(English) Istanbul Culinary Revival? Not Yet!

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I have been enthusiastically writing about the Istanbul restaurants creating updated takes on the traditional Turkish flavors. One can call this trend «New Istanbul cuisine» as Şemsa Denizsel of Kantin defined it or even «New Anatolian cuisine» with the broader geographical and culinary reference as Civan Er of Yeni Lokanta suggests. I am excitedly watching this space because I believe there will be more things coming.

I guess the word is spreading far and wide, and the foreign media that love writing about Istanbul are quick to proclaim, «Turkey culinary scene is as hot at its politics«. The comparison is valid here but not the way it was meant. You can get as much clue about the state of affairs in the Turkish politics as you can understand «what’s cooking in Istanbul» over a drink on a roof-top terrace overlooking the Bosphorus (your eternal «Asia meets Europe metaphor» coined by the Turks and embraced by the Westerns). That’s why culinary trend watchers might be a bit too early with their conclusions like those who were praising Turkey for balancing «islam, liberty and a touch of authoritarianism» just before the protests.

Istanbul does have a handful of young bold chefs who are not shy to put their ideas on the table (quite literally) and know how to build teams to turn those ideas in the viable restaurant concepts. Those chefs hunt down first-rate ingredients from the Turkish regions, give a new life to the dishes each Turk knows and bring forgotten flavors back to our plates. To an adventurous Istanbul visitor curious to see what the young Turkish chefs are up to, it is the good news.

Now, I live in Istanbul, and I go to eat to the same handful of places; I can vouch for about a dozen of restaurants when recommending my clients where to have a spectacular meal. If I want to go beyond that list, I need to do a lot of research because the risk of a spoiled night is huge! I don’t eat out just to eat. When I dine out I want to get surprised, or I want to eat the food I can’t cook at home. And here comes the problem that overweights all the achievements of the restaurants like Kantin or Yeni Lokanta revamping the traditional cuisine: we don’t have many restaurants and eateries in Istanbul who do outstanding traditional food any more. We have too many mediocre places torn apart by the identity crisis. They want to be a Turkish canteen and an American diner, yet they have forgotten how to be the former and have no idea how the latter should look.

Every day I pass by dozens of eateries — big and small, holes-in-the-wall and formal restaurants, chains and stand alone establishments. So I see lots of things many don’t pay attention to, and the things I see upset me so much. Local bakery founded in 1958, a stronghold of an old neighborhood: on the side lane leading to its production I notice a garbage bag crowned with an empty tin of glucose syrup they use instead of the good old granulated sugar. Chef of a local meatball shop confessing he adds wine to his şıra, a sneaky move given he caters to many who don’t’ drink alcohol out of religious considerations. Horrible Turkish coffee of low quality beans made even worse by overheating in a Turkish coffee machine. Lowest grade olive oil used to braise seasonal vegetables. As the cost goes down the quality is sinking with it. Want to know a real trend in the Istanbul restaurant scene? While a few are hunting down the forgotten ingredients, the majority of the restaurants are making sure we will soon forget the ones we know.

And many new restaurants opening in Istanbul don’t even pretend that they mean to feed people: you go there only to see and be seen. Rome-based Katie Parla of Parla Food who eats professionally and often in Istanbul says, «In both Rome and Istanbul, there are many restaurants that exist not only to serve food, but also to offer status to their diners. Both cities suffer from this unfortunate syndrome in which the food can take a back seat to the space, and when a restaurant is being judged for its decor or architect as much as its chef, that’s a red flag that something is not right».

If not the restaurants then who is going to guard Turkish culinary traditions varied as the regions of the country? Every time I travel in Turkey I am astounded by the wisdoms accumulated in the foods and preparations you can find even in the smallest towns and villages. How little is done to preserve and reproduce these important culinary traditions! How little people know about those foods and even less interest they have in learning about them!

As people have been leaving their villages and smaller towns and moving to Istanbul or other major cities in Turkey, they have been loosing their culinary roots. This generation of Istanbullus hailing from the Turkish South East still longs for içli köfte, but the next one may start forgetting it. This generation may take over the family-run Black Sea pide shop in Istanbul, but the next one may go chain or sell out at all. Old usta do not find young apprentice willing to learn the craft because the new generation perceives cooking is seen as something backwards. In fact, I know traditional food makers who don’t want their children to take their path but rather opt for more prestigious professions of lawyer and economist.

So when I see a woman who has been serving her honest food with whole wheat bread and no out-of-the-can salça in her soup I want to kiss her hands and tell her how important what she does is. Maybe as important as running a place with a ground- breaking culinary concept. Speaks Robyn Eckhardt of Eating Asia, «Whether in Asia or in Turkey I will always be more excited to sit down to a fantastic meal by a cook who’s been doing the same thing, with the same ingredients, for years than to a fantastic meal at a hot new restaurant, even if by a talented young chef».

I remember a crowd of excited students of the few premier Istanbul culinary schools that surrounded Mehmet Gürs of Milk as he was leaving after his presentation at a culinary fair. This man towering over everybody around him was the idol for those kids. I wondered how many more young people in Istanbul knew the name of Mehmet Gürs and whether it mattered to them. Because even if we assume that Istanbul is living the culinary revitalization, it belongs to only a few. And the rest are feasting on what might be soon become the scarce leftovers of once a grande cuisine.