Food Resources and their Transformation - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 153

which in their size and character resem-
bled old Turkish toy s.
The festival of ir-Ilyās, in vernacu-
lar Turkish Hidrellez , celebrated universally
in the Ottoman lands, was also an occa-
sion for a communal ritual feast usually
called tafarru . Like nawrūz, it was associ-
ated with a cult celebrating the beginning
of spring with the difference that Hidrellez
was celebrated on 6 May (or 23 April ). It
is to be noted that the Christian festival
of St. George, who was identified with
ir, was held on the same day.
The alwā (Turkish elvā ) gathering,
celebrated on 1 May, is a ritual related
rather to the futuwwa tradition of the
craft guilds and the arīa s. Ritual foods,
tuz-ekmek , erbet, loma, elvā , were all pre-
pared and served ritually along with suit-
able prayers.
In general, ritual food signified sub-
mission and mystical union in the arīa
ceremonies. The Janissary corps was
symbolically organised on the model of a
kitchen. The explanation may lie in the
futuwwa and Bektāī connections of the
corps, or in the old Turkish custom of toy .
The azān-i arīf, or sacred cauldron of
čorba (soup), attributed to āī Bektā
was the emblem of the whole Janissary
corps. The Janissary headgear was orna-
mented with a spoon. High officers were
called čorba. Also, each orta, or division,
had its own azān , and the head cook of
the orta kitchen was the most influential
officer in the division. The kitchen was
also used as a detention place. Important
meetings were held around the azān-i
arīf. Overturning it meant rejecting
the Sultan's food, i.e. rebellion, whilst to
accept one's food meant submission in
general.

servants who had to be fed every day.
In 933/1527 servants in the Bīrūn, Outer
Service, alone, numbered 5,457. The
annual account topics of the New Palace
(the opap Palace) list separately the
following kitchens: the Maba-i Āmira ,
or Imperial Kitchen; the elwāāne (for-
merly erbet-āne , confectioner's kitchen);
and the two bake-houses for simid and
fodula . Within the Maba-i Āmira itself,
reference is made to particular kitchens:
Maba-i Āā-yi Saray (K. for the Chief
Eunuch of the Palace), the Maba-i
Āāyān (K. for the Chief Eunuchs), and
the Maba-i ulāmān-i Enderūn (K. for
the Palace pages). A special kitchen called
uāne (not to be confused with the Pal-
ace aviary) was reserved exclusively for
the Sultan himself. The entire southern
part of the Second Court in the Palace
was occupied by kitchens, storerooms,
apartment for the Kitchen personnel and
offices. After a destructive fire, ten kitch-
ens were rebuilt under Süleymān I by the
architect Sinān, who created a grandiose
construction with domes and chimneys.
Each of the ten kitchens served a special
group.
There were two storehouses, kilār or
kiler , one in the Bīrūn, the other in the
Enderūn ( Andarūn) where provisions for the
Palace were stored. The more valuable
items such as sugar and spices mainly pro-
vided from Egypt were preserved in the
inner kiler under the direct supervision of
the kileri-ba . The bulkier goods were
stored in the outer kiler under the super-
vision of the Maba kilerisi . Other pal-
aces in Istanbul, such as the Sarāy-i Atī,
Üsküdār Sarāy and alaa Sarāy, and
the palaces in Edirne and Bursa, had their
own kitchen organisations similar to those
of the opap Palace. During the classical
period (1400-1600), all the work involved
in the procurement of provisions and the
preparation and distribution of food within
the Palace was under the responsibility of

b. The Maba-i Āmira or Palace
Kitchen
In addition to visitors, there was in the
Sultan's palace a large body of palace