Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire

by Mehrdad Kia

  Ottoman cuisine synthesized a wealth of cooking traditions. The ancestor of the Turks who “migrated from the Altay mountains in Central Asia towards Anatolia encountered different culinary traditions and assimilated many of their features into their own cuisine.” As they conquered and settled in Asia Minor and the Balkans, they left a marked impact on the cuisine of the peoples and societies they conquered. Their own daily diet, in turn, was greatly influenced by the culinary traditions of the peoples they came to rule, such as the Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and Kurds. Indeed, the wide and diverse variety of Ottoman cuisine can be traced back “to the extraordinary melting pot of nationalities that peopled the Ottoman Empire.”

  Strong elements of Persian cuisine had already influenced Turkish culinary practices during the reign of the Seljuk state. Dishes “based on wheat and mutton” were introduced after the Turks settled in Anatolia and seafood dishes were adopted as part of the daily meal after they reached the Aegean and Mediterranean littoral. Anatolia’s own ancient culinary heritage “had been built up by scores of civilizations over a period of thousands of years, ranging from the Hittites to the Roman and Byzantine empires. The region was also “blessed with an exceptionally rich fauna and flora, of which many spices found their way into the kitchen.” Given this rich diversity of culinary influences, it is not surprising that many words used in Ottoman cooking and cuisine were borrowed from cultures with whom the Turks had come into contact. Thus, meze, çorba, hoşaf, reçel, and pilaf came “from Persian,” while barbunya pilakisi from Italian, “fasulye from Greek,” “manti from Chinese or Korean and muhallebi from Arabic.” Starting in the 19th century, as the Ottoman society “sought renewal in westernization,” west European culinary practices and traditions, particularly French cuisine, “made their own impact on the Turkish kitchen.” This “unequalled diversity,” should not, however, distract us from the rich culinary contributions and creativity of the Ottomans. The Ottomans introduced rice, sesame seeds, and maize to the Middle East and the Balkans in the 15th and 16th centuries. New plants from the New World, such as tomatoes, peppers, and maize, were also introduced to southeastern Europe and the Middle East through the Ottomans.

  The diverse climate zones of the Ottoman Empire “resulted in the development of regional specialties.” Thus, “the damp climate on the eastern Black Sea coast meant that wheat could not be cultivated there,” and so maize “became the principal grain crop,” while in “south Anatolia the specialty was cattle-breeding, and the meat was cooked in the form of mouth-watering kebabs,” and “on the Aegean coast, the main influence was Mediterranean cooking, and even today the menu there is dominated by vegetables, fish and olive oil.”

  As with their political and administrative practices, the Ottomans managed to assimilate the best of the culinary traditions they encountered and merge them with their own cooking customs and practices in such a way as to bring about the enrichment of their own cuisine. In this fashion, Albanian liver (Arnavut cigeri), Circassian chicken (Çerkes tavugu), Kurdish meatballs (Kürt köftesi), and Arab meatballs (Arap köftesi), were assimilated into the Ottoman Turkish cuisine, while kebabs, pilafs, böreks, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), yogurt meals, biscuits, meals with olive oil, and syrupy desserts were introduced by the Turks to the countries they conquered. It is not surprising, therefore, that the rich culinary legacy of the Ottomans still appears in Mediterranean cuisine from the Balkans to the Arab world. Indeed, six centuries of Ottoman rule left a profound influence on the culinary culture of all countries of southeast Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Even today, “many of the dishes produced in the different nations that once composed the empire have the same name, usually a local variation of a Turkish word.” The “pastry known as baklava, for instance, is made in Serbia with apples and layered thin sheets of pastry dough, while that of Greece is made with honey and walnuts and that of Syria, pronounced locally as baqlava, is made with sugar-water syrup and pistachios.” These “similarities point to the existence of a court cuisine that emanated from the capital in Istanbul, and was carried to the provincial centers by the officials assigned there who wished to represent the imperial style in their own localities.”

  DAILY COOKING AT THE PALACE

  Beginning in the reign of Murad II (1421–1444, 1446–1451), the Ottoman sultans “laid increasing emphasis on culinary creativity.” By the second half of the 15th century, Ottoman cuisine in all its intricacy was revealed in the dishes served at the imperial palace and in the great banquets that the grand vizier organized in honor of foreign ambassadors, dignitaries, and vassal princes. Cooking the food of the sultan was one of the most important daily responsibilities of the palace and the imperial kitchen, which served over 12,000 members of the harem, the court, and the imperial council. Every day “200 sheep, 100 kids, 10 calves, 50 geese, 200 hens, 100 chickens, and 200 pigeons were slaughtered” to feed the sultan, his harem, palace eunuchs, servants and pages, as well as army officers and government officials who worked at the palace. The entire process was of such importance that “the titles of the janissary officers were drawn from the camp kitchen such as ‘first maker of soup’ and ‘first cook,’” and “the sacred object of the regiment was the stew pot around which the soldiers gathered to eat and take counsel.” The large area designated for the palace kitchen at Topkapi indicated the central importance of food to Ottoman rulers and officials. The “large building in which the kitchens were housed boasted no less than ten domes, beneath which meals were prepared for the occupants of the palace; those for the sultan and his mother, however, were cooked in a separate kitchen.”

  Starting with the reign of Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, the sultan “laid down the rules for food preparation,” and the royal kitchen was divided into four main sections: the sultan’s kitchen; “the sovereign kitchen (responsible for the food of his mother, the princes, and privileged members of the harem); the harem kitchen; and a kitchen for the palace household.” Soon, an army of bakers, pastry makers, yogurt makers, and pickle makers joined the staff of the imperial kitchen to bake high-quality breads and specialized desserts. By the beginning of the 17th century, “more than 1,300 cooks and kitchen hands were employed at the palace” with each having developed “his own specialty, inspired by the recipes from his home region—the Balkans, Greece, Arabia,” and other regions of the empire. The palace chefs excelled themselves on all important celebrations and festivals. One chronicler in the mid-16th century recorded the list of ingredients for the 13-day feast celebrating the circumcision of a prince: “1,100 chickens, 900 lambs, 2,600 sheep, almost 8,000 kg of honey, and 18,000 eggs.”

  Food items for the imperial kitchen came from the four corners of the empire. As late as the 18th century, the Black Sea served as “the Nursing Mother” of Istanbul, providing the Ottoman capital “with all necessities and food stuffs such as Grain, Barley, Millet, Salt, cattle, Sheep on the hoof, Lambs, Hens, Eggs, fresh Apples and other Fruits, Butter, . . . Caviar, Fish, and Honey,” which the Turks used “as sugar.” Egypt sent dates, prunes, rice, lentils, spices, sugar, and pickled meats. Honey, sherbets, and meat stews arrived from Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania, while Greece provided olive oil. In contrast, coffee and rice “were forbidden to leave so that abundance shall reign in Constantinople.”

  Palace chefs, who were distinguished from other attendants by their white caps, began their work at daybreak with support from 200 under-cooks and scullions, as well as an army of servers and caterers. Ottaviano Bon (1552–1623), who served as the ambassador of Venice to the Ottoman capital from 1603 to 1609, provided a detailed account of the imperial kitchen and the eating habits of the Ottoman sultan Ahmed I, who dined three or four times a day, starting with a meal at 10:00 A.M . and ending with a dinner at 6:00 P.M .29 Snacks were often served between the two main meals.

  When he felt hungry, the sultan informed the chief white eunuch of his desire to eat. The chief eunuch sent a notice to the chief server through on
e of the eunuchs who worked under him, and, shortly after, the attendants began to serve the sultan dish by dish. Any food that was placed in front of the sultan “had to be tasted by a taster, and the meals were served on celadon dishes, a type of glazed pottery that was believed to change color on contact with poison.” The monarch sat with his legs crossed and ate with an expensive and beautiful towel on his knees to keep his garments clean and another hanging on his left arm, which he used as “his napkin to wipe his mouth and fingers.” The food dishes were placed on the sofra, or a flat leather spread. Three or four kinds of warm and freshly baked white bread and two wooden spoons were placed before him, since he did not use either knife or a fork. One spoon was used “to eat his pottage,” and the other to dish up “delicate syrups, made of diverse fruits, compounded with the juice of lemons and sugar to quench his thirst.” The meat they served him was so tender “and so delicately dressed” that he did not have any need to use a knife; he simply “pulled the flesh from the bones with his fingers.” The sultan tasted the dishes brought to him one by one, and as he was finished with one, another would be brought in.

  The sultan’s ordinary diet consisted of roasted pigeons, geese, lamb, hens, chickens, mutton, and sometimes, wild fowl. He would eat fish only when he was at the seaside, where he could sit with his women and watch it being caught. The sultan did not use any salt. Broths of all sorts as well as preserves and syrup served in porcelain dishes were always on the sofra though pies (böreks) were “after their fashion, made of flesh covered with paste.” The meal usually ended with the sultan feasting on sweetmeats. Throughout the meal, the sultan drank a variety of sherbets, or “pure fresh fruit juice, iced with snow in summer.”

  As a Muslim, the sultan was prohibited from eating pork and drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage. Throughout the long history of the Ottoman dynasty, however, some sultans drank heavily, and at least one, Selim II (1566–1574), was so infatuated with wine that his subjects bestowed the title of Drunkard (Sarhoş) upon him. The “prohibition of wine in the Quran” was “held to exclude all things, which have an intoxicating tendency, such as opium, chars, bhang, and tobacco.”

  While the sultan did not speak to anyone during the meal, “mutes and buffoons” were allowed to entertain him by playing tricks and making fun of one another through “deaf and dumb language.” In exceptional cases, the monarch honored one of the court officials in attendance by handing him a loaf of bread. Once the sultan had finished his meal, the leftovers were sent to high officials as a sign of royal generosity and kindness. To express his gratitude for the talents of the mimics, he threw them money from his pockets, which were always filled with coins.

  A different kitchen served the harem, and yet another provided food for the grand vizier and other high officials, who served as members of the imperial council; still another provided food for the clerks, scribes, and even the janissaries and other men of sword who were stationed in the palace. Their food was of poorer quality and content, and included fewer dishes. There was even a hierarchy when it came to the quality of bread that each individual ate with his meal. The bread for the sultan was baked with flour from Bursa, whereas high government officials ate lower-quality bread, and the palace servants were served a black and coarse loaf. The female members of the royal household, such as the mother of the sultan and his concubines, though served by a different kitchen, ate the same food as their monarch.

  Lady Mary Montagu, who visited the harems of several Ottoman officials, met with a widow of Mustafa II. On this occasion, the Ottoman host served her foreign guest 50 dishes of meat that were placed on the table one at a time, after the Ottoman fashion. The knives at the table “were of gold,” and the handles of the knives were set with a diamond. But “the piece of luxury, which grieved” the English visitor was “the table-cloth and napkins,” which were all tiffany, “embroidered with silk and gold, in the finest manner, in natural flowers,” and it was with “utmost regret” that she “made use of these costly napkins,” which “were entirely spoiled before dinner was over.” The sherbet used by the Ottomans as the main drink during meals “was served in china bowls, but the covers and salvers were of massy gold.” After dinner, “water was brought in gold basins, and towels of the same kind” as the napkins, with which, once again, the English lady “very unwillingly” wiped her hands. Finally, to conclude the dinner, coffee was brought in china with gold saucers and served by young girls who kneeled in front of their royal mistress.

  COOKING FOR THE ELITE

  Since the palace served as a model for the entire empire, the culinary practices of the sultan and his household had a profound impact on the cooking practices and habits of the elite, which were, in turn, mimicked and replicated by the ordinary subjects of the sultan both in Istanbul and in the provinces. Thus, the meals prepared for the imperial council played an important role in introducing the Ottoman culinary traditions to the outside world.

  The grand vizier and his cabinet sat for lunch after they had attended to the affairs of the state. Their meal comprised six separate dishes. The starter was always a rice dish called dane (Persian for grain) in the palace, and pilaf elsewhere. There were a variety of rice dishes such as plain rice, Persian rice, rice mixed with minced meat, vegetables, raisins, currants, or even rice with pepper alone. The second course was usually the chicken soup, which contained onions, peppers, chickpeas, lemon juice, and parsley. The third course was normally börek, a baked or fried pastry made of thin flaky dough filled with chicken, cheese, minced meat, potatoes, and vegetables, such as parsley, spinach, leek, and eggplant. Another popular third or fourth course was çömlek aşi, “made from clarified butter, onions, sesame, sumac, chickpeas, and meat.” At times börek and çömlek aşi were replaced by a variety of soups or bullion (şurba-i sade or tarbana soup), or even vegetable dishes such as burani, which consisted of spinach or another vegetable with rice and yogurt. Besides “burani and dolma, the old-fashioned Turkish pasta dish, titmaç, along with yogurt and a kind of wheat gruel with meat,” were also served as one of the main courses. The fourth course was usually a sweet dish such as baklava, palude, zerde, me’muniye, or muhallebi. At times, before serving the sweet dishes, a substantial course, such as sheep’s trotters with vinegar, cow’s tripe, sausage made of gut, or meat ragout, or poached eggs with yogurt, were served. The last and the sixth course was always a meat dish, most often a variety of kebabs made of lamb, chicken, pigeon, or meatballs, either grilled or fried as köfte.

  The sumptuous meal was always accompanied by a variety of breads and sherbets. Stewed and sugared fruits, as well as dried fruits, “especially raisins, currants, apricots, and figs, at times together with the fresh varieties,” were also served. Dried fruits were also heavily used in various dishes. Sometimes the böreks were filled “not only with minced meat and onions, but also with dried apricots, currants, dates, chestnuts, and apples.” Raisins, currants, chestnuts, and almonds were also used as ingredients in rice dishes.

  The meals for the secretaries, scribes, and servants of the imperial council were not only of lower quality, but they were limited to two dishes, consisting mostly of rice or wheat soup, or plain rice, or a wheat dish that contained eggs, and a yogurt soup called mastabe, which was made of “clarified butter, meat, onions, chickpeas, yogurt, and probably, parsley.” The simplicity of the menu for the lower-rank members of the imperial divan was also reflected by the absence of sweet dishes.

  The diversity and richness of the Ottoman culinary culture was best demonstrated when the palace organized large banquets in honor of a visiting foreign dignitary or celebrated the circumcision of a prince of the royal family or the arrival of the Festival of Sacrifice. Many of the same dishes that appeared on the normal menu for the divan remained, but the order of serving changed, and at times, the quantity of meat and sweets increased. Meat dishes such as chicken ragouts, sheep’s rump ragout, roasted pigeons, chickens, ducks, and geese were added, while sweet dishes and pas
tries were also increased significantly. In the banquets that were held in the palace, the quantity of leftovers was so large that after the guests had finished their meal, the janissaries were invited to practice the custom of “plundering” the food (yağma). If the banquet was held outside the palace, servants and attendants, as well as the ordinary subjects of the sultan, were encouraged to participate in the “plunder.”

  FOOD FOR THE RICH AND POWERFUL

  Outside the palace, the diet of the rich and powerful Ottoman differed significantly from that of the lower classes. Wealthy families imitated the manners of the sultan, his harem, and high government officials. Their meals included egg or börek, meat, cold and hot vegetables with butter, rice, and pastry or pudding. The main meal was taken in the evening, with the rich eating “soup, spiced dishes of rice and meat, white cheese, fruit, bread, and jam, all washed down with glasses of coffee or tea.”

  Wealthy Turks relied heavily on lamb as the principal meat in their daily diet. They “preferred mutton to any other meat, and it was served at nearly every meal for those who could afford it.” Sheep heads and trotters were a favorite dish. At times, “zucchini and eggplant were stuffed with finely chopped mutton mixed with garlic, spices, and salt and cooked in plain water.” Sometimes carrots were stuffed in the same manner or “vine leaves were rolled round a similar mixture of chopped meat and stewed with sour plums placed under them in the water.” Yogurt was often used as a sauce, and it was spread on the stuffed eggplant, zucchini, and vine leaves before they were served.