Turkey’s vegetable production volumes are reaching great levels when compared to those of Spain. According to relative data on greenhouse and open ground crops provided by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), this is being achieved with a greater number of hectares from which a lower yield is obtained.
Comparing the data on Spain and Turkey’s production volumes for the years 2001 and 2011 (greenhouse and open ground), it can be seen that Turkey almost trebled Spain’s tomato production in 2011, as the Euro-Asian country produced 11,003,433 tonnes, compared to the 3,864,120 grown by Spain.
Regarding the number of hectares devoted to the cultivation of this vegetable, the difference is even greater. In 2011, Turkey devoted a total of 328,000 hectares, compared to Spain’s 51,204.
The data on yields are much more favourable for Spain, as Spanish growers obtained 7.55 kilos of tomatoes per square metre in 2011, compared to the 3.35 reached by Turkey.
The second most important product in terms of volumes, of the eight under analysis, are watermelons, of which Turkey produced a total of 3.86 million tonnes in 2011, compared to the 0.77 million tonnes produced by Spain that same year. The yield per square metre was 2.65 kilos for the Turkish production and of 4.31 for Spain’s. Turkey devoted a total of 146,018 hectares for the production of this summer fruit in 2011, while Spain devoted 17,783 hectares.
Regarding the production of peppers, Turkey’s plantations reached a total of 93,826 hectares in 2011, with a production of 1.97 million tonnes and a yield of 2.10 kilos per square metre.
As for the Turkish cucumber production in 2011, according to FAO it was of 1.75 million tonnes, obtained from 62,746 hectares with a yield per square metre of 2.79 kilos.
The Turkish production of melons is also noteworthy, with a total of 1.65 million tonnes, a yield of 1.97 kilos per square metre and a total of 83,704 hectares planted.
While the United States is completely in bed with companies that manufacture genetically modified organisms (GMOs), countries in other parts of the world are resisting their relentless push to populate the planet with their patented seeds.
Turkey is the latest country to ban 26 GMOs following an incident involving the unauthorized entry of genetically modified rice that was due at Mersin port, according to local press. The Biosecurity Board unanimously passed the ban, though some genetically modified corn and soy will be permitted for animal feed.
Studies show that certain GMOs are potentially destructive not only to health, but also the kind of genetic diversity that underpins successful ecosystems.
And while some nations (like the US and South Africa) are lapping them up as a panacea for world hunger, there exists little evidence that GM seeds produce greater yields.
Egypt has been pushing back against Monsanto’s MON810, which contains cry1Ab – a deadly insecticide that ruptures the stomachs of insects that eat it, and now Turkey has joined the resistance with an unprecedented show of support against GMOs.
The 26 banned products include modified corn crops used for fuel, as well as sugar beet and rapeseed that even the European Union allows as feeders, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
Three food company executives were recently detained for allegedly ordering genetically modified rice to be delivered into Turkey via Mersin port on the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
They have since been released, but the incident set off a firestorm of debate, which the Biosecurity Board has urged the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) to continue by researching the benefits and detriments of GMOs.
Despite the opposition to powerful companies like Monsanto, 19 corn and soy products will be permitted into the country as feed for cattle, chicken, and fish. Which means meat-eaters will still be exposed.
(Reuters) – Turkey’s Sabanci Holding is exiting the food retail sector, selling its stake in discount supermarket chain DiaSA and making progress on quitting its joint venture with Carrefour, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Turkish food group Yildiz Holding has agreed to buy all shares in DiaSA from Sabanci and Spain’s Dia for 300-350 million lira ($167-195 million), two sources said.
The sources said that Sabanci was also making progress in talks with French group Carrefour on the sale of its stake in their CarrefourSA joint venture.
Yildiz Holding officials were not immediately available to comment. Carrefour, Sabanci and Dia declined to comment. ($1 = 1.7965 Turkish liras) (Reporting by Seda Sezer; Editing by David Goodman)
According to a report by the National Mil Council, Turkey’s milk production increased fourfold to 13 million tons in 2010 over the previous year while exports of dairy products reached $168.86 million.
Turkey has become the world’s 15th biggest milk producing country.
According to a report by the National Mil Council, Turkey’s milk production increased fourfold to 13 million tons in 2010 over the previous year while exports of dairy products reached $168.86 million.
Cow’s milk accounts for 92.36 percent while sheep milk accounts for 5.85 percent and goat milk accounts for 1.53 percent of the total milk production.
In 2010, Turkey used more than 1 million tons of its milk production as drinking milk. 473 thousand tons of milk were used cheese production and 908 thousand tons in yogurt production.
Turkey’s milk production increased by 8.3 percent in the last five years and Turkey’s exports of dairy products rose by 89.26 percent in the same period.
Chef Silvena Rowe Slims Down Middle Eastern Cuisine
French cuisine went through a major slimming phase nearly 40 years ago—it was called cuisine minceur. Technically speaking, this low-calorie style was a refinement of nouvelle cuisine, which had begun the process of simplification and food presentation that still exists in France today. Old habits die hard, though, and in the late ’80s, my first olfactory impression of the great Georges Blanc in the Rhône-Alpes was that I had mistakenly stepped inside a dairy.
The May Fair Hotel Silvena Rowe at Quince.
Such a revolution against butter and fat hasn’t really occurred in Middle Eastern cuisine, where both are essential elements of certain dishes. Then again, perhaps a case could be made that Lebanese, Persian and Turkish cuisine has never suffered the excesses of classic French haute cuisine. Even so, Silvena Rowe, a food writer and television chef from the fringes of the former Ottoman Empire, is determined to promote a reduced-fat and olive-oil path through Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. Last month, the author of “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume” opened a restaurant in London called Quince (www.quincelondon.com).
While the dishes at this bustling café-style establishment in the May Fair Hotel certainly look familiar, they have a flare that comes from Ms. Rowe’s individual approach. Take her jumbo tiger prawn with grapefruit and oregano dressing, Aleppo chili and za’atar (a mixture of Middle Eastern herbs and sesame seeds). It has a tart freshness that seems like it would be more at home in an expensive health spa than a traditional Middle Eastern restaurant. “It is more fragrant than spicy, but the important difference is that I don’t put any olive oil into it—it’s not needed,” she explained.
Ms. Rowe, a striking blonde born in Bulgaria to a Turkish father, started her career cooking and writing about Eastern European food but then decided to look further into her past. “I wanted to create something that was sexier and had more appeal in terms of taste, presentation and in the way of delivery,” she says. “I looked at myself, my way of eating and my heritage, and thought I may be East European but I am a Turkish-East European. So I went back to my roots and it all fell very nicely into place. Then I decided to travel around the eastern Mediterranean and rediscover the food. A lot of the food in Turkey, Syria and the Lebanon is very heavy peasant food, which was nonetheless delicious. But I decided if I was going to offer this to the British palate, it needed to be lighter and more sophisticated, and that’s what I did.”
At its apogee in the early 17th century, the Ottoman Empire had a monopoly on the overland routes of the spice trade and the kitchens of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul employed nearly 1,400 people. Butter and lamb fat were a key part of local cuisine, with olive oil predominating along the Mediterranean coast, where it was introduced originally by Greek settlers.
This history hasn’t deterred Ms. Rowe from virtually eliminating oil and fats from her salads and sauces.
“Instead, I use tahini and pomegranate molasses, though not in the same recipe, of course,” she says. “My belly of pork with blueberry molasses is basically just a matter of taking a traditional dish, lightening it and then injecting it with interesting flavors.”
The same principle applies to her lamb and beef skewers, served with Ottoman spices, pistachio and spinach tzatziki. Like the king prawn dish, the lasting impression is of the lightness of what is typically a robust heavy dish. Rice, too, is steamed and mixed with dried fruits and spices, rather than butter, which is traditionally used to create a risotto-like dish in Turkish cuisine.
Ms. Rowe is unrepentant about her approach: “We are all very conscious about what we eat, and I don’t want to present food that at the end of the day just ends up on your hips. That is why with the filo pastry dishes, I reverse the usual roles and have far more filling than pastry.”
But others, like Engin Akin, a prominent Turkish food historian, question the chef’s ideas. Speaking from Istanbul, Ms. Akin says butter has a prominent and useful place in Ottoman cuisine. “It doesn’t overflow in our cuisine, but it is a necessary ingredient, especially in rice and risotto,” she says. “As for olive oil, that was introduced by the Greeks and is very handy, especially for certain vegetables.”
Nancy Harmon Jenkins, the American food writer and author of “The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook,” scoffs at the notion that fat-free Middle Eastern food is desirable in any sense. “That’s extremely retro,” she says. “Every scientific fact in the past decade suggests that a low-fat diet is utterly ridiculous; We need fat to metabolize quite a lot of vitamins. If your purpose in life is to lose weight, you just need to eat less calories, especially in carbohydrate form.” Ms. Jenkins thinks olive oil—which just so happens to be her area of expertise—is vital, along with butter and lamb fat, in traditional eastern Mediterranean cuisine.
But Ms. Rowe isn’t put off her mission by such talk. “Many Turkish chefs are snobby and stuck in the past,” she says. “I have also had complaints from a Lebanese customer about the fact that it was not traditional enough. I told him: ‘We are in the heart, or belly button, of London. I never said I was trying to open an ethnic restaurant.’ All I say is that I am of Ottoman origin and that I have gone back to my roots, but we are a deluxe eatery. My ultimate goal is to be the Nobu of Turkish cuisine.”
ISTANBUL — Ottoman Empire chef Ugur Alparslan spends more time in the library than he does in the kitchen.
“These are the lost recipes,” Alparslan says as the sun sets over the Golden Horn and the tables at his Tugra restaurant in the Ciragan Palace Kempinski hotel on Istanbul’s shore begin to fill with 21st-century merchants seeking the missing tastes and aromas of imperial Ottoman Constantinople.
For Alparslan, 49, his ancient menu is as real today as the many portraits of Sultan Mehmed II, who in 1453 conquered Byzantium. The House of Osman, or Ottoman Dynasty, shaped the city on the Bosphorus into the first headquarters for what would become the luxury-goods industry.
Occidental trumpery merchants assigned to the Ottoman court often compared meals at the sultan’s Topkapi palace and elsewhere in the city to those served at Belshazzar’s Babylonian feast. Back in Europe, their reports were at first digested with a pinch of salt, until the 19th-century French chef Alexis Soyer traveled to Constantinople during the Crimean War for a taste of the empire’s Balkan-Caucasus-Persian-Arab-Levant-Mediterranean fusion cooking.
“For me, delicious and lavish food was the epicenter of the Ottoman Empire,” Alparslan says, unveiling a $27.10 grilled winter-celery appetizer decorated with beans, gingered olive oil and tarragon sauce. Yet the chef laments as another choice, a $28 saffron ravioli stuffed with flakes of sun-dried chili and thyme sauce, slides off the serving spoon.
“The sultans did not embrace the printing press,” he says. “So I continually search old handwritten manuscripts to find promising new dishes from the past. I see my job as illuminating history through food.”
Sifting through 493 years of Ottoman culinary chronicles isn’t for the meek. The sultans only ate off of gold, silver or green celadon plates that alchemists said either detected or defused poison.
If the toxins failed, the killers turned to kitchen scissors, as was the case with Sultan Abdulaziz. He was assassinated in 1876 by rivals just a few yards from the Ciragan ovens, where Alparslan and his eight assistant chefs today concoct a $42 charcoal-grilled lamb “kulbasti” swaddled in smoked walnuts, eggplant, onion and sprinkled with a sauce of fresh- squeezed pomegranate juice.
The only mystery is whether Alparslan’s mastery of the skillet would have landed him a job in any of Topkapi’s 10 kitchens, which included separate larders, stoves and recipes for the sultan, the grand vizier, the harem and the eunuchs. Sultanic scribes noted that the imperial kitchens daily served some 370 pounds of almonds washed down with 63 gallons of musk-scented rose water. And that was just for snacks.
Ottoman business and political leaders conspired to obtain cooking titles such as “Superintendent of Sherbets,” a sort of dessert manager, whose responsibilities would have included overseeing the creation of Tugra’s $15 cinnamon halvah wrapped around fig ice cream or the restaurant’s baked quince with clotted cream laced with pomegranate syrup.
High-ranking military officers in the sultan’s elite Janissary Corps vied for the exalted position of “corbaci,” or soup cook, an influential decoration akin to a knighthood that allowed them the privilege of wearing a ladle on their belt. Alparslan’s $19 sour lentil soup with fried eggplant and chickpeas is a triumphant reminder of the Janissary’s luxury mess hall and the need to keep an army fed.
Tugra opened in 1991, though locals say the restaurant’s past chefs would have met the same fate as those whose dishes displeased the sultan.
“A golden cord, tightened around the neck, the strangled body put in a sack and thrown in the Bosphorus,” is how English teacher and carpet dealer Huseyin Palioglu describes the outcome of a meal poorly served to the sultan and his guests. “There are many restaurants in Istanbul that offer palace cuisine, but Tugra is as accurate and delicious as the food can get under the circumstances.”
Alparslan, who took command of the kitchen in 2002, has transformed Tugra from a luxury tourist trap inspired by whimsy into one of the world’s finest restaurants. It’s an historical incubator, where it’s best to avoid the overpriced French vintages in favor of a $207 2008 Doluca Alcitepe Saroz, a Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz blend from the Dardanelles.
The wine nowadays is poured without a great dollop of the finely crushed natural Bahraini pearls once enjoyed by the empire’s commercial elite. Still, the heady 14.9 percent alcoholic content helps one imagine a time when affluent global businessmen gathered in Constantinople over clotted buffalo yogurt to discuss goat-hair futures.
• DETAILS: Tugra, Ciragan Palace Kempinski, Istanbul; www.kempinski.com or 011-90-212-v326-v4646.
via Chef recreates ‘lost recipes’ of Ottoman Empire – Travel – MiamiHerald.com.
