Eating Turkish Food in China
There was a Turkish restaurant called Mevlana in downtown Ningbo, China where I taught English for two years. At the time, I craved for foreign food and I decided to try out that Turkish restaurant since I saw it many times in the city center and often wondered about it.
The year was 2013 and my solo dinner at this restaurant took place in the spring. I remembered my holiday in Istanbul trying out Turkish food delicacies such as the awesome ‘simit’ (a baked sesame ring) and yummy stuffed grape leaves and ‘lahmacun’ (it looks kind of like a mini pizza but with minced meat and super thin bread, like the kind used to make a wrap).
My vacation experience in Istanbul in 2010 was one of my least favorite holidays that I’ve taken but the food suited me extremely well.
The night when I entered the restaurant, there were plenty of Chinese diners. The Chinese are becoming more and more part of the growing middle class and wealthier Chinese tend to dine out at non-Chinese restaurants because it’s the way to show others that they were cultured, more educated and had more money in the bank (foreign food was always expensive compared to the local food). It’s like the Chinese way to show that one had some sophistication, and, also, a lot of Chinese were simply curious about how other cuisines around the world are like.
As I sat at my own table, I observed immediately that all of the Chinese diners barely touched the ‘ayran’ (a yogurt drink that’s ubiquitous in Turkey and in the Balkans) that they ordered. One woman winced as she put her glass of ‘ayran’ to her lips and tasted a tiny sip of it.
It was a shame to see all of those glasses of ‘ayran’ go to waste. They were paid for, sure, but the ‘ayran’ was fresh and delicious to me so I felt bad about those particular Chinese not liking it.
The owners and servers were Turkish. The owner spoke to me in English and knew I was different right away from my voice (I’m a Chinese-American, you see) and I gulped down all of my ‘ayran’ and ate all of my food, acting so intimate with it.
The owner was so happy as I could tell from the smile on his face and, in return, he gave me one glass of free Turkish tea and a piece of baklava.
All of the other diners left a lot of food behind. Unfortunately, the Chinese may like trying out new foods but there’s a possibility of their not liking the taste of these new cuisines. I didn’t like how they didn’t finish their food, so, I turned my attention to finding so much happiness with the dishes I ordered. (I did imagine, though, drinking all of those diners’ ‘ayran’ for them. Seriously, how would these Chinese diners dislike ‘ayran’ so much?)
I do want to give the Chinese diners I saw that night (and in other ethnic restaurants in the area) credit for being willing to explore other food tastes. What I notice about the Chinese of this generation is their motivation to eat new dishes. There are Chinese travelers who’ve said that they wanted to try something new when they traveled to the US instead of seeking Chinese food.
In a world that’s become more globally-connected, let’s do what we can to check out what other people enjoy and find important.
Though those particular Chinese diners didn’t take a liking to Turkish food that evening, I was glad that they came out anyway.
I’d like to note that Turkish food should be given a chance one night that you may wonder about what new cuisine to eat. Go ahead and search for a restaurant near you just like the wonderfully inquisitive Chinese I saw that night.
