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Where It All Began

The Mediterranean Diet, made famous in a study of mortality on Crete by the United Nations published in their demographic yearbook for 1948, is something many of us are familiar with. Cretans lived longer than any other people in the region at the time; hence the interest in their diet. What may not be so familiar is that this diet is largely the result of the influence of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1299 to 1923 (over six centuries) and was succeeded by the modern state of Turkey.

So the natural cuisine of Turkey was dispersed and assimilated and added to throughout the Mediterranean Basin. And Turkish cuisine was influenced over the centuries by its earliest people, the Kurds and their cuisine.

The Smithsonian has an article this month entitled "Heritage Reclaimed" that is well worth a read. In it a quote caught my imagination as the perfect expression of a natural holistic approach to life. A Kurdish woman, Semi Utan (age 82), smiled wistfully as she recalled her childhood.

“In my time we lived a completely natural life,” she said. “We had our animals. We made yogurt, milk and cheese. We produced our own honey. Herbs were used for healing the sick. No one ever went to a doctor. Everything was tied to nature.”

Smithsonian article