Sustaining and Supporting

At Turkish Flavours, culinary responsibility is very important and is reflected in every culinary program we offer. Our classes and tours are all great fun, yet would be incomplete if we didn’t incorporate info on sustainability as it applies to the food we consume. As more people become aware of the benefits of whole foods, plant-based eating in so many prepared foods, the trend towards home cooking continues to grow. We’re losing our palates to our industrialized food system. Not so long ago, herbs and spices and sugar were used to enhance the flavor in our food. But in recent decades our taste buds have been corrupted through the use of cheap chemicals and corn syrup to fill that role. We’ve forgotten how wonderfully delicious fresh food tastes as we’ve become acclimated to food that’s polluted with preservatives. The more you cook, the more you’ll learn that sustainable, local ingredients just taste better. We introduce the use of Turkish spices in Turkish home cooking.

At Turkish Flavours our emphasis is on delicious, flavor some food using excellent ingredients. We always use seasonal ingredients, source locally from different parts of Turkey and always stress the importance of eating ethically.

We are active members of Slow Food running campaigns to protect the Blue fish- “Lufer” in Turkish that is in danger to disappear because it is fished very young before maturing. For our cooking classes we shop from the Farmer’s market and the Organic market very close to us and take our participants to those markets as well.

SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITY

We sustain jobs and cultural diversity by supporting local craft makers and artisans, and promoting cultural attractions while designing our cultural culinary tours. We organize culinary attractions in local homes in Turkish villages. We buy our ingredients locally made in villages such as Antakya , Ayvalik, Milas and Edremit. We also sell these products to guests who wish to purchase them ie. farm made pomegranate mollases, red pepper paste or tomato paste made in a wood oven. We also buy handmade pasta by local village ladies and include it in our menus for supporting ladies.

We take participants to local restaurants where they mostly meet the owner /chef and have a chat.

The good food movement will succeed, through our children. We invite them to participate in cooking. Kids love to “play” in the kitchen and there are dozens of ways they can be involved — from reading a recipe to washing produce to mixing ingredients . We take kids shopping at farmers’ markets so they can see where those ingredients come from that they will be preparing later on. They will learn by example and in a generation, healthy, sustainable home cooking will once again be the norm and not the exception.