AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

August inferno: Eggplant fires AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

August inferno: Eggplant fires

It seems that the world is on fire. There is not a single day that the news doesn’t report devastating fires in every corner of the globe. Wildfires are ruining settlements, destroying landscapes, affecting millions and millions, leaving people homeless. As the heat of August rises, any spot of the Northern hemisphere can be prone to fires. In Türkiye, each year we have our share of forest fires, but our cities are also at risk, usually with the recent explosion of factories here and there, but of course they are usually situated on the outskirts of residential areas. In history it was different, the traditional Turkish houses used to be timber structures and residential quarters had a tightly woven urban texture that were highly prone to fires, and often they could not avoid having one that would burn down whole neighborhoods.

August 20 2023
Grape fit for a sultan AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Grape fit for a sultan

When we talk about the Aegean region in Türkiye, what first comes to mind is the spectacular seacoast, a terrain covered with endless olive groves in the north, and towards south, pine forests diving directly to the sea at about the vicinities of Marmaris and beyond. The region has a picturesque image with its idyllic lifestyle, laidback and tranquil, a bit hype in touristy places like Bodrum. Aegean region is the ultimate summer destination for many people in Türkiye, where many people prefer for its natural beauty and serene atmosphere. However, the Aegean region is much more, being one of the foremost agricultural regions in the country. While urbanites cool down on beaches, inland it is all toil and sweat where the countryfolk work in fields. The inland Aegean region is a major producer of olives, figs and grapes, not only for Türkiye, but for the whole world. Smyrna figs always had a worldwide recognition, so called as it was shipped from the port of Smyrna, today’s İzmir. Grapes of various kinds are the main source of income around İzmir, mostly to be consumed as fresh fruit, or dried both for local consumption and export. There are also several vineyards for winemaking, big and small scale, and a good bulk of grapes are destined to be distilled to make the Turkish national spirit rakı. But when we talk about grapes in the Aegean, one particular indigenous grape stands out: the Sultana grape.

August 13 2023
Twinkling stars in the Aegean sky AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Twinkling stars in the Aegean sky

The arrival of the MICHELIN Guide in Türkiye was the top news in the culinary circles last year. MICHELIN was met with excitement in general, but naturally the announcement of the stars also triggered a series of discussions. Of course, many critics were focused on why certain venues were not included, or on the contrary, how certain places could manage to sneak in the list. Apparently, the names of some places were serviced to the inspectors, and some places were deliberately left out from their routes. The skepticism on a few venues still prevails. Some people, not realizing that the guide only covers Istanbul, questioned why some notable chefs at Aegean venues were not included. Well, the Aegean region is now added to the guide this year, as announced, it will cover İzmir and Bodrum.

August 06 2023
Simply a simple salad AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Simply a simple salad

There is nothing like a refreshing cold salad made simply with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions on a hot summer day. Either doused with spiky vinegar or fresh lemon juice, a mixed salad of all kitchen garden goodies is the most reviving and rewarding. Tomatoes are at their best, tasty and meaty, cucumbers are at their juiciest, long green peppers are addictively crunchy, blended perfectly with raw onions, the salad becomes like a perfect meal in itself, if you dunk your bread to mop up all the juices. “Çoban Salatası” in Turkish, translated as "Shepherd's salad," is undoubtedly the centerpiece of summer tables.

July 30 2023
Coffee, cacao and ants AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Coffee, cacao and ants

What would you think when the first message you receive in the morning says, "I swallowed an ant in the morning!"? The first thing that may come to your mind is that the sender yawned wide and accidentally swallowed an ant or some other insect before opening her eyes in the morning. To be honest, even though the sender of the message was Özge Samancı, the head of the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at Özyeğin University, I didn't realize that she was tasting ants as a gastronomic experience. I inevitably thought that this is what happened to her while yawning before she even drank her coffee. However, she really tasted Amazon ants from the hand of José Bracho Reyes, the ambassador of Venezuela, a keen cook and a dedicated promoter of Venezuelan cuisine. She later admitted that she was a bit hesitant, but when Defne Ertan Tüysüzoğlu, the director of Le Cordon Bleu in Istanbul, jumped in with great enthusiasm, she had to taste the ants. The rest of the message was about the taste and it was short: Lemony!

July 23 2023
Turkish tastes in London AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Turkish tastes in London

After my brief visit to London last month, I kept thinking about the past of Turkish cuisine in London. My parents were in love with the city. For that reason, since primary school, we had our yearly London pilgrimage. They were also keen on discovering new tastes. Back then, London was not the most exciting place in the world in terms of food, even the concept of fast food was limited to Wimpy Burger joints, but then, one could enjoy really good food in ethnic restaurants, primarily catering for their own communities. During those years, foreign cuisines were practically absent in Türkiye, so our visit was always in search of those diverse World cuisines, such as Chinese or Indian. My father loved the kitchen of the Swiss Center in Leicester Square, so we would occasionally have our cheese twist there, enjoying all the Schnitzel and so on. But frankly speaking, we never went to Turkish restaurants unless we had to. At some point, my mother’s art historian colleagues would invite us to a Turkish restaurant, as a polite gesture, or we would end up inviting them. Nevertheless, I had the chance to observe, and see the change, particularly after my transformation from architecture to food writing in the early 2000s.

July 09 2023
A Mediterranean food odyssey AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

A Mediterranean food odyssey

The Mediterranean is all about motion. The motion in the sense of human movement, be it for trade, voluntary or involuntary migration, adventure, or displacement in all senses, the peoples of the Mediterranean have been in motion; throughout history, countless cultures have come and gone. Human movements across the shores of the Mediterranean are like the never-ending waves of the mighty sea. With this constant movement, ideas, objects, things and documents traveled, changed hands and influenced one another. The past 500 years, in particular, have greatly shaped our cultures. The EU funded Project titled “People in Motion: Entangled Histories of Displacement across the Mediterranean [1492-1923]” or shortly PIMo, led by Professor Giovanni Tarantino of the University of Florence, aims at exploring forms of displacement and dispossession across the Mediterranean from the 15th century to the present. This week, on Friday, July 7, Özyeğin University Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Department will host a workgroup under the PIMo, focusing on foodways across the Mediterranean countries.

July 02 2023
Tough math question: Understanding the algorithm of the 50 Best Lists AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

Tough math question: Understanding the algorithm of the 50 Best Lists?

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2023 has been announced in Valencia, Spain. The list is not only confined to 50 venues, there is also a second list of 51-100. While the recently announced list covers the globe, there are also regional lists that are announced separately, namely 50 Best Asia, 50 Best LATAM (Latin America) and 50 Best MENA (Middle East and North Africa). However, when we compare the world list with the regional lists, a confusing picture emerges. What is the math of the 50 Best ranking?

June 26 2023
A long path, a quarter-century of effort AYLİN ÖNEY TAN

A long path, a quarter-century of effort

June 7 was a big day for Turkish Chef Ebru Baybara Demir who has won this year’s Basque Culinary World Prize. When she had a zoom call with the jury, she was with her team, and she thought she was to be scrutinized on the documents she had previously presented for review. Instead, the call was to declare that she had won this year’s prize. She was ecstatic, jumping like a child, with all her close supporters around her breaking into tears. It had been a long journey for her and all the ones who had been participating in the several projects she led. The prize was the celebration of her humanitarian efforts over the past 25 years, most notably her efforts for the displaced persons of the February 2023 Syrian-Turkish earthquakes, where she was present from day one to aid the disaster zone delivering over 10 million meals to vulnerable people through the “Gönül Mutfağı-Soul Kitchen” network she founded.

June 18 2023