Some rituals and rules in Mevlevi Cuisine
Mevlevi Lodges, meals were eaten on the floor. During mealtimes, short round wooden tables are set on three-legged chairs in the kitchen (this is called “Somat”), with hides around them. A long piece of cloth was wrapped around the table to serve as a napkin. The spoons were arranged with their handles on the right side and face down, and a pinch of salt was placed in front of everyone. Placing the spoons in this way symbolized that they were praying and thanking. During crowded meals, a table called “Elif-i Somat”, made of long leather like the letter “elif”, was set up. In addition, “Canlar” (students), who was responsible for offering water, would prepare the jug and water glasses.
After all the preparations were completed, one of the “Canlar” would invite everyone to dinner by shouting “Huuu, Somata salaaa” loudly in the corridor where the cells were located. Dervishes who came to the dinner invitation would enter by bowing their heads and start eating together when the sheikh arrived. If water was requested during the meal, it would be pointed out to the people responsible for it. The person who distributed water would kiss the glass and give it to anyone who wanted it, and the person who asked would drink the water by kissing the glass. While someone was drinking water, those eating would stop eating and wait for the dervish who drank the water to drink. After the drinker put down the glass of water, the most senior person at the table, starting with the sheikh, would say “May God bless you” and pray, and the meal would begin again.
According to the Mevlevi culinary tradition, the food is taken off the stove after cooking. Kazancı Dede opens the lid of the food coming off the stove and prays like that “May the table be sweet, give the blessings of God, and be the light of faith to those who eat. The beloved of Hazrat Mevlana, the secret of the Ateşbaz-I Veli, the noble Imam of Ali; Let’s say Hu...” He would say “Hu...” together with the Dervish and the Souls present. Before starting the meal, a pinch of salt placed in front of them was taken with their index fingers, and the meal, which started with soup and was called “lokma”, was eaten together, in an order and system, without any conversation, provided that everyone took it from their own front.
During meal changes at the table, the meal would be eaten accompanied by prayers recites by the Sheikh and the chief cook, and after finishing the meal, one would stand up with a pinch of salt, just as the meal was started. Meanwhile, the sheikh says, “We are the Sufis of the Way, we eat from the table of God, Oh my Lord! He recites an Arabic-Persian prayer meaning “Make this bowl and table permanent...” and then recites the Fatiha. In the continuation, the sheikh says, “The name of honor, the blessing of goodness, the blessing of Halilül-Rahman. Alhamdilillah, ash-shukru li-llah. May God give you His blessings, be the light of faith to those who eat, may they be in peace, may there be abundant joys. Let’s say “Dem-i Hazret-i Mevlana, Sirr-ı Ateş-baz-ı Veli, Kerem-i Ali, Hu...” prayers are made and everyone says “Hu...!”.
While prayers are being said, those at the table place their hands aside with their fingers bent inward, as if they were holding the table. Afterwards, the sheikh would pray by bowing his head (greeting his head) and then he would go to the kitchen in the same way at the door. If the meal was an important meal, the usher would offer coffee. Another table tradition in Mevlevi cuisine is that the person who is full turns his spoon upside down and waits before leaving the table.
When the sound of the spoons faded away, even those who wanted to continue eating with the voice of the second senior at Somat, “Bismillah, thank you”, would put their spoons back to their original state, hold their fingers on the edge of the table with both hands, bow their heads forward and wait. “Canlar” (students) would leave everything in their hands and wait on the sidelines, with their arms crossed, their feet together and sealed, their heads bowed to their hearts. Another ritual performed when getting up from the meal is to greet the brethren leaving the table by placing their hand on their heart and greeting the brethren at the other table with their faces turned towards them as they go out the door.
Another thing that is important in Mevlevi cuisine and is done with a certain ritual and requires good manners is cooking lokma.
Lokma rice is a pilaf that is cooked on certain days of the week (usually Fridays and sometimes Mondays) using ingredients such as meat, onion, chickpeas, coriander and peanuts. While cooking lokma, the kitchen door would be locked and only Kazancı Dede and the people in the kitchen would be in the kitchen. The ingredients used while cooking lokma are placed according to number by Kazancı Dede. Since everyone in the kitchen must contribute to the meal, everyone adds their share of these ingredients to the lokma and prays until it is cooked.
Meals are prepared and eaten with a Sufi ceremony in Mevlevi dervish lodges, and each meal has a representation and description. For example; in human life, soup represents water, meat and vegetables represent soil, creamy rose pudding symbolizes the love of God, bacon and eggs represent generation, rice and pastry represent fire, chickpeas boiling in a pot represent the patience of a person in trouble, slurry symbolizes the union of the lover and the loved one, egg white and yolk represent the non-mixing of faith and disbelief. In short, Mevlevis attach many symbolic meanings, depictions and religious motifs to the ingredients of the food and the method of cooking it. In this way, they transform food, which is actually a worldly necessity, into a form of worship.
Unpretentious places: Palace and Mevlevi cuisine
Desserts and sherbets have an important place in this culinary tradition. Especially in the Anatolian Seljuk culture, dessert is always served to guests after the meal at banquets. Apples, pears, figs, pomegranates, peaches and watermelons were frequently consumed. The most common drinks of the Anatolian Seljuk and principality periods were sherbets obtained from various fruits, honey or sugar. Boza produced from barley or wheat, as well as sirencubin sherbet, which is obtained by mixing vinegar and honey and is known as Mevlana’s favourite mixture, is one of the most important tastes in this cuisine.Mevlevi Cuisine is also far from ostentatious, “cook in a pot; eat on the lid” attitude has been adopted.
Frankly, a cuisine of belief prevails. A similar situation exists in the palace. The only ostentatious point can be seen as tiles or gold pans. The same dishes are cooked in the public kitchen, dervish lodge kitchen and palace kitchen. It is not possible for us to talk about a ‘Palace Cuisine’ in our history until Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. However, it is possible to see that the dervish cuisine has become a little more distinguished in dishes such as ‘gold leaf kadayıf hash browns’, described by Ali Eşref Dede.
In Mevlevi culture, the kitchen was not different in structure from other kitchens, but it had different functions and meanings. The kitchen stove was considered sacred, and education began in the kitchen. Those who wanted to enter the lodge were first tested in the kitchen.
The fact that Mevlevi order attaches great importance to the kitchen and that dervish training begins in the kitchen played an effective role in the development of Mevlevi culinary culture. The cuisine culture of the Seljuks, established in Central Anatolia, was greatly influenced by the Mevlevi cuisine culture. In Mevlevi food culture, soup comes to the table first, as in Turkish customs and traditions. In restaurants in Konya, soup is consumed before the main course, while in some restaurants, Sirkencübin is served to quench one’s thirst before the soup. It has been determined that lamb and beef are preferred in the preparation of main dishes in Konya Mevlevi restaurants.
Nowadays, unpleasant behaviours at the table, for example; slurping mouth, lying in front of others while eating, and talking are never welcome in Mevlevi cuisine (Bekcilerler, 2007). One of the most important features of Mevlevi cuisine is that the food is cooked lightly without damaging the structure of the ingredients. While mutton is generally used in Mevlevi cuisine, Halıcı stated that today, beef can preferably be used in the preparation of Mevlevi cuisine dishes.
Halıcı stated that a tablespoon of grape vinegar can be added to the dish to ensure the softness of the beef. In Mevlevi cuisine, all foods are cooked in copper pots. The reason for using copper pots is that copper transmits heat equally and quickly to all sides. Wooden spoons are used in the preparation and consumption of all foods.
COOKING TECHNIQUES OF MEVLEVI CUISINE
Although oil is not used in the preparation of meals in Konya Mevlevi restaurants, it is noteworthy that spices, especially cumin, black pepper, cinnamon and cloves, are preferred more in the preparation of meals. In Mevlevi cuisine, cooking methods are examined under four headings. These methods are cooking in water, frying in oil, dry heat cooking and f inally cooking in a mixture of oil and water. He emphasized that there are two types of cooking in water: boiling food in water or, rarely, steaming. The second method, frying in oil, is stated to be applied with more or less oil in quantity. Another method is dry heat cooking (in the oven, on a sheet metal, on a grill, on a roasting pan, in a tandoor). The oil and water mixture cooking method is applied to dishes cooked in pots.
Dishes made with simpler ingredients during the reign of Rumi played a role in the change of Mevlevi cuisine, as in other cuisines over time. In Mevlevi cuisine, spices such as cumin, black pepper, sumac and cinnamon, which are mentioned in Rumi’s works, were used.
What did Rumi eat and drink?
Abidin Pasha, who became famous with his six volume commentary on the first volume of Rumi’s Mesnevi, says the following while describing Rumi at the beginning of his work titled Tercüme ve Şerh-i Mesnevî-i Şerîf: “: “Levni, f i’l-asl kırmızıya meyyâl iken, badehu kesret-i riyâzat ve mücahede sebebiyle sarıya meyyâl oldu. Ne mülahham ne de zayıf olup, fakat kesret-i riyâzattan badehu kesb-i nehâfet.” (Abidin Pasha 1324: 12).
However, because he performed asceticism too much, he later became weak.
According to what Aflaki conveyed, Mevlana exaggerated not only in asceticism but also in starvation.
Based on these findings, it can be seen that Rumi’s attitude towards nutrition pushed the limits of even the principle of eating to live.
He talks about spiritual food that will nourish the soul.
According to Rumi, fatty and sweet physical food is pleasant, but of course it turns into something impure when digested.
“But after one night, these things become dirt on you/ Eat fatty and sweet things that can be food for the soul, not the body, so that your wings will grow and you can learn to fly” (C.I/307).
In a conversation between him and his son, Sultan Veled, the answer he wanted to give to those who asked about Rumi’s path after him was “Not to eat or drink” (C.I/245).
It is even reported that even when he was a six-year-old child, he ate food in three or four days, sometimes in seven days (C.I/p. 155).
