The Meyhane Table

A tradition shared by Turkey’s neighbours, meze is a state of mind: that of several people gathering around a table covered with little dishes and taking the time to make the most of it. It is the spirit of Istanbul’s Greek and Armenian meyhanes (traditional taverns), essential ingredients of this city, which for a long time brought together the peoples of Europe and the East like no other before it There, you sample dishes with a variety of flavours, slowly drinking a bottle of raki (the national anise-flavoured spirit, cousin to Greece’s ouzo, Eastern arak and Provencal pastis), and talking about everything – for hours. You do not rush a table of meze; you savour it. Quantities are small but numerous, like the aromas. You drink – but, again, not too quickly. It’s not the done thing to get drunk straight away. There are rules’, I’ve heard it said. Hors d’ceuvres are served with toasted bread and olives, crudités or turşu (pickles), to nibble during the meal. They are traditionally followed by fish. Lunch becomes dinner; through sheer inertia, It is Sunday. You have time. At the table of his Agora Meyhanesi a smiling Ezel Akay concludes: ‘And at the end it is always the same question: where is Turkey headed in all that?’