SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This summer, we've been asking NPR's international correspondents what's for breakfast. In Ukraine, it's curd cheese pancakes. Nigerians breakfast with fried dough. Lebanon loves flatbread so much the U.N. has certified it part of an intangible cultural heritage. Today, we take you to Turkey, where breakfast is less a quick morning meal and more of an elaborate social ritual of sharing and conversation. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi reports from a Turkish city that is known for the morning meal.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Turkish).
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Kahvalticilar Sokak, or Breakfast Street, in the eastern Turkish city of Van is dedicated to the most important meal of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Turkish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: Lined with restaurants on one side, diners enjoy their breakfasts on plastic tables and chairs in the middle of the street, a tarp overhead for shade.
UNIDENTIFIED WAITER: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: The waiters accost diners walking by, urging them to sit at their tables.
UNIDENTIFIED WAITER: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: Sixty-two-year-old Sabri Bezir (ph) has worked on this street at a place called Sutcu Fevzi for 45 years. The restaurant itself is 80 years old.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLATES CLATTERING)
AL-SHALCHI: Van is known countrywide as the Turkish breakfast capital. In 2014, the city broke the Guinness World Record for the largest breakfast on Earth, with nearly 52,000 people attending.
UNIDENTIFIED WAITER: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: Located on a high plateau surrounded by pasture-rich mountains, Van's cold winters demanded calorie-dense morning meals. Herders and farmers developed preserved dairy and grain-based food that could withstand harsh weather.
SABRI BEZIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: "People who do heavy work need a good breakfast," says Bezir.
In the mid-20th century, Van's milk parlors evolved into specialized kahvalti salonlari, or breakfast salons. Rather than serving full meals throughout the day, these spots focused on early-morning to mid-afternoon breakfast.
BEZIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: Bezir leads the way through the small restaurant and into the kitchen. It's hot, and the cooks labor over frying pans and stir vats of cream. Bezir says their dairy products are all made in-house.
UNIDENTIFIED COOK: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: "Look, the milk has boiled. And now it's brewing on the stove," says the cook. They explain that after brewing, they let it sit overnight, arriving at 4:30 the next morning to cut and skim the cream layer off the top of the milk. Bezir opens an industrial metal refrigerator and pulls out a tray of white cream.
UNIDENTIFIED COOK: (Speaking Turkish).
BEZIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: "This will be for tomorrow morning," he says. Eaten with bread and honey, the cream is a staple of the Turkish breakfast. But it's only one of a dozen plates on the spread.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLATES ON TABLE)
AL-SHALCHI: Bezir points them out as a waiter sets them down.
BEZIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: Tzatziki with butter, black olives, apricot jam, herby cheese, pure honey, white cheese and cheddar cheese. There's also potatoes, sausages, eggs.
(SOUNDBITE OF GLASS CLINKING)
AL-SHALCHI: And the breakfast isn't complete without black tea in a traditional tulip glass.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
AL-SHALCHI: Yemen Demir is a native of Van who now lives in Ankara. He's here with 10 other men at a long table. It's their annual high school reunion. He says a Turkish breakfast isn't just about the food.
YEMEN DEMIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: "The way they present it is very beautiful," Demir says. A Van breakfast reminds him of home, but also another special meaning. It's how he wooed his wife.
DEMIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: "It's much more impressive for us to go to a nice weekend breakfast rather than a romantic dinner," Demir says.
DEMIR: (Speaking Turkish).
AL-SHALCHI: "For us, romance is synonymous with breakfast."
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Van, Turkey. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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