At the Samsun Exchange Food Festival, 80 dishes were presented for tasting

In the context of the Turkish Cuisine Week in Samsun’s Bafra district, a ‘Samsun Exchange Cuisine Festival’ was organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the exchange. At the event attended by many citizens in Sürmeli Neighborhood, 80 different dishes were exhibited. The President of the Bafra Balkan Turks Association, Süleyman Özata, stated in his speech, ‘Under the presidency of our federation alone, 130 villages in Samsun were scanned, and you will see 80 of our 103 dishes today. When all of Samsun is scanned, there will be over 400 dishes. We are no less than Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Adana.’ Following the welcoming speeches of Samsun Rumeli Associations President Salih Meriç, Culture and Tourism Provincial Director Cemal Almaz, Mayor Hamit Kılıç, and AK Party Member of Parliament Orhan Kırcalı, Bafra District Governor Cevdet Ertürkmen stated, ‘Turks settled in newly conquered places during the Ottoman Empire period have been historically named as the descendants of conquerors. The most significant signs of Turkish presence in the Balkans are these. Approximately 500,000 Turks migrated due to the exchange provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne and were resettled in many provinces of our country. Therefore, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said that the exchangers are ‘the dear memories of lost lands.’ As the gastronomy team, we traveled to all districts of Samsun as a civil servant with an important place in Turkish history, during the 100th anniversary of the exchange, within the Turkish Cuisine Week, we included them as well. We visited all districts of Samsun from Vezirköprü to Çarşamba, Terme. Our reason for going there was this: Everything belongs to the lands where it was born. If you separate from those lands, just like a flower, gastronomic values also wither. That’s why we revealed our exploratory trips, prepared our action plans. One of these action plans was to present Samsun exchange dishes on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the exchange. We have a central neighborhood in Bafra district and 4 outer neighborhoods where our exchangers live. We talked to these people, got acquainted with them, listened to them. Their beautiful works inspired us. If a tree has roots, nations also have histories. If a person has a soul, people also have cultures. Culture is the soul of a civilization. It elevates a nation. It gives it personality and character. Therefore, because we also see the exchangers as the descendants of conquerors, we wanted to see them in the Turkish Cuisine Week we celebrated between May 21-27. They added value to us, we learned a lot from them. I know that Samsun has many gastronomic values. As of yesterday, Samsun Bafra pide was selected as one of the top 10 breads in the world for its quality. We also have our Samsun pides. We do not discriminate. I believe in Samsun’s gastronomic power, I think it is very strong. Because as a brother who has traveled 17 districts and 2,000 kilometers, I sincerely believe in these values of Samsun.’ After the speeches, the event continued with a show by the Bafra Balkan Turks Folk Dance team, and the guests danced to Rumeli music on the dance floor. The event ended with the serving of the prepared dishes. The citizens who attended the event expressed that they found the dishes very delicious and wished for such events to continue. The Dean of Bafra Tourism Faculty, Prof. Dr. Yetkin Bulut, stated, ‘We visited 17 districts but this one became the most important. In terms of exchange dishes and other varieties, it is extremely important. There are edible 1,800 herbs in Samsun, and a large inventory of this is in Bafra. Therefore, it is a very rich region in terms of herb dishes. Nokul and pide are products with geographical indications. Therefore, actually when we look at it, a tourist coming to Bafra can spend only 2 days with gastronomy. It will become an extremely important place for this reason.’