Mersin Tantuni

I was in Mersin, Turkey for a few days on a short trip with a couple of friends.  Mersin is a port city in South Central Turkey.  It is an important city because of its port, which is now as big as that of Izmir's.  It is near the city of Adana, which is the home of Adana kebap, and basically all kebaps in general.  The food there was so delicious, mainly because of how fresh all of the ingredients are.  Everytime we sat down, whether for fish or meat, a plate of sliced lemons, a plate of fresh parsley and mint, and sometimes arugula were there before we asked for anything.  We went for a typical fish dinner one day, and the next for a nice meal of kebap.  There were many interesting things that I noticed, but the one thing I could not get over was how similar the way the food was eaten there to how it is in Mexico.  Fresh lemon juice is sprinkled over meat, a common habit in Mexican taquerias as well.  Cig Kofte, a raw beef kofte with a little bulgur mixed in, is eaten like a taco in a piece of iceberg lettuce with lemon juice and herbs added on top.  Chopped tomatoes are often served at the table, and sometimes they are served with aci biber, a hot dried pepper flake, sprinkled on top.  The option for heat is always present, and there seems to be a general taste for spicy food.  Yesterday we had gozleme for breakfast, a flat bread with potatoes or cheese inside.  When it came to the table I thought they had just placed a quesadilla in front of me!  The bread has yeast in it, and is much softer than a tortilla, but the feeling was the same.  And today we ate Tuntuni, a type of rolled up flat bread filled with chopped beef seasoned well with spices and onion.  The bread is more similar to a flour tortilla than a typical Turkish pide bread, and it reminded me of the tacos arabes Emma and I ate in Puebla last January.  I would even call Tuntuni a taquito arabe.  I couldn't get over how Mexican the food in Mersin was.  I am not trying to say that they are so similar in order to take away from Mersin's uniqueness; I was just so impressed with the common threads that the cuisines have and how the eating habits felt so familiar.  I look forward to Turkifying my Mexican meals, and Mexicanizing my Turkish recipes.  When I was younger I always wanted to open a Turkish Mexican restaurant and everyone thought I was being funny, but now my idea seems so much more solid. 

Keep reading my blog entries about Turkey as I explore more of this gastronomic heaven.