‘Mother Earth’ did not deserve this treatment

This means, for example, eating tomatoes during the summer, but avoiding greenhouse-grown tomatoes as much as possible during the winter. Eating too many greenhouse-grown fruits and vegetables not only increases your food expenses, but also introduces a less natural range of tastes to your cuisine. Also, if you want the healthiest and tastiest possible tomato and pepper pastes, you need to prepare them in your own home toward the end of the summer. Due to the additives used in the factory-produced tomato and pepper pastes you find in the supermarket, these products are nowhere near as healthy as any you might prepare on your own. And really, nothing can match the taste and pleasure you’ll get from making food in the winter using those items you prepared from fresh vegetables in the summer.

Another point is that if everyone were to eat the fruits and vegetables local to the area where they live they would be fortifying their bodies’ immune systems in exactly the right way. Different regions in our nation have different climates. This is why it is best to learn what sorts of foods help support your body and its immune system in the region where you live, because your body needs to be fed according to the local climate. After all, the nutritional needs of someone living in a cold and dry climate are different from those of a person living in a warm and humid environment. Using the cuisine of Konya as opposed to İzmir as an example, we could look at arabaşı soup, which typifies one of the many warm meals that can be found in Konya to heat the body, in contrast with the olive oil dishes that typify the Aegean cuisine of İzmir.

Turkish culture has survived up to today through generations fed on foods from our fertile lands and hot dishes containing the meat of animals fed on clean, pure grasses and greens. But will future generations be able to take charge of and oversee these natural ways?

Rapidly spreading industrialization and the population explosion are threatening agriculture and animal husbandry in countries all over the world these days. At the same time, products that promise to increase the fertility of the land and the abundance of crops are imported from abroad. In addition to this, all sorts of chemical fertilizers are sold to villagers. This was the first trap, the chemical fertilizer trap. Then came the imported chemical pesticides, sold to villagers without any training on how to use them properly. Incidences of villagers using far more of these pesticides than necessary became more and more common, resulting in soil and lands becoming unusable for many years. Then came dependence on imported seeds for crops. And now Anatolian soil, from which used to spring forth an abundance of chickpeas, beans, corn and so many other basic crops, is looking abroad to import these foods. “Toprak Ana” or “Mother Earth” did not deserve this!

Spinach-Lentil Pan Börek

Ingredients

Filling: 500 grams of spinach, 1 cup of green lentils, 2 medium-sized onions, half a teaspoon of black pepper, half a teaspoon of ginger powder, half a tea glass of coriander powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin, half a teaspoon of salt, half a tea glass of olive oil.

Dough: 3 cups of flour, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 cups of water.

Preparation

The filling: Put green lentils in a pan, cover them with water and boil. Set them aside to cool. While the lentils are boiling, thoroughly wash and drain the spinach and chop it -- the stems should be chopped finely while the leaves can be chopped roughly. Chop the onion finely. Heat olive oil in a deep pan, and sauté the onions. Once the onion becomes translucent, add the chopped spinach, first the stems and then the leaves. Turn up the heat, stir three or four times, and then turn off the heat. Add the boiled lentils to the pan and then the salt and spices and set aside to allow the flavors to combine.

The dough: Place the flour in a kneading bowl. Make a hole in the center for water, salt and an egg that you have already cracked and beaten. Mix this all together. Slowly, add the rest of the water to the bowl. When the dough becomes thicker and stiffer, you can stop mixing. Punch the dough and divide it into two pieces. Cover them with a moist cloth and leave them to rest for at least 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough to about the thickness of ravioli dough, and cut into pieces measuring around 10 centimeters. Spread the prepared filling over these pieces, and cover them with matching pieces of dough. Press firmly on these little dough pieces so they don’t come apart while cooking. When finished, you can move on to the frying part of the process. Heat up a thick-bottomed pan on your stove. Add olive oil to the pan. Fry your filled pieces of dough in this oil. Serve with tea or ayran.

Orange cookies

Ingredients: 250 grams of butter, 1 tea glass of olive oil, 2 cups of sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup of chopped walnuts, 1 cup of chopped dried apricots, figs and raisins, half a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice, the zest of one orange, 1 heaping tablespoon of vanilla sugar, 2 tablespoons of baking powder, 4.5 cups of flour.

Preparation: Beat together the sugar and the butter in a deep mixing bowl. As these ingredients get softer, add the oil until it is all combined. Add the eggs and the orange juice and keep mixing. Then add the flour, the chopped dried fruits, the orange zest, the walnuts, the baking powder and the vanilla and continue to mix. Roll the dough into balls and place them on a baking tray. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius until they begin to brown. Serve with tea for a delicious treat.

Spinach salad

Ingredients: 250 grams of spinach leaves, 1 tablespoon of pine nuts, 1 tea glass of walnuts, 1 medium-sized red onion, 1 tea glass of tulum or goat cheese, 2-3 chopped sun-dried tomatoes, half a cup of orange juice, half a cup of vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, a quarter of a teaspoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of honey, half a tea glass of salt, half a tea glass of olive oil, a quarter of a bunch of parsley, a quarter of a bunch of dill.

Preparation: Wash and dry the spinach well. Leave it to sit in diluted vinegar for at least 30-35 minutes. After drying the leaves well, rip them gently and place in a bowl. Add the red onion, which has been thinly sliced and salted. Add to this mix the walnuts, pine nuts, parsley and dill, then add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes after soaking them in warm water. Mix all of these ingredients together. After garnishing with cheese, you can start preparing the sauce. Place the honey, olive oil, orange juice, lemon juice and mustard in a separate bowl and mix together quickly. Sprinkle this mixture over your salad, and it’s ready.