Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi

Öz

The dervish lodge
cuisine in the Ottoman lodge structuring has a central importance. The lodge
cuisine helped Anatolia turn into a homeland. Travelers took shelter in the
lodges in Anatolia. So, these buildings were a safe haven for those who travel.
Lodge’s kitchens were always open. These kitchens offered a delightful “Sheikh
Baba’s Soup” anytime and these kitchens gave peace and serenity to Anatolia.
This article analyzes the Ottoman lodge food culture in the context of a
manuscript which belongs to an imaret. This manuscript called Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid was written in between
1240-1250 (1825-1835) in Istanbul. This work belongs to the period of Sultan
Mahmud II and the Hudāyī Lodge Foundation. Institution Employees and accounting
records were disclosed in this manuscript in which the names of kitchenware are
mentioned and recipes are found. This work gives detailed information about
foods that are cooked in the Hudāyī Lodge Foundation’s imaret kitchen. 

Eating is thought always to be important and
it is considered worthwhile to eat with guests and travelers in Turkish
culture. In the process of Islamization, the dining table was accepted “Halil
İbrahim’s Table” and this approach has strengthened further the hospitality.
Eating with people, preparing the table for the guests, travelers and the needy
were regarded as a factor increasing the fertility of the table. In addition,
these movements were considered an act of social cooperation and deepen the
collective consciousness. Especially the sufis played a dominant role in the
process of Islamization in Anatolia and depending on this, they undertook
various social and cultural functions that including catering. In this regard,
the lodge was seen as a complex and this structure encompasses different units
such as imaret or soup kitchen, mosque, tomb, library, dervish cells, public
fountains, bakery and bathhouse. Travelers stay in the imaret and supply their
needs, they also nurture themselves spiritually as well. Lodges were a safe
haven for these travelers and lodge’s kitchens were open every hour of the day
with serving the delicious “Father’s Soup.” Therefore, lodges became a
representative of peace. These kitchens take reference the advices of the
prophet about eating and serving meals. In addition, the effects of the old
Turkish culture and of the Yesevī tradition on these kitchens are witnessed.

While many documents related to the food
culture in Anatolia could remain to us, regarding the life of lodges especially,
information about the kitchens is still limited. Ali Eşref Dede’s cookbook, Yemek Risalesi, is one of the works
written about the dishes of Ottoman period. This work is very important in
relation to the Mevleviyye as well. This manuscript was written in the 19th
century by Sheikh Ali Eşref Dede at Edirne. Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid, one of the other important sources that should be included in the
Ottoman lodge food literature. This manuscript is registered in the Istanbul
Metropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library Muallim Cevdet Yazmaları (number,
224). Two works were written in the same century. In Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid there are some financial and agricultural information concerning to
“Hüdâyî Lodge’s Foundation”. This manuscript includes valuable information
about accounting records and officers employed in imaret and other
institutions. On the other hand, there are various recipes in this manuscript
about the imaret meals, also lists of kitchenware and food materials. This
record is thirty pages and was written during Mahmud II. period.

Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid is related to Aziz Mahmud Hudāyī Lodge that is placed in a high and
strategic location in Uskudar that connects Istanbul to Anatolia. This was a
complex structure and established in a place of ten thousand square meters. It
consisted of imaret, sheikh’s house (haremlik), mosque, tomb, library, dervish
cells, bakery and bath. As mentioned above, Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid contains important information about Aziz Mahmud Hudāyī Lodge’s kitchen
and recipes. In fact, the manuscript also provides several alternatives to some
of the recipes. This record exhibits the structure of the order and the
nutritional forms of the Sufis. Thus, to some extent, it is possible to analyze
the theoretical and philosophical direction of the order. Because eating in the
lodges is not an action just to satisfy a person's stomach. Rather there is a
dining ritual in the lodge. In this frame, the importance of the dining table
was emphasized in the lodge tradition in the dimension of human education and
socialization. In the sense of Sufism, the information about food reveals
symbolic and allegorical meanings, sometimes directly or indirectly. Rituals
related to food are closely related to the educational process of the
dervishes. In this respect, on the sacred journey of dervish it is necessary to
eat food permissible in the religion. In this regard, the books about the
customs of the order contain considerable information.

Giving valuable information about meals Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid contains main
course and dessert recipes. It revealed the food habits of the dervishes and
the people who were living at that time. The recipes also contain some
interesting features applicable in the Turkish kitchen today. In addition, the
names of meals and desserts contribute to the richness of the Turkic language.
There are soups and salads, meat grills and stew varieties, fish dishes, pastry
varieties, dessert varieties, cookies and halvahs. Meals are cooked with butter
mainly. Lamb and sheep are preferred in the meals. The use of spices is high.
For example, cinnamon is used even when cooking meat and fish. The manuscript
seems to have thirty recipes but there are also different cooking methods in
the manuscript. Different cooking methods were used together in some meals as
frying, boiling and baking. For this reason, the number of recipes in the
manuscript increases even more.

This article entitled “The Ottoman Dervish
Lodge Cuisine and Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid” has been latinized by simplifying the manuscript based on with a single
copy. In this article the place and importance of the lodge cuisine in a
mystical life has been analyzed in addition to presenting valuable information
about the literature that is related to the Anatolian Lodge Cuisine, the
Ottoman Cuisine, and recepies cooked in the Ottoman. Furthermore, the work
briefly presents some about the lodge because it is related to Aziz Mahmud
Hudāyī lodge. Moreover, a dictionary section has been added for understanding
the relatively abandoned words in the manuscript. Similarly, measurements and
weigh units are briefly given in Majmūʿa al-fawāʾid.