The past and current situation of vegetarinism in Turkeyfrom EVU News, Issue 4/1998 and 1/1999 |
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The answer to 'How is the current situation of vegetarianism in Turkey? ', or 'How many vegetarians are there in Turkey?' is really very difficult to answer, exactly like in the USA, or any other county in the world. The best way is to relate to different pieces of information and thus to interpret the answer. At least once a week it is possible to find a reporter's article in newspapers about vegetarianism or to see a famous singer like 'Harun Kolcak', 'Lman sam' or 'Füsun Önal' or doctors like 'Ender Sarac' talking about health and the economic benefits of vegetarianism over the last 3-5 years. The Turkish member of parliament of German origin 'Cem Özdemir' from Germanys Green's Party is also famous as a very meticulous and keen vegetarian in Turkey. No poll or survey has been conducted till now about the situation of vegetarianism. The famous and historical Turkish cuisine is offering a vast opportunity of items particularly for lacto-vegetarians as well as the acceptance of dry beans and rice, chickpeas (or lentils or peas) and bulghur (cracked wheat). Widely known 'yoghurt' is a word which has entered Western languages from Turkish (yogurt) since it is the oldest food of Nomadic Turkish tribes brought from Middle Asian steppes having many derivatives like Ayran (yoghurt drink), Cacik (appetiser), Kurut (dried yoghurt), Süzme (dense yoghurt), etc.
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 Ibrahim Tütüncüoglu |
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Another trend nowadays is preference for white meat to red meat since there are about 2,5 million diabetics, 1,5 million with high cholesterol levels and 20000 people suffering from cancer (these are potential vegetarians if they are informed about vegetarianism). Although you can see a McDonald's, Burger King or Dönner Kebap shop on every corner of Istanbul there are also about 10 restaurants identifying themselves as vegetarian restaurants except 15-20 Far-Eastern restaurants. Nevertheless as mentioned before, in local restaurants you can generally find tasty alternatives for veggies. Once a year Turks sacrifice a ram in memory of the Prophet Abraham but Islam advises less consumption of meat saying 'too much meat consumption is a kind of addiction like alcoholic drinks'. An old region of Istanbul is called 'Etyemecz' (non eater of meat) because of a mystic Sufi sect, which shows the historic background of abstaining from meat among Turks. Between 1952 and 1972 three big vegetarian societies where founded nation-wide by famous professors, doctors, politicians, artists and intellectuals but now we only have a small magazine named 'Bugday' (wheat) edited by Victor Ananias a second generation vegan who has a vegetarian restaurant in Bodrum (Southwest Turkey). Lately an important trend can be observed in the consumption of textured soy protein, tofu and soy milk after The past and current situation of vegetarianism in Turkey some publicity and the American Soybean Association opened an office 3 months ago in Istanbul considering the high potential in Turkey and the Turkish republics after closing the one in Moscow. The Turkish people hopefully will find the right path with the other peoples of the world to the century's biggest fact of 'Ovo-lacto vegetarians tend to live longer and to suffer less from chronic disabling conditions than their meat eating peers' (The Merck Manual, 15 th Edition, Pg.917) Ibrahim Tütüncüoglu Serencebey Yok 2917 Besiktas Istanbul Turkey e-mail: hitturkey24@hotmail.com |