I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part VII - Aç Ayı Oynamaz...

In Turkey, they say "Aç Ayı Oynamaz" or a hungry bear won't dance.

For us, the "long" journey from Paris and the very anticipation of exotic Turkey rendered us with a voracious appetite that we craved for local delicacies, the delights that Turkey had to offer.

The perfect setting for a quick introduction and orientation to Turkey was on board the Bosphorus cruise, with delectable local fare, Turkish music, local music and dances, çay (tea) and kahve (coffee), all against the panoramas of the historic locations along the shores of the Bosphorus.

If there is a unique melting pot of culture that has thrived from the ancient and medieval ages right to today, assimilating the multitude of influences, few cuisines would score high on that. Indian cuisine scores high on that for sure, so does Turkish cuisine.

It's incredible to think about Turkish cuisine and how it evolved. The Ottoman Empire controlled significant parts of three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa) for over 600 years. And by virtue of their strategic location, the Ottomans practically controlled the spice trade - the trade of those incredible flavours coming in from India (Malabar coast), Indonesia and the East African coast (Mombasa, Zanzibar and Madagascar). 

This trade trade was dominated by the Arabs and Gujaratis. The Gujaratis were intermediaries who passed on the spices to the Arabs who took them onwards to trading hubs like Damascus and Istanbul. Details of how trade evolved this was documented in the incredible book that I had read two years back - Harnessing The Trade Winds, by Blanche Rocha D'Souza.

In Istanbul, the various cultures came together, in a cross-fertilisation of sorts. This confluence led to magic in gastronomy, which found its way into the palace kitchens of the Sultans at Topkapi Palace. It is said that at the peak of the Ottoman Empire, Topkapi had 1,300 staff devoted to food. They were into preparing unique blends of the exotic East with the natural and fresh produce of the West - exotic cheese spreads, dips, salads, kebabs, kofte (meatballs), rice pilaf, aubergines, olives and sweet pastry concoctions. The flavours were enhanced with spices brought into Istanbul by the traders.

The Silk Route also passed through Istanbul, and that brought çay, a unique Turkish take on tea. The Arabs brought with them coffee from the Ethiopian highlands and that evolved into the bitter sweet Turkish coffee.

Today was our chance to see how all this amazingly came together on a tiny speck in the globe, a speck called Istanbul.

The mezze platter - stuffed capsicum, sauteed aubergines, fresh cottage cheese dip, yogurt, processed cheese and ezme, a Turkish tomato-pepper salsa dip...

Everyone seemed intent on eating, rather than talking. That's the magic of thousands of years of cross-fertilisation of cuisines...

Kofte - spicy and delectable with pilaf, salad and boiled potatoes...

For the locavore, here is the catch of the day from the Bosphorus - Balık Izgara (grilled fish)...

For us, this meal was overwhelming - a millennium of flavours coming together in one incredible meal. A meal that gives the bears with energy to dance and shriek out "I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!" 

One Morning, in interior Gujarat.....

Time for a morning snack.......













Just as the calf enjoys her morning snack, lesser mortals, "the two legged variety", stop by for tea...













The autorickshaw-walla is a big fan of Rani Mukherjee...
















"It's Saturday morning and these God-damned two legged creatures are rushing aroung around on the highway, God-knows, chasing what?" "Crazy!"














A colorful way of travelling in the hinterland....

There's no love greater than the love for food....

Lunching away to glory at Cafe Britannia at Bombay's old quarter of Ballard Estate, that day in August 2006 was when I discovered their signature paper napkins had a rooster on it with a quotation saying "There's no love greater than the love for food".

George Bernard Shaw could not have been more correct than this... Is there anything better than great food? I do not think so.

Yet, for every ten people you meet on the street, food is just a normal chore, like having a bath, going to work or answering Nature's call (!!!). These hapless poor souls revel in their mediocrity.

There is nothing more pathetic than the routine of having the same food, day after day, week after week, year after year till the end of one's life. Life is to be enjoyed, food being an important element of it -- do we eat to live or do we live to eat?

I would agree with the latter.

I remember, as a kid, my Mom used to cook chicken and mutton, almost every Sunday. My entry into the kitchen was forbidden as my folks were apprehensive that the sight of blood and gore of uncooked flesh would put me off. However, I used to be fascinated by the smells that used to waft out of the kitchen. And then on the dinner table, I used to be scramble for my best piece, the chicken leg.

But with times, things have taken an exotic turn, much to the "shock" of my parents, sister and now my spouse, Neeti...

As I live to eat, I do tend to veer on the extremes in my quest for epicurean delights that take me into a state of trance ... crocodile fritters, braised rabbit, to name a few. The more sinful the better - could there be anything better than a greasy English breakfast of eggs, fried bacon, sausages, ham, potatoes and baked beans on a lazy Sunday morning? Driven by my excesses, Neeti has now coined an acronym for our weekly grocery list -- HSBC - Ham, Sausages, Bacon and Chicken!!!!!!! (I hope guys from HSBC Bank don't read this and sue us for the copyright!!!)

And who can forget the orgasmic pleasures of creepy crawly creatures -- cracking the crab shells, and struggling to gorge on the sweet white crab meats!!! And squids, octopus, mollusks, the list is endless. And what smells better than freshly caught fish? The very sight of this stuff makes my mouth water...

Despite my conviction that anything that walks, creeps or crawls is edible (except humans of course!!), I revel in equal measure or rather am quite demanding for the vegetarian stuff as well. Imagine how a fiery "tadka" can transform the plain looking daal, or how garlic can sizzle up any meal, or how aroma of simmering "maa ki daal" can cause the salivary glands to burst!!!!!

I have always believed that travel gives one an opportunity to explore the local food. Once I travelled to Kerala for a conference, with my colleagues from a previous organisation in Delhi. All along the journey, I was fantasising about famous stews and appams and other Keralite stuff. I was so pissed off when I discovered that the buffet that was laid out had tandoori chicken, paneer tikka, daal makhani, etc. And closer to Bombay, Gujaratis are no different. McDonalds should think of a new innovation -- McThepla for a global launch, which I am sure will be quite profitable!!!!!!! HA HA HA HA

The ultimate foodie I revere is Anthony Bourdain -- this guy is simply amazing. He has no qualms about trying anything, without battling an eyelid. Anything means "anything" here -- from a live beating cobra heart in Vietnam to seal poop in Alaska.

I can only aspire to be like him!!!

P.S. I can never forget the "Oh no, not again" look on Neeti's face when she saw the Cafe Britannia paper napkin