Foods as cultural ambassadors

Can foods be the ambassadors of traditions and cultures of a country?

Are the gastronomic delights of a nation its face to the world?

It seems, yes from farm to fork, foods are the cultural ambassadors of a country and it's no wonder the idea behind every food festival is closely associated with a cultural fiesta too.

One such a latest ctiral food fest was the Turkish Cuisine Week at the Muscat Grand Millennium Hotel recently which was aimed at showcasing the various delights of Turkish dishes with all their original qualities celebrated with cuktur and art events of Türkiye abroad.

For a week from May 26th, the hotel united the two coountries’ well-known dishes under the theme 'Grand Ottoman and Oman Night' at its Taybat Restaurant.

A wide spread of the most distinguished delicacies of the traditional Ottoman Turkish cuisine prepared by the award-winning Chef Sinem Özler and her team met with traditional Omani dishes and were on offer to the yearning guests hroughout the week.

The book titled “Turkish Cuisine With Timeless Recipes“, published under the leadership of First Lady Emine Erdoğan and under the auspices of the Presidency with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism aimed at promoting the richness of Turkish cuisine to a global audience comprise presented 218 recipes for healthy, traditional and zero-waste dishes.

No food went to the gut without a traditional Turkish music in the backdrop. In addition to the intriguing Turkish Cuisine, there were live santoor and traditional Turkish musical instruments performed by Sedat Anar and art exhibitions by renowned local artists such as Turkish ceramics (Çini), miniature art, Ebru (water marbling) art, Turkish calligraphy, and illumination art commenting the food fest to the fullest.

“In every opportunity, we always strive to find ways to create a concept that is new, unique, and fun in order to deliver an exceptional guest experience. Our focus is to make Grand Millennium hotel a place where food, culture, arts, and music collide. With the help of the Turkish Embassy and Turkish Airlines, this event allows us to keep bringing special moments to our guests at Millennium,” Luca Medda, Cluster General Manager at Grand Millennium Muscat told the Observer.

Adding value to the whole event, the message with the food was loud and clear. We are living in a world, which becomes more and more insufficient for meeting humanity’s needs. Instead of merely enjoying our food, we should consider a waste-free, ecological and sustainable way of nutrition. Turkish cuisine has all these characteristics.