{"id":532,"date":"2008-05-29T18:31:40","date_gmt":"2008-05-29T18:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/?p=532"},"modified":"2008-05-29T18:31:40","modified_gmt":"2008-05-29T18:31:40","slug":"a-letter-from-an-azerbaijani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/2008\/05\/a-letter-from-an-azerbaijani\/","title":{"rendered":"A letter from an Azerbaijani"},"content":{"rendered":"

This concerns my Azeri menu posted at http:\/\/www.marga.org\/food\/int\/azerbaijan\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Dear Margarita,
\nI recently came across your International Recipes web site and I was
\nthrilled to see the section you created on Azerbaijani food among many
\nothers. Needless to say, I clicked to read what you had to say about the
\ncuisine of the country I was born and raised in.
\nUnfortunately, I was shocked. From the very first sentence, your
\nintroduction to Azerbaijani cuisine sounded biased and I found the language
\nyou described it quite offensive to say the least. I applaud and
\nappreciate your initiative, but I also believe if done it needs to be done
\nprofessionally and be grounded on sound research or at least personal
\nexperience.
\nLet me bring clarification to some of the things you’ve mentioned in you r
\narticle.
\nYOU SAID: At first glance (and at second and third), Azeri cuisine
\nresembles both in name and form the cuisine of its neighboring countries.
\nIndeed, it seems to me that Azeri cuisine falls right within what I know
\nsuspect is a large Persian-Ottoman culinary tradition. It’s therefore not
\nsurprising that I have encountered versions of many typical Azeri dishes in
\nmy previous culinary journeys. Azeris love kebabs (skewered meats), for
\nexample, and even have their own versions of kofta (meatballs, ). They
\nserve a variety of dolmas (stuffed vegetables) and among their desserts you
\ncan find such Middle Eastern favorites as baklava and halva. They even have
\na type of meat turnovers called kutabs which are extremely reminiscent of
\nArgentine empanadas. And of course, the crown of any meal is a well-known
\npilaf.
\nI SAY: Yes, Azerbaijan has been influenced by the food of its neighboring
\ncountries, but it is not a one way process.Many countries have been
\ninfluenced by our food as well. Show me a country with the “pure”
\ncuisines. There is simply none. Also, note that Azerbaijani dolma (dolma
\nin Azeri means stuffed by the way) is way different from its counterparts
\nfrom other countries so well known to you. Azerbaijani Pakhlava is in no
\nway similar to Baklava from the Middle East you are familiar with. And do
\nyou really believe Argentine empanadas found their way to Azerbaijan and
\nturned into Gutabs? Gutabs are indigenous to Azerbaijan. Would you also
\nclaim that Japanese Gyozas are where Azerbaijanis drew their inspiration
\nand created Gurza, a dough pocket filled with meat? Then you probably are
\nnot aware that Azerbaijan was a part of Soviet Union for 75 years and
\ntraveling to distant countries was a very rare and almost non-existent
\nthing to happen not to mention bringing food ideas from there.
\nYOU SAID: I was thus a bit skeptical when I read that Azeris consider their
\ncuisine to be “unique and original” and unable to be confused with that of
\nany other nation. While I still believe that such statements are
\nexaggerations, to say the least, I was pleasantly surprised by the
\nsimplicity of Azeri cuisine.
\nI SAY: This is by far the most offensive statement I’ve read so far in your
\narticle. Azerbaijani cuisine IS unique and original in its own way.
\nPerhaps you haven’t tried Piti in Sheki, lamb slowly cooked in clay pots,
\nor Dushbere, a clear broth soup with meat filled miniature dumplings. The
\nlist can go on a on. There are hundreds of dishes in Azerbaijani cuisine
\nthat do not exist in other countries. Moreover, Azerbaijani cuisine is not
\nsimple at all. And the ingredients we use are not copy-cats from other
\ncuisines! The techniques we use to make our dishes are different too.
\nYOU SAID: Indeed I wonder if some of the ingredients that I encountered in
\nmy Azeri journey, such as sour cream and salmon, are Russian in origin.
\nI SAY: Yes, Azerbaijan was a part of Soviet Union for 75 years and our
\ncuisine was influenced by Russian foods and visa versa. If you did a better
\nresearch, you would know that Caspian Sea is known for its rich fauna and
\nit is home to the most delicious Caspian Salmon. Oh, sour cream is used all
\nover the world, to my knowledge, not only in Russia.
\nYOU SAID: I chose the dishes I made based on their simplicity (I now have a
\nsmall baby which makes it impossible for me to spend long hours in the
\nkitchen), the ubiquity of the required ingredients and the overall balance
\nof the meal.
\nI SAY: Unfortunately, the dishes you chose to prepare are not the best
\ncandidates to represent Azerbaijani cuisine. Some of the ingredients you
\nused as well as techniques are quite strange to me. For example, we do not
\nbaste chicken in sour cream for Djudja Kebab.
\nI read that you have a baby and as someone who has young kids and writes a
\ncookbook at the same time I do understand it is not an easy thing to
\ncompile such a comprehensive directory with international recipes, but I do
\nbelieve in the saying – ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST! Please research and ask and
\nyou’ll have a different opinion on Azerbaijani cuisine.
\nIn closing, I would like to invite you to visit my food blog dedicated to
\nAzerbaijani cuisine. It is still new and I will be adding more post to it.
\nI hope it helps you understand our food culture better and makes you think
\notherwise about the beautiful cuisine deeply rooted in the history, culture
\nand the tradition of the people who created it. I would appreciate if you
\nrevise the section on Azerbaijani cuisine in your recipe project.
\nIf there is anything you would like to know about our cuisine, please do
\nnot hesitate to contact me at my email address. farida@azcookbook.com. I
\nwill gladly help.
\nRegards,
\nFarida
\nFarida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook
\nhttp:\/\/AZcookbook.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This concerns my Azeri menu posted at http:\/\/www.marga.org\/food\/int\/azerbaijan\/ Dear Margarita, I recently came across your International Recipes web site and I was thrilled to see the section you created on Azerbaijani food among many others. Needless to say, I clicked to read what you had to say about the cuisine of the country I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feedback","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}