Culinary State of Turkey

When i realized i am now able to clearly define the situation, i imimediately wanted to share it with everyone who listens. It's about the lack of acceptance of culinary work as an art form. Sadly in Turkey, a chef is just some underdog prepping the food in the kitchen... Although there's been some change in this perception in the last couple of years, it's still the restaurant owner who gets the main focus and in most cases is mistakenly referred to as the chef. Yes, we do start to hear more about chef's restaurants and quality food. We are beginning to learn more about what the perfect form we are to expect in a plate is. But, this improvement is not actually (not for all cases, but most) the result of enhanced knowledge, but of the guidance of trends. It's now trendy to go eat at a classy restaurant and know the chef's name. But, what actually happens is that, the names we know are not the chef's names. And this becomes more shameful, when the one making this mistake is a food magazine. Restaurant owners are included under articles like Istanbul's best chefs, among real chefs who've spent their years in this art... ( This is my actual observation that got the MSA executive chef to immediately like me:) )

Anyways i could complain for hours about the subject, but you all got the point. So, let's improve it..

First must-know:

There's a strict distinction between a baker and a pastry chef. In Turkey we see this distinctions only in Hotels or Hotel restaurants. Everyone else is a baker except hotel chefs. Chef, actually, is not as cheap a term as we use it in here...

If we say a chef is the scientist, then a baker is the industrial partner. Industrial partner has to make his main product better, while chef develops the new methods for him to do so...

To simply explain; a pastry chef has to think of presentation ten times harder, while a baker has done his job when he's got the flavor just perfect. A pastry chef has to come up with new techniques and have a variety of them on hand, while the baker needs to have the highest experience on his technique to make the specific product on the spot each time...

These examples do not propose any less respect for either occupation, but merely defines the distinction inbetween. A perfect product by a baker takes us to our childhood, while a perfect product by a pastry chef takes us to a whole new world. And either is as much valuable yet different for me. I sincerely hope we- as a culture insanely based on food unlike any other culture- will get to this same level of almost-worldwide knowledge in culinary arts...

So, a decision awaits... Will i be a pastry chef, or a baker?!

Birthday Party, D Style:)

Last friday was the day that i died. Have you ever just stood up for fourteen hours straight? I have. See what happens after spending suchh a long time without ever sitting on your sweet sweet soft buttocks is that you go home at 3am, eager for the best sleep ever; and you just can't. I could not sleep for a full thirty minutes whole through the night, because of the torturous ache in my feet and legs, and of the fact that i kept serving charcuterie stuff to imaginary people as soon as i closed my eyes. And apparently i talked (more like murmured) all night:)) And, yes, i did go to work the next day, too.

Anyways,

other than being the most tiring experience, it was also the most exciting. We had 140 guests in the house, all the creme de la creme of Istanbul and a couple of celebrities. And, luckily, my post was the busiest. All the kitchen was done with its service by 11pm, but Gulden and I just kept serving up to around 2 am. Proscuittos, roast beef, goose breast, pate, all kinds of feet-smelling French cheese and breads... And also burned cinnamon on the side to level the cheese smell a little. I would have never thought the charcuterie would be such a popular spot. With all this, i experienced for the first time the great feeling of teamwork and what it will be like when we finally open up the restaurant. It is an incredible thing, the whole team in harmony; the service staff, the bar and us, the kitchen. There's no way that you could feel insecure among any kind of crowd with that group of staff. And i also realized that it is just my thing and an amaaaaazing thing to literally get your hands into your work. I love love love working with my hands. I always was a touchy person, always have a level of physical contact along with mental and visual; so i guess i found my second soulmate:)

Day 10: Is it sunday already?

Since my computer is in the safe hands of Dell service once again, i haven't been able to give you lots of updates through the week. And i probably forgot most of the funny stuff. But even if i had my notebook with me, i still couldn't have found the energy to write anything, since i die when i get home. I actually started to experienced the thing called 'turning one's switch off':)

So...

This week i worked for 6 days, from 10 in the morning to, whenever in the evening(usually by 7 or 8pm). We started the menu trials-yes the place is still not OPEN-, so what we do is, cook the whole menu and find new things different from the other two restaurants and try'em all. 9 hours of cooking a day, it is innncredible. I've learned lots n lots n lots of things, techniques, ingredients, combinations, etc. I tell you, the kitchen of a restaurant is an incredible place:RESPECT!!:) I am standing through the whole day, except for the lunch breaks for about 20 minutes, and when i sit down at the metro after a 10 minute walk, i realize that i have never sat down that day and my feet are actually dead. And the amazing thing is that i am not complaining, i soooo love my job, couldn't have imagined a job so pleasant.

Anyways,

as i have found out, it is both a tradition and an unavoidable fact that everyone gets a cut in a new kitchen. So, on monday, i cut my hand with a....wait for it(HIMYM)...........DRAINER:))) Yess, you CAN cut your yourself with that, at least i sure can. After a thorough thinking, i decided that a cut by a drainer would not count, so i cut my finger (sliced almost) with a bread knife. And i've been strolling through the place proudly with my cut-finger whole week:)

Other than cutting body parts, we made amazing dishes, and i helped the exec. chef do his magic. The perfect pancake, amazing sandwiches, salads i would have never thought of and main dishes; pork, cow, fish, all kinds of sea creatures, a huge octopus....I guess we'll be going through the dessert menu by wednesday, fingers crossed:)

Lots of other stuff i remember saying i have to write about this, but get seem to remember them now. So, this is it for today

Adios...

PS: The first thing i happened to do was to peel a potato. I'm real prescriptive. And i washed dishes, too:)

Closure

So...

I've graduated from a considerably reputable university in Turkey. Studied economics, for a fact. Thought i had my life rolled out in front of me, smooth as butter:D It didn't take long to find out that it's not. Anyways, i grabbed onto my most positive-est mood and dove into the world of job-seeking. If your state of job-seeking lasts longer than a couple of months, you come to find that there's actually a similar process of 'closure' between breakups and unemployment. You could picture it as your career dumps you right when you were so happy with it:) The first step is ANGER: You get angry at all the companies you applied to, for not hiring the perfect junior candidate you think you are:) You start telling all your friends about how they didn't even get back to you, it becomes your main subject. Then comes the second stage, SELF-BLAME: "Maybe i'm not that brilliant afterall", then it becomes "Okay, i may have worked harder, yet i'm still a good candidate", and finally becomes "I know now, i'm plain stupid; really though i wasn't though (in a weeping tone). Then comes the COOL DOWN step, in which you calm yourself down, get all the comments that imply the problem is NOT you. You convince yourself that the CRISIS is underneath it all... Getting closer and closer to closure, right? NO! Damn! You find yourself right back on step one, furiously boring some frind to death, yapping about how stupid all companies are for NOT hiring you:))

Well, for a walk through of the whole process, you could just get any chick-flick about a break up and just imagine the guy leaving you is your career.

So...

The next step, at which i stand, is innovation. Haha i just like the word, you could call it hope. And here, i go into my current situation's details:

As i mentioned, i am an econ grad, which is actually not the easiest major to study (although most engineers think otherwise). I knew from day 1 (okay, maybe day 500) that THIS was not for me. But i also liked some of the subjects very much, still i don't know if i was just trying to convince myself to loving it. So, i did finish it.

(Economics is actually a very broad subject and it has a big bunch of working areas. But in Turkey the bouquet becomes much smaller, so you end up with only few choices ahead of you. )

I desperately looked for marketing jobs, but being an econ major in an environment of economical crisis made it impossible for me to find a marketing job. So, i decided to give it a try: my own subject. Long story short, after 5 months of internship in an investment corporation, i had a spoiled meltdown and decided to make a u-turn.

A u-turn to culinary career:) There was always the dream in the future of that little bistro or bakery. So, i thought, why not now?! I am good at it, and am already an artistic person. Why not?! You all can guess the reaction of the older generation:) They think that i lost my mind through time, and will find out soon how stupid a mistake i am making and return back to the warm and cozy arms of economics:D Luckily i've got some supporters around to give me the boost up.

So...

I applied to a culinary institute here in Istanbul and actually got accepted right away. Yet i don't have the finance for it. And now i'm in a desperate search of a scholarship or a donation:)

I have no idea whether this path will lead me to closure or throw me back to step 1. Hopefully leading to closure=the perfect career, i will be sharing the next steps of my bizzare life triangle with you.

Sleep tight