Every week on Wednesdays, we organise informal dinner gatherings in our kitchen at Kuzine 34. We call them Table Talks. We sit around the long table, eat and enjoy the wisdom and knowledge of our speakers.
I came up with the idea when I moved into this beautiful, historic house. On the ground floor there was a big kitchen and a dining area. Since we always get together with our friends in Kuzguncuk around a table and in summers around barbecues in our gardens or terraces, I thought my long table would make a nice addition to our winter sessions. Later on, the idea evolved into something altogether different and Kuzine 34 was born.
I decided to organise informal dinner gatherings open to public (friends and friends of friends) and invite notable speakers who would talk about a chosen topic about food and cooking. Everyone liked the idea and with a lot of help from our friends, we ended up with an impressive list of guest speakers and an inspiring list of topics.
Yesterday, we held the second of such meetings. The one last week was about Rakı Culture in Turkey. (I will later dedicate a separate section to this marvelous spirit.) This week’s topic was Culinary Legacy of the Ottomans. Our speaker Nazlı Pişkin is an eminent researcher and her knowledge of this topic is impressive.
Each week, we cook and serve the dishes that we talk about. This week, we cooked several dishes that the Ottomans enjoyed in their palaces during 17th century. We served Saffron Rice and Mutancana as the main course. From the Abbasids to the Ottoman palace, a long forgotten sweet and sour meat and fruit dish that was enjoyed a lot before the invasion of tomatoes took place in our kitchens…
I plan to write an excerpt about these meetings so that we will be able to share the experience with our readers. I hope you will enjoy it as much as our guests did. Cheerio for now…
Daily Culinary Adventures 