Sephardic Cuisine

YESAM (Culinary Arts Center) hosted a seminar on food culture of Sephardic Jewish population of Turkey. The seminar was presented by journalist and food culture researcher Nedim Atilla.  Following the seminar the participants got a chance to taste some of the traditional dishes of Sephardic Cuisine.

Sephardic Jews expelled from Iberian Peninsula in 1492 settled in parts of Ottoman Empire.  Beyazıd II, who reigned at the time, welcomed them into the empire not as minorities but as part of the actual population and placed them in various governmental positions.

Sephardic Jews have an interesting food culture. During the middle ages on the Iberian Peninsula, northern parts were under the influence of Roman cooking methods, whereas the south was under Muslim influence.  Romans planted olives and wheat, while Arabs planted rice, sugar canes, almonds, citrus fruits, eggplant, spinach and artichokes. They also implemented the use of cumin, saffron, cinnamon and black pepper as well as different cooking methods like double frying, double sautéing and re-cooking. All of these habits found life in Sephardic cuisine and developed with the integration of food cultures of regions they settled in.

The food terms from the Arabic food culture such as albondiga (meatballs), alcachofas (artichokes), arroz (rice), almendres (almonds), azafran (saffron), naranjas (citrus) and two egg based sauces; agristada (egg and lemon mixture) and aioli (garlic mayonnaise) were introduced into Turkish Sephardic cuisine.

One of the significant features of this cuisine is that chicken, fish, meat and vegetables are cooked in order to preserve the actual tastes, which eliminates the use of heavy spices. The food was only seasoned with salt and pepper while cooking and on rare occasions lemon juice or parsley were added.

At a first glance the food of Sephardic cuisine may seem like any other cuisine, however the laws of Kashrut differentiate this cuisine from any other. Kashrut are dietary laws written in the Torah. An example of these laws is the only animals that are allowed for consumption are the ones that ruminate, are double hoofed, have not been hunted and fish with scales and fins.

Animals are slaughtered by specially trained butchers, using the most humane methods. Meat is checked before getting the “kosher” stamp. The most significant difference of Jewish cuisine is the rituals applied. Before cooking, the meat gets salted to get rid of all the blood.  It is also very important to keep meat and dairy products separate, based on the saying in Torah “do not boil the kid in its mother’s milk.”

Here are some idioms of Sephardic Jews translated from Ladino:

Idioms

Food is prepared quickly if the house is full…
Once eating and itching starts...
Diligent mothers bear lazy daughters…
Stomach gets full, the eyes seek more...
There is no point in preparing gifts after Purim.
A good day comes from a good sun rise.
It’s not enough if there are no leftovers...
Ones who want to live a healthy life should eat early and  less.
Always eat sweets and be happy.
One wants what the eyes see.
The neighbor’s eggs have double yolks.

All lecture videos are in Turkish, unless otherwise stated.