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The Turkish Delight in "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" was, for me, one of the first and clearest examples of how literature can project, even if uninte
by jballanc 9y ago
The Turkish Delight in "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" was, for me, one of the first and clearest examples of how literature can project, even if unintentionally, a skewed view of a culture that bears little to no resemblance to reality.
I remember a while back having a debate over dinner (and eventually dessert) with friends as to which European country has the best variety and overall quality of desserts. It struck me as funny, and a bit sad, that an American who relied only on popular culture and mainstream media would think the answer to that question was easy: French! Of course!
Having had the opportunity to travel, work, and even live outside the US, I realize now just how wrong that view is! The variety of dessert foods in France pales in comparison to, say, Italy or Austria. Biased as I am, I argued that Turkish dessert cuisine was far above the rest, but of course all most people think of when they think of Turkish desserts is...Turkish Delight! Thanks, C.S.!
...If you're interested, some items to Google to understand what I mean: Fıstıklı Dolama, Cevizli Baklava, Maraş Dondurma, Güllaç, Su Muhallebi (for the rose water lovers), Tavuk Göğsü (don't read the ingredients until you try it, it's great!), Kazandibi, and my personal favorite Kaymaklı Künefe!
- kylehotchkiss 9y agoI remember getting a french breakfast in London and then eating what seemed like "black soggy bread". It was Boudin. Gotta translate those entrees BEFORE choosing them.
- pizzetta 9y agoPastry, I would guess Austria since they have Wieners --what we call "Danishes". which is confusing since for us in the US "wieners" are "Austrian" sausages... but in Vienna, they are again called Danish pastries (Danisher plunder?).
- jballanc 9y agoAnd the strudel...oh, the strudel!
- iscrewyou 9y agoI've always wanted a strudel ever since I watched Inglorious Bastards.
- santaclaus 9y agoAustrias got the sachertorte game on lock
- coverband 9y agoI've been trying (for many many years) to find either a place that sells (for delivery in the U.S.) or has the recipe for an Austrian dessert called: "Viennese Congress Torte".
- dullroar 9y agoHungarian pastries are phenomenal, too! Say what you will about the Austro-Hungarian empire, it must've been a great place to nosh. :)
- malkia 9y agoLol. One of my favourite dishes is russian salad (ahem more like "salad"), also called "Olivier salad", but friend from Ukraine said they call it "French salad" (maybe he was joking with me)... And yeah, it's very tasty, yummy, most likely very unhealthy (except for what it delivers to the brain, and the rest of the nervous system), but just another example. Then you have the greek salad, well I'm from Bulgaria.. We ain't callin' it that way :) But since I've been living in USA for a long time, I got used to calling it that way...
- dyukqu 9y agoOh my God! What a list. It is often called "Fıstıklı Sarma" (rather than dolama). Güllaç..oh my. What a delight. You probably know, it is usually available in Ramadan - it is about the time now. There are very few places that make it outside of Ramadan. (p.s.: I know one) I guess I'd choose "Kaymaklı Künefe" as my favourite from your list. But there are some others that are not on the list. Let me write them down as suggestions: Kıbrıs Tatlısı, Dondurmalı Irmik Helvası and Ayva Tatlısı. By the way, Çifte Kavrulmuş Lokum is the Lokum as far as I know. If you are to visit Istanbul, you can drop me a line and we can have a dessert or two :-)
- jballanc 9y agoGreat additions! How could I forget Irmik Helvası?! Especially when my mother-in-law makes it so well (and it's relatively simple, as desserts go, to make). I've only lived 5 years of my life in Turkey (I married into it!), but already I feel like I could write a book on Turkish food culture. One major aspect that I think is often overlooked is the seasonality. Whether it's food that is related to a holiday (Güllaç, Aşure) or food for a particular season (Salep, Boza), sometimes the anticipation makes the treats taste that much better! (...And now I'm sad because I can't have Boza.)
- opk 9y agoFor the best quality and variety of food in Europe, you're actually best off going to London because you can get everything. Italy (and to some extent France) suffer from a superiority complex with the result that it's hard to get anything other than Italian food. Best food I've had in Italy is in Puglia where there's more sea food. And otherwise, you get better Italian food in the US. Much of what you'd think of as German food is really Austrian or perhaps Swiss and there isn't that much variety to the restaurants here. However, for best quality and variety of native desserts, I would actually put my bet on Austria.
- dnh44 9y agoLondon (not the UK, but just London) does indeed have a wider variety of food than Italy, but quality wise I would strongly disagree and feel that Italy is leagues ahead of the UK in terms of food quality.