Babette's Feast vs Turkish Dining
Ba
bette's Feast
Turkish Dinning
Last week, we watched a movie in class about a dining experience in 19th century Denmark. The protagonists were two sisters--Filipa and Martine who are the devout protestant daughters of the village minister.
The movie setting was a remote isolated seaside village of Jutland, in the nordic state of Denmark and was only accessible by boats. The life of the two adult sisters was very predictable, minimalist, puritan, and almost cultish.
The small house of the two daughters was dark and only lit by candles. Their meals were mostly made of locally caught fresh fish from the sea and old crusty bread soak in beer. The majority of the days were spent in prayer with very limited contact to the outside world.
This mundane life was interrupted with the arrival of Babette who was a French refugee. Babette spent many years working as a live-in cook/maid and performed the same ritual of cooking and cleaning for many years. One day, Babette came into some good fortune and won 10 000 F in the lottery.
The devout daughters decided to host a dinner party for the village in honor of their father's 100th birthday. Babette used the money she won in the lottery to prepare an extravagant French dinner for the birthday celebration. The guest list included the villagers and a general with his wealthy mother.
Babette prepares and executes every detail of the dining experience with precision. The dining preparations starts with the import of very fresh exotic ingredients such as turtle from France. The table is set with ironed white table cloth, white dishes, silver cutlery, crystal glasses, and candelabras. Each course is hand delivered by a young villager. Cherry, champagne, different wines were offered with each course; water and coffee were served at the end of the dining affair. The isolated villagers had no appreciation for the magical culinary creation by the maid. The general explained each course as he was savoring every bite since the villagers did not know what they were eating. The formal dining experience cost Babette the entire amount she won in the lottery. At the end of the movie, Babette turned out to be the female head chef of the famed restaurant Cafi Anglais in Paris.
As I was watching the movie, I could not stopping thinking how different cultures influence dining experiences. In my own Turkish culture, our dining experience has some similarities but many differences compared to Babette's French culinary masterpiece.
In Turkey, food is a very important part of the Turkish culture. In my Turkish family, meal time was not a dining experience but rather a ritual to fulfill a biological need. The socializing in my family took during tea time. The family meal was always prepared and served by the experienced female family members. Interestingly, outside the home, the wait staff in restaurants and bars is male dominated. The conversation around our meal table would be about taste, the freshness of the ingredients, and sharing of information about our day. Some of the dishes were communal and we did not get individual place settings. The table was not set elaborately and most of the dishes, utensils, and glassware were more functional than aesthetically pleasing.
Tea is very important in my country of origin and in my family it was brewed after the meal to ensure freshness. In Turkey, we use very small tea glasses to serve tea which requires many refills. Again, the refilling of the tea is done by the female members of the family. Most of our socializing took place when we were consuming tea served with nuts, dates, dried apricots and raisins. In my family, our dining experience was different when guests were invited to dinner. For a dinner party, my mother and sister-in-laws would make very time consuming regional Anatolian (region in Turkey) dishes to honor the guests. It was not acceptable to make simple dishes for dinner since it would be considered rude. The expectation was when guests were invited to dinner, the meals had to be appropriately abundant, time consuming, and freshly made. In my family, the table setting, decor, and lighting were not overly emphasized.
One of the biggest differences between my Turkish dining experience and French cuisine is the serving of Alcohol. Turkey is a democratic society with Islam as its main religion. Unlike in many islamic middle eastern countries, in Turkey, alcohol is readily available and people are not judged for consuming alcohol publicly. Certain alcoholic beverages like Raki, anise flavored spirit, is consumed mostly by men. Traditionally, during meal times, Turks drink mostly water, juice, sodas, or ayran, diluted yogurt beverage. Turkey is a wine producer and it is common to drink Efes Turkish beer and wines with dinner while dining in a restaurant.
In my family, our main beverage with our meals was water followed by brewed tea after dinner.
In my country, the consumption of exotic animals like turtle or snails is almost non-existent. The mediterranean diet of olive oils, nuts, fresh vegetables and fruits, lamb, chicken, beef are the dietary norms. Pork is also available in certain hotels in Turkey for foreign nationals and is not consumed by the Turkish population; it is against the preachings of Islam. Also, the process of eating in Turkish families and in restaurants is not as emphasized as the quality and taste of the food. In the French culinary experience, the rituals appears to be as important as the food itself.
In conclusion, I believe there is great difference between eating and a dinning experience. The dining experience is driven by cultural norms as well as socioeconomic background of the individuals. I also believe, the types of rituals dictates the degree of the formality of the dining experience.
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