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Food and SpiritualityFood
and dietary practices have always played an important part in all religions.
Among them, Islam is
perhaps known to impose the most elaborate and strict rules in this respect. In
practice, these rules have been reinterpreted in regional adaptations,
particularly in Turkey, where it is
Paradoxically,
the month of Ramadan, when all Muslims are expected to fast from dawn to dusk,
is also a month of feasting and charitable feeding of all those who are in need.
Fasting is to purify the body and the soul and at the same time, to develop a
reverence for all blessings bestowed by nature and cooked by a skillful chef.
The days are spent preparing food for the breaking of fast at sunset. It is
customary to break the fast by eating a bite of "heavenly" food such
as olives or dates and nibbling lightly on a variety of cheeses, slices of
sausage, jams and pide. This would be followed by the evening prayer and then
the main meal. In the old days, the rest of the night would be occupied by games
and conversations, or going into town to attend the various musicals and
theaters, until it was time to eat again just before firing of the cannon or
beating of the drums marking the beginning of the next day's fasting. People
would rest until noon, when shops and work places opened and food preparation
began...
Several other occasions commemorating Prophets also involve food. The six holy
nights marking events in Prophet Mohammed's life are celebrated by baking
special pastries, breads and lokma. The month of "Muharrem" occurred
when the flood waters had receded, and Noah and his family were able to land. It
is believed that then they cooked a meal using whatever had remained in their
supplies. This event is celebrated by cooking the same dish - "asure"
or Noah's pudding, made of wheat berries, dried legumes, rice , raisins,
currants, dried figs, dates and nuts. You can also taste this most nourishing
pudding at certain muhallebi shops any time.
Beyond these practices, examples of a spiritual tradition imbued with food
metaphors are found in Sufism generally, and in the poetry of Mevlana Celaleddin
Rumi in particular, as well in the verses of classical Turkish poetry and music.
In fact, to understand the full meaning of this spiritual tradition would be
impossible without deciphering the references to food and wine, cooking, eating,
and intoxication. Mevlana, who lived in Konya in the 13th century A.D.,
represents an approach to Sufism that follows the Way of Love to Divine Reality,
rather than Knowledge, or gnosis. As mentioned earlier, the food-related guilds
and the Janissaries also followed the Sufi Order. A clash of philosophies on
food is told in a story about Empress Eugenie's French chef, who was sent to the
Sultan's kitchen to learn how to cook an eggplant dish. He soon begged to be
excused from this impossible task, saying that when he took his book and scales
with him, the Turkish chef threw all of them out the window, because "an
Imperial chef must learn to cook with his feelings, his eyes and his nose"
- in other words, with love!
The story of the chickpea told by Mevlana in his "Mathnawi" is a
superb example of this idea. When the tough legume is cooked in boiling water,
it complains to the woman cooking it. She explains to it that this is necessary
so that it can be eaten by human beings, become part of human life and thus be
elevated to a higher form of life. The fable of the chickpea describes the
suffering of the soul before its arrival at Divine Love. The peasant eating
helva for the first time symbolizes the discovery of Divine Love by the
dervished. There is also the image of God Himself preparing the helva for the
true dervishes. In this particular verse, the whole universe, as it were , is
pictured as a huge pan with the stars as cooks! In other verses, the Beloved
(God) is described as being as tasty as salt, or the Friend (God) has
"sugar lips". Wine also represents the maturation of the human soul,
similar to the ordeal the sour grape endures. So many mystical meanings are
attributed to wine that the name "tavern" stands for the Sufi hospice
and experiencing Divine Love is described by the metaphor of
"intoxication".
These
spiritual attributions are still very much alive in present-day Turkey, where
food and liquor are enjoyed with recitations of mystical poetry and dignified
conversation. Often these gatherings provide an occasion for people to distance
themselves from earthly matters and transcend into spirituality and promises of
a better life hereafter.
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harder
to find strict Muslims. In Anatolia where a variety of Sufi orders flourished,
food gained a spiritual dimension above dry religious requirements, as can be
seen in their poetry, music, and practices.
The
other major religious holiday is the "Sacrifice Holiday",
commemorating Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son Ishmael in the name of
God. But God sent him a ram instead, sparing his son's life. The act of
sacrificing an animal, in Turkey most likely a sheep, represents repentance and
a solemn promise to do good on earth. The meat is sent to neighbors and to the
needy. The sheep is revered as the creature of God that gives its life for a
higher purpose. The henna coloring on the sheep is a symbolic way of showing
this respect and so are the strict instructions for slaughtering. In fact, it is
believed that one of these rams will take the believer across the
"hair-thin and razor-sharp bridge" to heaven on Judgment Day.
The
feast of the Prophet Zaccharia is prepared upon being granted one's wish. This
feast consists a spread of forty-one different types of dried fruits and nuts
served to guests. Prayers are read and everyone tastes all forty-one foods. A
guest can then burn a candle and make a wish. If the wish comes true, one is
obligated to prepare a similar " Zaccharia Table" for others.
Asceticism, rather than hedonistic gluttony is associated with Sufism, and yet
food occupies an important place. Followers of the Order began with the simplest
menial duties in dervish lodges, which always included huge kitchens. After a
thousand and one days of service, the novice would become "cooked" and
become a full member of the Brotherhoood. In other words, being
"cooked" refers to spiritual maturation. One wonders if the Turkish
tradition of cooking everything until soft and well done had anything to do with
this association (cooking al dente has no meaning to Turks).
