Food Resources and their Transformation - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 151

deals with many of the causes of spoiled
food and how to avoid such results. Meat
must be thoroughly cleaned of any blood
and washed in pure cold (not hot) water
in a clean bowl; a knife used to cut up
vegetables should not be used at the same
time to cut up meat; spices which are old,
have lost their essential flavour and have
become “bitter”, should not be used lest
they “corrupt the pot”. Likewise, salt and
oil should be tasted before adding them
to the cooking food so as to ensure they
are still in good condition; attention must
be paid to see that the liquid of stews or
bits of onion and the like has not dried on
the inside of pots and so might spoil the
food when next they were used; and only
fuel which does not give off acrid smoke
should be used, as the smoke could alter
the taste of the food.
Finally, the kitchen or kitchen complex
of the single or multi-courtyard house
( bayt maftū ) allowed a sheep or goat and
several fowl to occupy the yard awaiting
slaughter and the cooking pot; thus meat
could be kept and cooked fresh. Fruits,
herbs and certain vegetables were also
dried and then stored in the kitchen's
ancilliary area along with food prepared
by pickling and special condiments such
as murrī . Homemade beer and wine could
be stored there as well. The wide range
of activities associated with the transfor-
mation of food from its “raw to cooked”
state (clearly reflected in the treasury of
contemporary recipes) indicates the cen-
tral importance of the kitchen and its
management not only to the smooth run-
ning of day-to-day family life but also to
the broader social and political aspects of
food preparation and consumption which
existed within the enclosed world of the
domestic compound.

2. In Ottoman Turkey
In Ottoman society, maba , in ver-
nacular Turkish mutfak , the kitchen, had
a central importance not only because the
members of the ruling élite had to feed
their large retinues but also because, as
a social institution, it served to establish
and symbolise patrimonial bonds in soci-
ety. Feeding people gave rise to a variety
of elaborate organisations related to the
Sultan's palace, to the élite and to the
charitable institutions. By fulfilling chari-
table duties as prescribed by Islam and
by leading to the accumulation and redis-
tribution of wealth, these organisations
played a crucial role in Ottoman social
life and in the economy in general.

a. Special feasts and foods
Feeding people or giving public feasts
had an important ritualistic-ceremonial
and political function among the pasto-
ral nomads of Eurasia. In the Kök-Türk
inscriptions dated 732-5 A.D., the primary
task and accomplishment of a Kaan was
described as “the feeding and clothing of
his people”. In the utadgu bilig , a royal
advice topic written in 1070 in Turkish,
being generous and “entertaining people
with food and drink” are counted among
the chief virtues of a prince.
Later references to this custom indicate
that “feeding his people” was institutiona-
lised within the state organisation. To give
a public feast was a privilege and a duty
of the ruler. The institution was known
as toy in Turkish (in Mongol toyilan ), ölen
(in Mongol, ulen ) or a . It was origi-
nally associated with the institution of a
potlatch. Ögedey ordered that one sheep
from each herd was to be taken annually
and given to the poor. This institution
was called ülen . Following his election to
the khanate, Čingiz ān had set up a
kitchen as part of the state organisation.
In the public feast given by the Kaan

(D. Waines)