We visited a restaurant called Reyhan to master the Uzbek food culture and for new tastes. In line with the recommendations of the Uzbeks, we first ordered samsa pastry with stuffed meat. This triangular-shaped pastry had a familiar taste to us, as if it had come from Turkish cuisine. A tomato and garlic mixture came with it as a sauce. It is challenging to find dishes from Uzbek cuisine that can be eaten without sauce and spices, but these sauces add a different flavor to the dishes. Before our food arrived, a teapot of green tea came because they suggested we drink green tea with our meals. This was interesting to Turk culture because we do not have a culture of drinking tea with meals; tea is a beverage we usually prefer after dinner or for breakfast.
Although green tea is not a drink unique to Uzbeks, it can be a question as to why it is preferred instead of soft drinks with meals. Uzbek dishes usually consist of pastries and meat, which can cause discomfort, such as clogging people and digestion problems. At this point, it makes sense to prefer green tea with meals, because it is known to be good for problems such as indigestion and bloating.
In addition, this tea is served without waiting for it to brew for a very long time after it comes to the table; Uzbeks find it strange that Turkish people brew tea for a long time because brewed tea is stale and spoiled tea in the eyes of Uzbeks and is not even preferred. In addition, green tea was poured into the glass and back into the teapot seven times in total, and the reason behind this goes back to ancient times. In addition, when this tea is served, the glass is not filled to the brim, and an excess lip margin is left. Because this tea, which has no lip cavity and is filled to the brim, gives a message to the guest, “Drink your tea and go immediately.” is also considered a huge disrespect. As the second meal, we preferred the dish lagman, which we likened to ramen.
Portions were quite large in every dish we ordered. The meal consisted of pasta-like dough mixed with gravy, oily water, and meat and vegetables. In addition, if the sauce is insufficient, they bring extra spicy, tomato, or oily sauce. As the last savory dish, we ordered a meat pie with steamed potatoes, reminiscent of Chinese cuisine. It was served with yoghurt sauce on the side. Uzbeks prefer finely chopped meat instead of minced meat because they do not believe it adds enough flavour. After all these pastries, we had no room for dessert, so we packed sümelek dessert. We also had the chance to buy the flavors that the former Soviet countries were accustomed to. It is very lovely for minorities that they place these products in their shops without discriminating. In addition to all these tastes, sümelek has a fascinating story.
According to the woman who helped us at the venue, the story goes like this: Sümelek is eaten in the spring season and has become a representative of Nowruz. It can be preferred as a dessert or for breakfast. This dessert, which does not contain sugar and is flavoured with the own taste of wheat, is seen as a source of vitamins. This healing dessert, which cannot be eaten without prayers and wishes, is distributed free of charge in the squares during Nowruz, or neighbours take this dessert to each other; it is not sold with money because it represents unity. According to the rumour, the woman’s husband, who lived in a small village on the banks of the Ceyhun River, passed away.
The woman who remained with her seven children, in one of the years of the Famine, the provisions were not enough for the whole winter, and they were doomed to starvation. It was very pathetic for the poor woman to see her children growing weaker day by day from hunger. Their mothers said she prepared something delicious to alleviate the pain of children who cannot get out of bed. Then he pulled out the giant cauldron. She poured some water into it and put the sprouted wheat at the bottom of the sacks. Unfortunately, there was nothing else to put. The children were tired of waiting, and their mother said she’d put in some meat so that the food would be cooked. She threw a few pebbles into the cauldron. The woman fell asleep while the children waited all night. What will he see when he wakes up? The cauldron was filled with a warm brown liquid with various motifs resembling angel wings. While sleeping, the woman thought the angels had come and filled the cauldron with fertile wheat.
After the woman had fed her children, she distributed this meal, which she called sümelek, to her starving neighbors. Everyone learned the recipe for this dish and started making it. And in this way, people learned to share the last bite and overcome difficulties together. In Today’s world, This tradition is valued by the Uzbeks and necessary care is taken by the public in order to maintain its existence. Sümelek is a dish that represents more than one thing. There is also a belief that a person who eats sümelek in the same season from seven different cauldrons will find happiness. Sümelek has led people to share everything they have and to be united with their loved ones, as in the past. It also shows the happiness of rejoicing in a new spring and a new Nowruz. Wheat is an indispensable food in human life, and mothers feed their children with a formula containing wheat after breast milk. The Uzbek people accept sümelek as the beginning of life and represent life, in line with the return to the life of children who died of hunger in the story and the importance of wheat in human life. While making this meal, the women gather in the squares and help each other with the giant cauldrons while dancing and singing folk songs. Even though there are many exciting dishes and customs in Uzbek culture, sümelek emerges as a traditional Nowruz dessert with the healthiest, most interesting story and an incredible unifying power.
By Simge Salgıncı, Özay Ege Davrak and Berfin Yeşilırmak