Returning to Istanbul

This summer, we’re writing a series of blog posts dedicated to sharing the Bakehouse’s recent trip to Turkey to explore the country’s rich culinary traditions with a special focus on Sephardic Jewish cuisine. Leading us on this culinary journey are Bakehouse Managing Partner, Amy Emberling, and Hazim Tugun, the Bakehouse’s Bread Baker extraordinaire, who also lends his hands at the Bakehouse as a miller, bread recipe developer, teacher, and writer. The series opens with Amy’s account of how this extraordinary trip to Turkey came about and what it was like for her and her husband Geoff to return to Istanbul after a 36-year hiatus. 

Hazım Tuğun’s work at the Bakehouse defies a simple title. He’s a baker, miller, bread recipe developer, teacher, writer, and kind co-worker. Hazım and I are in Istanbul, Turkey (officially the country is now called Türkiye) to study Sephardic Jewish Cuisine. Our trip has been a year in the making and we’re finally here! We’re going to share our journey with you as it unfolds. (My husband Geoff and Hazım’s wife Tarisa and daughter Dilara are joining us for the fun. You might see them in some of the photos.)

How did this come about? Well several seemingly unrelated facts came together to create the possibility. 

• Fact 1: At Zingerman’s we are intentionally exploring Jewish foods beyond our Ashkenazi roots. 
• Fact 2: We have a committee called the Great Food Group. It leads a variety of different targeted projects for the entire Zingerman’s Community. Every year the group gives out a generous scholarship to allow the lucky recipient to have a significant food education experience. 
• Fact 3: Hazım grew up in Cyprus (the Turkish side) and visits his family there every summer. 
• Fact 4: There was a large Sephardic Jewish community in Turkey (primarily after the Spanish inquisition when Jews left Spain after 1492 and were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire, some settling in Istanbul and Izmir). There are still small communities working hard to maintain their heritage.
• Fact 5: Hazım decided to apply for the Great Food Group scholarship with the hope of studying Sephardic Jewish food in Türkiye, thinking that he could conveniently combine it with his annual trip home. And he won! 

I decided that it sounded interesting and he was happy to have me along for support. So here we are. 

First Night in Istanbul: A Personal Return Full of Memories

I arrived in Istanbul with Geoff 36 years since the last time we visited together. We’re returning after almost half a lifetime, changed people, to a recognizable but also changed place.

Geoff and I married on May 7th, 1989 in Boston, MA. Geoff was a graduate student in Near Eastern archaeology and I was at the beginning of my culinary career. Geoff needed and wanted to gain field experience so we decided that we’d make our “honeymoon” an 8-month trip combining several excavations. The first dig was in Turkey at a site called Gordion, the home of the mythical King Midas, near Ankara.  We spent 10 weeks working, two weeks travelling through Eastern Turkey, and what was supposed to be a week ended up being three in Istanbul. We were waiting for visas for our next excavation in Oman. 

We ate a lot of Turkish food during that almost four-month visit. I have fond memories of our eating experiences. Food was plentiful, fresh, varied, and truly nourishing, a combination of soothing and healthful. I was interested to see how my memories would match the current reality.

Our first meal, often a strange experience after an exhausting sleepless overseas trip, was at a small bustling restaurant called Hayvore, serving some Turkish standards and a few Black Sea Coast specialties. It did not disappoint. We shared a spicy black cabbage soup, cornbread (quite a surprise), zucchini and dill pancakes (delicious), bulgur, lamb and eggplant stew, and chicken meatballs with carrots and garbanzo beans (another delight).

Now we’re heading back to our hotel, satisfied that we’ve managed to stay awake until 9 pm and ready to get some sleep. Tomorrow our official tour starts. We’ll meet up with Hazim and his family for a day with Backstreet Culinary Tours focusing on a neighborhood named Kurtuluş where many minority groups happily coexist. More to come!

Amy Emberling

Bakehouse Managing Partner |  + postsBio

She has been an avid food lover and baker since her childhood in Nova Scotia, Canada. After high school Amy moved to Cambridge, MA and received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. She then followed her passion for food and learned to cook and bake at L’ecole de Gastronomie Francaise at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, France as well as in Michigan restaurants. In 1999 she received her MBA from Columbia University.

Amy came to Zingerman’s Bakehouse when it opened in 1992 as one of the original bakers on the staff of eight. She soon became the first manager of the bread bakery, then the manager of the pastry kitchen and in 2000 she became a partner.

Amy has been working in the food world for over 20 years and is passionate about hands-on baking, teaching about baking and business, developing businesses and people. As well as teaching at BAKE! Amy presents for ZingTrain on our business practices. A few of the Bakehouse items she is personally responsible for developing are the Old School Apple Pie, Buenos Aires Brownies, and our Gingerbread Coffeecake. In addition to developing items, Amy is a promoter of classic bakery favorites from many cultures and has brought traditional standards to the Bakehouse such as Paris Brest, Hummingbird Cake, and Maple Cream Cookies.

• Amy Emberling

  https://blog.bakewithzing.com/author/aemberling/

  Memories and Cooking on Burgazada Island
• Amy Emberling

  https://blog.bakewithzing.com/author/aemberling/

  A Flavorful Day in the Istanbul Neighborhood of Kurtuluş
• Amy Emberling

  https://blog.bakewithzing.com/author/aemberling/

  The Making of “Celebrate Every Day”
• Amy Emberling

  https://blog.bakewithzing.com/author/aemberling/

  Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Star Cookie Recipe