"Professions of patience" .. Women corner is not without Turkish restaurants

Mena Jameel - Istanbul

Inside a small wooden corner surrounded by a hot sheet, and within sight of many visitors to the Turkish neighborhood of Besiktas, 60-year-old Kiraz has been sitting for about 10 years, baking "goslimiye", a kind of Turkish pancake that resembles a manakeesh.

"Keraz" is not a rare case in this area, many of the Turkish restaurants, if not most, rely on women to make some of the food, for close association between them since ancient times.

Kiraz told Al Jazeera Net that she has been working at Hakan for years and is happy with her work because of its close proximity to visitors. "I used to be photographed by visitors and tourists baking Jozlemée, this is my profession for a long time, and I learned it from childhood."

Kiraz asserts that the Turks used to eat Guzelmé and Manti from the hands of women, because they are popular and not commercial.

Turkish pasta of heritage

Speaking of the Manti, some Turkish restaurants are famous for employing women specially to fill this type of pasta in front of visitors' eyes, to emphasize the authenticity of this cuisine and its association with popular Turkish and home cuisine.

Manti is a type of Turkish pasta, called "Turkish ravioli" to simplify it for foreigners, as the dough is stuffed with small pieces of minced meat.

According to Hurriyet newspaper, "20 women can produce 500 kilograms of mantis per day."

Fatima, 40, tells Al Jazeera Net that she works in a restaurant dedicated to Turkish cuisine in the Bakirkoy region, stuffing manti since her youth, and that she was doing so with her grandmother and then her mother.

She pointed out that the use of women specifically in the manufacture of this food is the result of the need to be prepared by the "patience and accuracy", which are attributes that indicated that men do not have them.

"We sit with two or three women helping each other in stuffing and closing small pieces of pasta," she said. "This is hard work and needs good eyesight and patience, but we like to offer this kind of food to our customers."

Apart from food, there are a number of desserts and beverages associated with women, and restaurants and cafes, even large ones are keen on the proportions of women such as "Magnolia" candy and lemonade, which the restaurant owners are proud to serve as home made.

In Fatih, particularly the famous Fawzi Pasha Street, Rumeli Café and Restaurant offers many delicious desserts, but what makes Magnolia its most famous is that it was made by the wife of the store owner.

"My wife makes magnolia superbly, so I decided to show her products beside the desserts we make in the cafe, and she made her mark," he told the island.

The best home food

Hajar Urnsal, a Turkish woman, attributes the insistence of some cafes and restaurants to employ women, especially adults, as part of her chef's team, because the culture of the Turkish citizen is linked to eating the home that the mother or grandmother prepares is the best, in addition to Turkish food habits.

She explained that this principle explains the prevalence of Turkish restaurants known as "Locanda" which offers home dishes prepared in Turkish homes such as different soups, and vegetables cooked with sauce.

"The Turkish pride in their traditional cuisine and their adherence to their culture is what distinguishes them from Western culture, which is now mainly dependent on fast food, which is unusual to be a housewife," she said.