Though a decades-old Istanbul institution, the Gulluoglu baklava shop in the city’s Karakoy neighborhood is not afraid to try out new things. Case in point: the store’s “Baracklava,” a tray of the syrupy, flaky confection that has for a top layer a portrait of American President Barack Obama. Gullugolu first created the “Baracklava” in 2009, ahead of a trip the newly-elected Obama made to Turkey, where he was received with great excitement by Turks.
Checking in at Gulluoglu four years down the road, Matthew Brunwasser of PRI’s “The World” radio show, finds that while the “Baracklava” is still on display, the excitement has dissipated. From his report:
What is the size of a large cookie pan, made out of baklava, and looks like a lumpy version of the famous Hope portrait of Barack Obama? The “Baracklava”.
The idea was cooked up in the Gulloglu baklava shop in Istanbul. In the shop’s six decades in business, only three other historical figures, all Turks, have been so honored. Owner Nadir Gullu says the portraits require enormous craftsmanship.
“Under the command of one chef with five assistants, it takes 10 days to make one,” Gullu says. “In each piece of baklava there are 55 layers of pastry. It’s all handmade and is very hard. Obama’s big ears made it very difficult, but we managed.”
Gullu doesn’t like politics. But he says he and other Turks had high expectations of Obama and they were dashed.
“As a master Turkish chef, I made this baklava to show the newly elected leader of the world that if you eat sweet you will talk sweet. I was hoping for peace because when someone eats baklava, their level of serotonin increases and that increases happiness. But he misunderstood. And he brought war instead of peace,” Gullu says.
For Obama, meanwhile, this is not the first time that politics and baklava have gotten mixed together
via In Turkey, Is Obama Losing the Baklava Vote? | EurasiaNet.org.