Turkish Cuisine Week celebrated in Budapest – PHOTOS, VIDEO

The “2024 Turkish-Hungarian Cultural Year” coordinated by the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Budapest, was marked by the gastronomic events held within the scope of the “Turkish Cuisine Week”, which was organised for the third time this year.

The first event of the Turkish Cuisine Week, which was organised with the theme of “Aegean delicacies” during the week of 21-27 May, was a dinner at the Matild Hotel, a Turkish investment, sponsored by Turkish companies in Hungary, with the participation of high-level Hungarian guests, members of the diplomatic corps, culture, art, sports and media circles.

The opening speech was delivered by the Ambassador of Türkiye to Hungary HE Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu, and the guests were served dishes prepared by Chef Ebru Baybara Demir, who won the Basque Culinary World Prize last year, using local ingredients from the Aegean Cuisine. Ambassador HE Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu expressed their pleasure to organise the sixth gastrodiplomacy event under the slogan “7 Regions 7 Cuisine”. Ambassador HE Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu also announced that the Hungarian translation of the book “Turkish Cuisine with Centuries-old Recipes”, in which traditional Anatolian dishes are passed down from generation to generation in line with the “zero waste” philosophy under the auspices of Türkiye’s First Lady Emine Erdoğan, is about to be completed.

🇹🇷 2024 Türk-Macar Kültür Yılı, Türk Mutfağı Haftası etkinliklerimiz ile taçlandı! Türkiye’nin eşsiz ve zengin mutfak kültürünü “Ege Lezzetleri” ile tanıttık.#TürkMacarKültürYılı #sıfıratık #TürkMutfağıHaftası #geleneksel #asırlıktariflerletürkmutfağı@TC_Disisleri… pic.twitter.com/bXzw3TrIY9

— Türkiye in Hungary (@TC_BudapesteBE) May 24, 2024

“Turkish cuisine is a vast treasure and a journey dating back centuries. With the “Turkish Cuisine Weeks”, we have been celebrating the richness of our cuisine worldwide over the last 3 years. This culinary drive has been flourishing under the auspices of First Lady of Türkiye, Madame Emine Erdoğan. She also created a guidebook titled “Turkish Cuisine with Timeless Recipes””, she said.

Touching on sports diplomacy as another prominent theme of the 2024 Turkish-Hungarian Year of Culture, Ambassador HE Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu talked about the 19 May Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day and Türkiye’s support for Hungary’s initiative at the United Nations to designate 19 May as World Fair Play Day. Turkish tea was served to the guests at the end of the night as 21 May was World Tea Day.

In the second event of the Turkish Cuisine Week, Chef Ebru Baybara Demir presented Aegean delicacies to the guests, this time in a reception format, at Brody House-The Garden Cafe, which is run by a Turkish woman entrepreneur. In her speech here, the Turkish Ambassador pointed out the similar dishes and cooking techniques in Turkish and Hungarian cuisines.

In the event at BKSZC Mátyás Szamos Technical College and Vocational Training School, Turkish Cuisine lessons will be given to Hungarian chefs and cooks by the teachers of Bolu Mengen Culinary Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School. Local dishes of the Aegean Cuisine will be cooked together and presented to the guests.

Talking about similarities between the Hugarian and the Turkish kitchens, HE Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu said that “you could see the traces of this legacy in gastronomy too! From pogaca to kapuska, and stew to goulash, we indeed have similar dishes and cooking techniques in Turkish and Hungarian cuisines.”

“Let also me take this opportunity to congratulate Hungary, as another nation paying particular attention to the unifying power of sports diplomacy, for presenting a UN General Assembly resolution to propose 19 May as World Fair-Play Day“, she concluded.

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