India and Turkey's crossed connections in food and history

Time of India

25-05-2025

At Misir Carsisi, Istanbul's spice market, Indians can be startled to see powdered spices labelled 'Bharat'. This isn't desi masala, but a Middle Eastern blend also spelled as 'Baharat'. It seems symbolic of Indo-Turkish relations which, even when not as bad as they are today, have always appeared off-kilter.India and Turkey share a history through the Turkic tribes of Central Asia. One branch, the Ottomans, fought their way west towards Europe from the 11th century CE, ultimately conquering Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire.Turkey is described as where Europe and Asia meet, but a more accurate description, especially for food, would be that it is where Central Asian and Mediterranean worlds meet.In the 16th century, another branch, the Mughals, fought their way over the Himalayas to conquer north and central India. The Ottomans and Mughals were aware of each other, and might even have dreamed of conquest, but were realistically too far apart to achieve this. Both brought elements of Turkic culture to their domains, like a love of stews and flaky breads, including the stuffed one called sambusak or samosa . Both combined these with existing culinary cultures that were strongly vegetarian for religious reasons (Byzantium's Orthodox Christianity imposed many meatless fasting days), with added protein from pulses in India, and fish in Turkey.Arab traders traded commodities like sugar and spices from India, and nuts and dried fruit from Turkey. The Turks loved sweets, and in Turkish Cuisine in Historical Perspective , Deniz Gürsoy quotes a story where a pastry maker says, 'I have sweetened it with the sugar of the sugarcane rather than pure honey because it is more delicious.'India was the original source of cane sugar, until the Arabs took it to places like Egypt, where huge amounts were grown and refined for the Ottoman court.The Ottomans used sweeter spices, like cinnamon, and regional Turkish food embraced chillies when they came from the Americas. But Turkish food, especially Istanbul's court cuisine, avoids pungent flavours.It's notable that 'Misir Carsisi' means 'Egyptian Bazaar' and Aleppo in Syria was the main terminus of the spice trading routes. Rather than lavishly using spices themselves, the Ottomans preferred to profit from overseeing their trade through their control of Mediterranean ports .This explains why the closest contact between Turks and Indians took place when a third party, the Portuguese, appeared in the Indian Ocean to threaten the spice trade. In the early 16th century, as the Portuguese established settlements like Goa and Diu, the Turks created a navy based in the Red Sea and sent emissaries to the sultans of Gujarat to try and defeat the European threat. A number of naval battles were fought between the Portuguese and Ottomans around the Arabian Sea coast, leading to sieges of Diu in 1538 and 1546.But naval warfare was not an Ottoman strength and they were unable to repulse the Portuguese.Seydi Ali Reis, appointed admiral by Suleiman the Magnificent, suffered a particular disaster in 1554 when his fleet was hit by what he called an 'Elephant Typhoon'. He was blown to Gujarat, where his sailors encountered an unexpected enemy. In his memoir, Mir'at ul Memalik (Mirror of Countries) , Seydi writes that this took the form of palm trees that exuded a sweet liquid which 'by exposure to the heat of the sun, presently changes into a most wonderful wine'. This was toddy, and after getting drunk on it, many of his sailors refused to set sail again, preferring to take employment with local rulers.Seydi had to find his way to the court of Humayun, who received him well and helped him return overland to Istanbul. The Ottomans settled for controlling the overland trade, leaving the sea routes to the Portuguese. From then until now, India and Turkey seem destined to be two sides to an equation that never works out.