The Turkish take their bread very seriously. They eat more bread than any country in the world, and claim they invented bread over 10,000 years ago. They also claim they invented baklava, but don’t tell a Greek that.
Now Cincinnatians can get the most popular Turkish bread – the simit – at Truva Turkish Kitchen in Kenwood. It’s a ring shaped bread of wheat flour encrusted with sesame seeds. But, in Turkey and surrounding countries, you can see them encrusted with poppy seeds, flax, or even sunflower seeds. So it’s advisable to eat them outside because the seeds will shower themselves after each bite. Simit is often called the Turkish bagel, but I’d liken it more to a pretzel. It’s crispy on the outside and chewy and slightly sweet on the inside.
It has the nickname of “the Sultan’s gift”, indicating its long history with the mutliculti Ottoman Empire. The simit is said to have been a fusion of Armenian and Macedonian bread influences. Although there is no official record, it is believed that simit was conceived in the palace kitchens during Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent’s reign in 1500s. During the 16th century, Evliya Celebi, who was an Ottoman explorer, travelled through the Ottoman Empire and neighboring realms over a period of 40 years. He recorded his observations in a travelogue titled Seyâhatnâme (“Book of Travel”), and described Istanbul’s simit sellers in his famous book Seyahatname, “There were a total of 300 sellers and 70 bakeries that made simit five times each day. The last batch came out after dark, and the sellers threaded the rings onto long sticks fixed into the corners of their baskets or trays and hung a small lantern at the top to attract the attention of the crowds on their way home after work.” According to the palace records, 30 pieces of simit were brought to the palace from public bakeries every morning during the sultan Suleiman II’s reign in the 1690s. Simit was the favored gift given to soldiers by the Ottoman Sultans during Ramadan, the month of daily fasting observed by Muslims.
Today, in Istanbul simit sellers carry piles of them on their heads and sell them on the street, much like they did during the Ottoman days.
At Truva in Kenwood, they serve simit, along with a variety of other Turkish breads and meat pies, like boreks, for breakfast, which starts at 10:30 AM, which is a bit late for western working professionals.
Bread is considered sacred to the Turks. Muslims use Simit and another bread, Pide, to break the fast at Ramandan. Catholics totally have the sacred bread thing very wrong. The thin tasteless communion wafers are useless. Does the Vatican really think that Christ can only transubstantiate into tasteless wafers, and not maybe a wonderful rye bread? I remember in the 1980s there was a movement to have Catholic masses in peoples homes, and to make their own sacramental breads. Most were terrible, but there was one I remember that used a dark flour or grain sweetened with a bit of honey (which breaks the Vatican law of only wheat and water in eucharistic bread) that was really good. It looked a lot like the Turkish pide used at Ramandan. Even Jewish people have better sacramental bread in challah, used at high holy days and for Shabbat dinners. Well there you have it, I have sacramental bread envy.
When I stop by Truva to pick one up, the restaurant manager makes me sit at the bar and serves me a cup of Turkish tea on the house, while his chef warms my simit in the open hearth oven. All Turkish bread is served warm and the simit is a traditional breakfast gnosh for Turks on the go. He tells me he is from Istanbul, asks if I have been there, and tells me I look German, which I admit and then we start speaking in German.
I take my first bite in the car, and sesame seeds fly every which way. But I fall in love with this new bread. It’s got all the kicks – the crunchy, nutty, semi-sweet chewy goodness that we all want in a breakfast bread. I can definitely get into having these alongside scrambled eggs in the morning or dipping it in Turkish marinara that they also serve. I just wish their bakery was open earlier. Do yourself a favor and stop by Truva Turkish Kitchen on the weekend to try a simit and an amazeballs Turkish Breakfast.
dannwoellertthefoodetymologist 