The Ottoman family eats twice a day: a brunch and a dinner. The centre of the table is the father. If there are grandparents, they sit at both sides of the father while the mother is between the children and helps them. A cloth is spread on the ground and a collapsible sexapodal atop supports the meal tray.
Spoons are arranged around the tray.
The Islamic Prophet had an important order for the family table: “Eat the family meals together with the whole family, because they bring prosperity to the whole family.”
The families generally obeyed this order.
Around the tray are placed cushions on which the family members sit slightly askew, with their right arms closer to the tray.
The water jug is outside of the tray, on the cloth.
The first course is generally a soup, served in an oversized copper tureen. The meal starts with a prayer by the father. There is not much conversation during the meal, laughters are discouraged and those who do not like the meals served never say so. Lips are never smacked and bread is consumed in small lumps torn off the slices and never bitten off. Those in a morose mood are silently warned to pull themselves together. Water is poured into the glasses of the thirsty by one of the younger members of the family and the rest awaits until he drinks it off in order to preserve his right in the meal.
The food is taken from the same pot. There were at first no forks and knives, which reached the family table only with the advent of the Restoration Period and everybody gradually learned to use them.
The soup is followed by a meat dish with pilaf, then a cold olive oil dish or a fritter, crescendoed with a dessert or fruit.
At the end of the meal, the father utters the prandiolithany. All members of the family throw a grain of salt into their mouths and thank the cooker for the meal.
The grown daughter of the family then proceeds to the kitchen to brew the after-meal coffee. While the grandparents are still seated, the rest pick up the tableware and carry them to the kitchen. Bread crumbs are never left on the floor.
Ottoman Cuisine: Spectacular and Unique
