You Cook – You Eat!

My Cooking Class In Istanbul Turkey

Article by Explorason, Age 11 years

Travelling allows me to experience all sorts of cultures and foods, and I enjoy learning to cook all over the world – From Africa to Vietnam, and even Turkey.

I used to always want to be a chef when I grew up. So when my Mum and I went to Istanbul, our hotel (Sirkeci Mansion) gave us the opportunity to learn how to make Turkish traditional food.

Now I wouldn’t say I’m the best cook when it comes to food, but I will always try to give it my best shot.

When we entered the kitchen we were greeted by three staff members welcoming us into their workplace.

They handed us a chef’s uniform to put on each, and mine was a bit too big because I was only 8 or 9 years old at the time (I’m nearly 12 now.)

They informed us to wash our hands with water and soap before cooking.

After this, we put on gloves so our hands wouldn’t get messy, and we got to work.

The first job was to mix the tomato sauce and other ingredients with the Couscous with my hands, and as I did it squished between my fingers and I was happy I had put the gloves on earlier.

Next, we had to peel a tomato and make one really long piece with the skin a bit like a ribbon. This was tricky but we did pretty well I think. We then made roses out of them to use as decorations on our plate when we served our food, just like a professional chef.

Then we had to prepare all the vegetables for the Turkish Traditional Stew. I don’t the name of the dish, but that doesn’t matter I guess.

I wasn’t allowed to cook over the open stove, so Mum sautéed the onions over the flame and then marinated the meat in a frying pan, and the staff taught her a few skills flipping it over repeatedly as the flames ‘whooshed up’.

We chopped the vegetables up and put all the ingredients in a pot to cook, and I had to keep stirring it until I thought my arm was about to drop off.

We decorated our plates and then served up our food and it looked really good.

The chef told me that he had a rule. You have to try what you cook, or “You cook, you eat”, so I did!

It was really nice and I ate the whole lot up.

One thing that I really like about Turkey is the food. There are a lot of healthy and delicious choices, and now I’m older I like even more types of foods, so I’m excited to see what I can try on my next visit to Istanbul.

……..

A little bit about me –

I’m Explorason, and I left Australia nearly 5 years ago to start travelling around the world with my Mum.

So far we have visited 70 countries.

Travel helps me make friendships with people all over the world and helps me to learn about new religions and cultures.

I wish more people took their kids travelling because they could teach them to be more accepting and less judgmental.)

Here is an older story below about our time in Istanbul – we hope you enjoy it.

Five Star Service at Sirkeci Mansion Istanbul

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