One meal, two cities, two languages, two women and two different stories: The word mantı, and everything about it reminds me of two different flavours: One is the joy of reward, and the other, even today, carries the residue and bitterness of sadness and regret.
Takuhi Tovmasyan is a prominent writer on food culture and of memoirs, including Sofranız Şen Olsun: Ninelerimin Mutfağından Damağımda, Aklımda Kalanlar or Merry Meals: What Remains in My Mind, and Mouth from My Grannies’ Kitchen. She is a storyteller who nurtures both our intellect and emotions. She participated in the Hrant Dink Foundation’s Kayseri Dumplings Festival on October 26, 2019. We have talked with her about memory and the festival.
Yıldız Horata was among the participants of the Kayseri Dumpling Festival, organised by the Hrant Dink Foundation on 26 October 2019. She has spent years contemplating on the region’s multicultural cuisine, especially the culinary culture of Kayseri and its Armenians, and sharing what she has gathered with the new generations.
Actor, director and translator Serra Yılmaz is not only one of the notable names in the theatre and cinema world, but also known for her multifaceted creative life and productions. We have talked with her about a range of ways of resistance, from cinema and theatre to setting and sharing beautiful tables.
Remembering is an effort made against time and life that pass us by, against being forgotten and being forced to learn to forget. Sites of memory and museums defy oblivion and contribute to the construction of a future based on co-existence, equality and peace by making remembrance a collective undertaking.
To develop more nuanced answers about why mantı is nowadays seen as a dish from Kayseri, rather than from Konya, requires first putting aside the mono-cultural values and attitudes that the nation-state and nationalist ideology seek to instil in its citizens.
Shahidul Alam elaborates on the severe human rights violations and abuses in Bangladesh: ‘While we undeniably live in a climate of fear, the role of artists, journalists and prominent citizens is ever pertinent. Forms of resistance and pro-active actions through creative means, should surely have emanated from such citizens. Their conspicuous silence and their complicity in the face of injustice leaves behind a taste that is distinctly bitter.’
Artist Güneş Terkol and her mother Elmira Terkol are talking about Elmira’s journey from China to Istanbul along with a povzı recipe in the artist’s kitchen. Povzı, a type of dumpling they make with their heirloom kitchenware from China, contains stories about food and memory that has been passed down from generation to generation.
The Kamer Foundation team talks about how different cultures in the same geography are influenced by each other, while preparing şemşemok and sırım dumplings from Bitlis, Dersim, and Kars regions in eastern part of Turkey.
As I grew from a child into a young man and got to know my butcher grandfather, grandmother, aunt and uncles better, I came to see that dumplings were not just a simple meal in their lives. It was practically an indispensable object in a sacred ritual that held the whole family together.
The Kourounlian, Avakian, and Batanian families, all originally from Cappadocia, have been using traditional methods to produce pastırma (cured spiced beef) in Greece for four generations. Their products are found in supermarkets, delicatessens, and small traditional grocers in the country, as well as across Europe and elsewhere around the world. A good meze, after all, knows no bounds.
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