
the Eastern European territory of the Golden Horde (Jochi Ulus) and they considered
themselves the Muslim people of Nogay khan (1260-1300) during the time of
disintegration of the nomadic state. Until recent times the memory of the Cumans and
th
their leader Köten-batyr has been preserved among Nogays. At the end of the 14
century Edige Emir (1390-1419) from the Manghit clan made alliance with Temür Emir
(1370-1405) from the Barlas clan against Chingisid Toktamysh and together they defeated
the Khan of the Golden Horde (1391 and 1395). After the death of Edige (1419) nomadic
clans led by the Manghit again rebelled against the central power of the Jochi Ulus,
which resulted that the Chingisid state was disintegrated due to the lack of sufficient
nomadic army. Edige’s son Mansur although supported Barak Khan, whose sons Kerey
and Janybek later founded the Kazak Khanate, but in 1427 Ulug-Mohamed defeated
*
Dávid Somfai Kara, PhD Turkologist, research fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
[email protected]
147
them. After this the rich commercial centres of the Golden Horde started to break away
from the central of the state (Saray: Edil and Yaik rivers or Volga and Ural in Russian).
1) Kazan Khanate (1438)
2) Crimean Khanate (1441)
3) Hajitarkhan (Astrakhan) Khanate (1466)
The territory of the Nogay Horde and the Crimean Khanate
A younger son of Edige, Nureddin Mirza returned from Central Asia and led the
Nogay Horde until 1440 but Ismail Mirza (grandson of Toktamysh) defeated him.
Meanwhile the eastern part of the Jochi Ulus (Ak Orda) also disintegrated; the Özbek
Khanate was formed led by Abulkhair (1412-1468) Khan from the Shibanid (Sheybanid)
linage who gave the title of beklerbek to Nureddin and later to his son Waqqas. After the
fall of Abulkhair the Kazak Khanate (1465-1480) broke away from the Özbek Khanate.
Then in 1490 the Sibir (Tümen) Khanate (Taibuga’s clan chased away the Shibanid
Abak Khan) also separated.
148
In 1480 Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III managed to stop Ahmed Khan’s (1465-1481)
troops of the Golden Horde. Later Moscow made alliance with the Crimean Khanate and
the Nogai Horde (with two sons of Waqqas: Musa and Yamgurchy) against the Golden
(Great) Horde and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Musa’s younger brother Yamgurchy
Beg became the leader (mirza) of the Nogay Horde in 1502. The same year their alliance
defeated the Great Horde of Saray and those territories were administration by the
Nogays in 1509. Moscow betrayed their alliance in 1519-ben and in 1521 the Kazaks
pushed the Nogays out of their central territory around Saraychuk by the Yaik (Ural)
River. The Crimean Khanate administration Astrakhan but the Nogays pushed them
back so the Nogay and Crimean alliance was also broken. Mamay the Nogai mirza killed
the Crimean khan in 1523, established his centre by the Edil (Volga) River and even
regained Saraichuk. In 1533-ben Ivan IV the Terrible became the grand duke of Moscow
and encouraged by the broken alliance of the Tatars he decided to become Tsar of
All Russia in 1547 and started an offensive against them with the support of Cossack
army. Meanwhile Narik-ulu Chora (1526-1547) from the Nogay Tama clan gained great
influence in the Kazan Khanate but Russians managed to kill him. In 1552 Ivan the
Terrible occupied Kazan, where the daughter of a Nogay leader Yusuf Beg, namely
Süyünbike was ruling (1549-1551). In 1556 Hajitarkhan or Astrakhan was also occupied.
In 1557 Kazy mirza broke away from Yusup and founded the Little Nogay Horde along
the Koban (Kuban) River (Ak-Mecsit). In 1560 the Little Horde and the Crimean Khanate
made alliance but could not regain Hajitrakhan. Meanwhile Sultan Suleiman (15201566) also employed Nogay troops in his military campaign against Hungary. Between
1567 and 1571 Cossacks reached the Terk (Terek) River and in 1580 Cossacks of the Yaik
destroyed Saraichuk so numerous Nogay clans join the Bashkirs and Siberian Tatars or
the Kazaks (Little Horde). In 1588 some of the Nogays migrated to the Don region and
conflict erupted between the Great and Little Nogay Hordes. In 1619 Ishterek (the last
independent Nogay mirza) died and civil war struck the Nogay Horde.
Kalmak-Nogay wars: In 1634 the Tsar invited Oirat-Mongol or Kalmak nomads (led
by Khoo-Örlög of the Torgaut clan) from the Altay Region to the Volga to wipe out the
Nogay Horde. The Great Nogai Horde disintegrated while the Small Nogai Horde united
with the Crimean Khanate (Jeti-san, Jem-boyluk, Jeti-üshkül). In 1643 Nogays stopped
the Kalmak expansion but they attacked again in 1693. Meanwhile the Nogays of the
Crimean Khanate attacked Hungary (Transylvania) in the service of the Osman Empire.
In 1683 they reached Karcag, but the last raid to Transylvania occurred in 1717.
Extract from the preacher of Karcag, Ferenc Harsányi’s lamentation song
A’ tatárok miatt hogy lőn nagy romlásod,
Mert hijába vala erős biztatásod:
Fiaid, leányid tatár kézbe látod Vélek együtt vagyon rabi állapotod.
In 1711 Kalmak-Russian joined forces defeated the Nogays so in 1720 new Nogay
groups migrated to the Koban River. Between 1736 and 1739 Russians occupied the
fort of Azaw (Azov). From 1770 the Nogays of Crimea accepted Russian authority led by
the Jeti-san group. In 1783 the whole territory of the Crimean Khanate was occupied
by the Russians and some Nogays migrate to the Koban River but a large number
of Nogays were massacred by General Suvorov. Meanwhile the war for the Caucaus
started lasting for a hundred years (1763-1864). Eventually Cherkes-Nogai (Kabard) and
the Daghestani-Chechen alliances were all defeated. This caused a great exodus so the
majority of the Nogays moved to Doburdja and Anatolia (Osman Empire).
149
After the fall of the Crimean Khanate (1783) a great number of Russian settlers moved
to the Dnepr, Don and Volga rivers so indigenous peoples were removed from the region.
Nogays from the Dnepr moved to the Koban and Nogays from the Volga moved to the
Terk and Kum rivers (North of Daghestan). After the Russian administration in Caucasus
some of the Koban Nogays (ak-nogay) also migrated to Dobrudja and further to Anatolia
in 1880s. In 1867 there was an ethnic cleansing in Kabardiaban and in 1878 Russian
troops also occupied Dobrdudja but it was given to Romania by western treaties. Around
twenty thousand Crimean and Nogay tatars live in Dobrudja nowadays.
Most of the Tatars migrated to Anatolia settled down around Eskişehir but there are
Tatar villages around Konya, Ankara and Adana as well. The formerly nomadic Nogay’s
western groups (ak-nogay) had been sedentary already and led a peasant way of life
like the Crimean Tatars. Easter Nogays (kara-nogay) lived north of the Terk (Russian
Terek) River (present day Daghestan) but nomadic way of life (living in felt houses or
terme in Nogay) disappeared after the collectivization of the Soviets (1930s).
We can find Nogays in two villages around Eskişehir: Aktepe (former name Rıfkıye)
and Işkören (former name Aziziye)1 besides around 36 Crimean Tatar villages (köy) in
Alpu District. In the Centre of the district we met the members of the local Nogay
association (Eskişehir nogay türkleri derneği ‘Union of Nogay-Turks of Eskişehir’). They
invited us to the restaurant belonged to one of their members. We soon found out that
th
Nogays, who had been living in Anatolia for 130 years (4 generation), could hardly
speak the dialect of their ancestors (they mostly speak the Turkish of Turkey) and most
of their traditions were also lost.
Nogays from Alpu and Eskişehir.
But this restaurant is very popular
among them, where they can eat
traditional Tatar meals. They meals are
known also in Turkish cuisine as Tatar
meals (tatar yemekleri) and especially two
types are well-known: köbete and börek.
We interviewed Nogay ladies working at
the kitchen of the restaurant who also sang
some Tatar songs popular at weddings
(düğün), for example the song Seydosman,
a four line song type called şın.
We made a short visit to Aktepe (Rıfkıye) Nogay village, which is almost deserted
nowadays since most of the population of these small villages moved to the city. We only
found an elderly man at home who established a little private museum for visitors by
hanging traditional peasant tools on the fence of his house. Nevertheless the former Nogay
150
1
The villages were named after the wives of the founders.
inhabitants of the village are attached to
the village community. They visit their old
family houses and sometimes do farming
as well. They have also preserved the local
cemetery where they bury their dead and
visit the tombs. This urbanisation process
can be observed among other Turkic
ethnic groups. Not surprisingly the process
of acculturation (due to urbanisation and
modernisation) got faster and stronger in
the last twenty years.
Nogay women who work at the local restaurant,
one of them sang the song Seydosman.
We also visited a Nogay family who had already moved to Eskişehir living in a block
of flats. They again served us with some Tatar food and we interviewed the oldest
member of the family. He told us about the old customs, the patri-linear and patrilocal clan system of the Nogays and wedding customs attached to this system (Nogay
did not marry inside a clan up to th seventh generation; wives moved to the villages
of their husbands, which were inhabited by
usually by one clan). There had a custom
of improvised oral poetic competition
between the boys and girls (aytıs).
Tatar (Nogays) meals
Traditional meals in Anatolia were prepared from vegetables and fruits cultivated
around the house or the village. But Tatar
meals are made of meat and flour more
suitable to the pastoral life in the steppe.
In the Tatar restaurant we could observe
how they prepare the köbete a layered
pastry type (like Austro-Hungarian strudel)
filled with meat (different types: cayma,
sozma, şıplama, şoban). A smaller type of
this meal is kalakay.
We also tried tabak-börek or üyken-börek
as well (It is called mantı by its popular Sart
or Dungan name in East Turkestan). This
is a cooked pastry filled with meat and
made in triangular forms (like Russian pirog,
Hungarian derelye). A smaller type of this
food (kaşık börek) is consumed as a soup
Old Nogay man from Alpu now lives in
Eskişehir.
Köbete and kalakay.
151
(çorba/şorpa) consumed with sour cream or peppered olive oil. Another important
Tatar meal is çiybörek where the pastry bag is fried in oil or fat. Nogays and Tatars like to
have various soups like alişke and ovmaş.
They also like to eat various fried pastries while drinking tea (e.g. kapaklama and
sarburma).
Finally I would like to share the famous Tatar song (şın) mentioned above. It is about
a mysterious person called Seydosman. The song is performed often in weddings and
other feasts by Tatars of Turkey. These wedding songs, along with some Tatar meals,
have resisted acculturation so far.
Seydosman saray saldırgan
Seydosman saray saldırgan ay boydan da boyga
Sen nişanda jok eding ay xoş kelding toyga
152
Siyt Osman saray saldırgan ay töbesi şişe
Oynaganım külgenim ay esime tüşe
Kazan kazan et asıp ay soganıng yok mu,
Öz basınga toy yasap ay tuwganıng yok mu.
Seydosman built a Seray
Seydosman built a Seray by the river,
You weren’t on the engagement party (nişan), welcome to the wedding.
Seydosman built a Seray with a pointed roof,
My happy times and fun comes to my mind.
You cooked many pots of food, don’t you have onion?2
You make a feast for yourself, don’t you have relatives?
About the melody
The melody is constructed with repeated motifs and verses of pace pairs formed by
replacing the verses. Not only the form but the resemblance of the motifs and similar
musical ideas makes the Nogay wedding song related to melody of the Hungarian
Pentecost ritual song starting “elhozta az isten piros pünkösd napját” from Rábaköz (see
collections from Vitnyéd).
The relation between Nogay
and Hungarian melodies can be
explained by the fact that Nogays
were fromed from the same KypchakTurkic population who also lived in the
territory of Moldva (Romania) formerly
known as Cumania and settled down
in the territory of Nagykunság and
Kiskunság of the Hungarian Plain. They
were assimilated to the local Hungarian
and Romanian population. In the same
time Moldva was directly in contact
wirh Budjak of the Crimean Khanate aslo
populated by Nogays. These contacts
can explain the numerous similar
melodies of Hungarian of Moldva and
Nogays. Research related to this has
been conducted by Gergely Agócs and
the author between 2007 and 2016.
2
Collected by János Sipos and Dávid Somfai Kara, transcribed and translated by Dávid Somfai Kara (Centre
for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences).
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155
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Fotoğraflar
Fotók
Photographs
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Çubuk Turşusu /
Cubuki savanyúság
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Çubuk Turşusu /
Cubuki savanyúság
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Erişteli Yeşil
Mercimek Çorbası / Zöldborsó leves
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Yarmalı Yoğurt
Çorbası / Joghurt leves
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Tandırda
Gözleme Yapımı / Kovásztalan lepény sütése
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Ekmek Tahtası /
Kenyérdagasztó teknők
159
160
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Tavşan Ayağı İle
Yağlanan Gözleme / Nyúl lábbal zsírozzák a
kovásztalan lepényt
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Halep Dolması /
Szárított töltött padlizsán
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Vişne Hoşafı /
Meggykompót
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Kabak Tatlısı /
Édes sütőtök
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Tarhana
Çorbasının Yapılışı Anlatılırken / A tarhonya
készítésének mesélése
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Sarılık Kesmesi
Ritüeli / A sárgaság levétele
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Yaprak Sarma /
Töltött szőlőlevél
17.04.2016 / Ankara-Çubuk / Helva / Helva
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Hamur Açma /
Tésztanyújtás
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Mantı Bükme /
Manti csippentése
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Mantı Yapımı / A
manti készítése
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Mantı / Manti
(húsosderelye)
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Mantı /
Manti (húsosderelye)
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Kalakay /
Alpu jellegzetes étele a kalakay, a rétestészta
hússal töltve
161
162
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Çiğ Börek Yapımı
/ A csíbörek készítése
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Çiğ Börek Yapımı
/ A csíbörek készítése
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir-Alpu / Çiğ Börek /
Csíbörek (eszkisehiri jellegzetesség)
18.04.2016 / Eskişehir / Tava Lokum /
Szultánkenyér
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Baharatlar / Fűszerek
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Kossuth Evi Müzesi / A
kütahyai Kossuth Háznál
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Cimcik Yapımı /
Csipetke készítése
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Cimcik Yapımı /
Csipetke készítése
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Cimcik / Csipetke
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Sıkıcık Çorbası /
Zöldség- leves
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Güveç Yapımı / Pörkölt
készítése
19.04.2016 / Kütahya / Güveç / Pörkölt
163
164
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Pişmaniye Yapımı / Török
édesség, a pismanije készítése
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Pişmaniye Yapımı / Török
édesség, a pismanije készítése
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Pişmaniye Yapımı / Török
édesség, a pismanije készítése
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Pişmaniye Yapımı / Török
édesség, a pismanije készítése
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Türk Kahvesi / Török kávé
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Erişteli Mercimek Çorbası /
Zöldséges borsóleves
20.04.2016 / İzmit / Bağ Pidesi (Bağ Karmacası) 21.04.2016 / İzmit / Tökeli İmre Anı Evi /
/ A barátság tésztája
Thököly Imre Emlékmű
22.04.2016 / Tekirdağ / Rákóczi Müzesi /
Rákóczi Múzeum
22.04.2016 / Tekirdağ / Keşkek / Kása
22.04.2016 / Tekirdağ / Kuru Fasulye / Száraz bab 22.04.2016 / Tekirdağ / Yemek Sunumu /
Az étel kínálása
22.04.2016 / Tekirdağ / Sofra Kültürü / A terítés 22.04.2016 / Tekirdağ / Patatesli Tavuk /
kultúrája
Tyúkhús krumplival
165
166
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Mézeskalács
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Mézeskalács
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Mézeskalács
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Mézeskalács
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Lahana Sarması / Töltött
káposzta
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Yaprak Sarması / Töltike
(töltött szőlőlevél)
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Birkapörkölt
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Birkapörkölt
10.05.2016 / Karcag / Birkapörkölt
11.05.2016 / Karcag / A török-magyar kutatócsoport Németh Gyula szobránál
11.05.2016 / Kisûjszâllâs / Tarhonya Yapımı /
Köleskása
11.05.2016 / Kisûjszâllâs / Darı / Köleskása
167
168
11.05.2016 / Kisûjszâllâs / Tarhonya Yapımı /
Köleskása
11.05.2016 / Kisûjszâllâs / Darı / Köleskása
11.05.2016 / Kisûjszâllâs / Pide / Pite
11.05.2016 / Kisûjszâllâs / Olvasökör
12.05.2016 / Jaszbereny / Pörkölt- galuska
12.05.2016 / Jaszbereny / Mücver
12.05.2016 / Jaszbereny / Pörkölt
12.05.2016 / Jaszbereny / Mücver Yapımı /
Lapcsánka készíése
12.05.2016 / Jaszbereny / Sebzeli Tavuk Çorbası
/ Tyúkhúslevese
12.05.2016 / Jaszbereny / Langos
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Marmelat / Lekvár 13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Kalâcs
169
170
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Kalács Yapımı /
Kalács készítése
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Pörkölt
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Pörkölt
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Kışa Hazırlık /
Készülődés a télre
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Tandır / Udvari
kemence
13.05.2016 / Jaszfenyszaru / Mutfak Araç
Gereçleri / Konyhafelszerelések
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Balık Çorbası Yapımı /
Halászlé főzés
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Balık Çorbası Yapımı /
Halászlé főzés
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Kürtőskalács
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Kuru Fasulye Çorbası /
Bableves főzése
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Pide / Pidza kemencében 15.05.2016 / Budapest / Pörkölt
171
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Pörkölt
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Pörkölt
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Marmelat / Szilvalekvár 15.05.2016 / Budapest / Ostyasütés
172
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Pörkölt
15.05.2016 / Budapest / Kuru Fasulye Çorbası /
Bableves főzése
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174