The foodie traveller … on the baklava trail in Turkey

Sticky, sweet, crunchy, flaky, soft and nutty... baklava is a staple of every pastry shop in the east from Athens to Ankara, but the ancient city of Gaziantep (previously Antep) in south-east Turkey, is the only place in the world where it has been granted protected status – granted by the European Commission in 2014.
Although there are many places that claim to have invented it, it’s likely that baklava originated in what is now the Middle East. During the Byzantine empire, it made its way westward into Anatolia, and then to Istanbul, where Ottoman chefs adapted it for the notoriously picky sultans living in Topkapi Palace.


Gaziantep baklava is baked in a wood-fired oven and made with dozens of layers of gossamer-thin filo pastry, syrup (honey is for amateurs, apparently) and the prized, locally grown Antep pistachio, which gives the filling of the delicacy its distinctive green colour. The nuts were the deciding factor for the EC. The hot, dry climate provides ideal growing conditions and gives the pistachios their bright green (rather than greeny yellow) colour. They’re also harvested in August, one month earlier than elsewhere, when they are higher in protein and fat.
At the last count, Gaziantep has more than 180 bakeries, some with adjoining cafes – serving the delicious finished product. One of the most famous is the Güllüoglu bakery, founded in 1871, which claims to be the world’s biggest baklava producer and has franchises in Istanbul, Athens, Los Angeles, New York and Tallinn. And the production process has changed very little from Byzantine times.

How Much Do You Like German Bread?

There are a lot of levels of health and the first one is staying without symptoms, not being symptomatic with disease. But the next one would be how much vitality, how much energy do you have, how much work can you do, how much can you accomplish and how happy are you and how connected are you to the world around you? So I said I'll take my chances. Let's do it and see. Because I've had enough experience, it's all anecdotal, it's all from the thousands of people who have come through our schools and the stories that I've heard from them about their healing journeys but I really believe that we can get everything we need and beyond -- can exceed our needs and heal in detox.

 

That's still all anecdotal, but that made her want to find that research and we did some lab studies of our own. We studied a green smoothie and a green drink and we were able to analyze. They have all the computer programs so they could analyze my recipes and put them together in menus to see exactly what we are getting. So we had to really work with all of that. So we worked with the normal what they say this amount of nutrients for kale, whether it's organic or not. If it's organic, I believe and I've read, that there's more nutrients in organic but there's not enough peer reviewed study for us to prove that.

We've got all kinds of support in there including how to set up your raw food kitchen and how to buy your produce and how to rotate your fruits and vegetables so they're always ripe and how to store them and all that kind of stuff that I mentioned that we can't possibly get into in a one-hour interview. So you can break it and it's chewy and you can spread yummies on it. [Laughter] Whatever you like to spread on your bread or make a sandwich out of it and it's quite delicious.

Causes pointed to were their high consumption of beer and fatty foods, decreasing levels of physical activity, and the lack of a Mediterranean diet, which is richer in vegetables, lean meat, and olive oil. Its American counterpart comes higher in calories, contains more fat and other fillers, and is loaded with chemicals and preservatives. Then they are served on a bun made with highly processed white flour. The health differences are staggering.

Noodles Supposed To be Served Long and Uncut

Noodles are supposed to be served long and uncut, the length of the noodle symbolizing longevity. Noodles are classified as fresh or dried and their preparation varies significantly depending on the type of starch used to produce them. The finished noodle product is dropped into a hot chicken,a hot beef or a hot vegetable both from three to five minutes depending upon the noodle's thickness.

They have more of a slippery texture than rice vermicelli and are best used in coconut-based soups or salads. Around 40% of the flour consumed in Asia today is entirely for the manufacture of noodles, but they have also gained popularity side of Asia. Pepperoni and cheese pizza is not authentic. Even boiled angel hair pasta with a plain tomato sauce is not authentic Italian cuisine, particularly if the noodles are soft and the sauce comes from a can.

You do not need a pasta maker to do this. Many Italian families make everything from spaghetti noodles to ravioli by hand without the use of a machine. The water will help seal the dough and the fork impressions will keep the dough from opening during cooking. Repeat these steps until you run out of cheese mix or dough. If you have extra dough, simply cut thin strips in the flattened dough to make spaghetti noodles. Fresh garlic is used in many meals and even dried and ground to make garlic powder. The cloves stay remarkable fresh for long periods when kept in the bulb and used as needed. Italian cuisine uses fresh garlic in many recipes.

Bread can be served simply with butter for dipping in the sauce of the meal, whether a white Alfredo-style sauce or a red tomato or meat sauce. Bread is also often coated in sea salt or dipped in olive oil while still warm. Greens vary with the season, but are always fresh. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and other salad vegetables are coated with a simple oil and vinegar dressing, which is also often homemade. In true Italian homes, the salad is served after the meal.

But In no case will the Italian dependents rush the cook to serve food or strike a balance. They always like to have supper slowly and taste food with an easy and gentle mood. So the tastes are as different as chalk and cheese. The carbonara of Rome can be the typical representation of Italian pastry. Its unique point lies in the particular flavor which is from the flour, the eggs and whipped cream all of which are rolled together. The northern Italy noodles are made with more butter and cream in modus operandi. People like noodles rolled by hand.