The first rays of spring bathe the apartment with a soft light. In the living room with pale blue walls, a parakeet, perched on the wardrobe near the window, welcomes Meral Caglayan with small strident spreads. The clock has not yet sounded noon that grilled meat smells have already invaded the room. IFTAR preparations – fasting meal of fasting, on the evenings of Ramadan – began. On the menu: a yogurt soup, salad, chickpeas in sauce and the very popular family dish, Içli Köfte,, breaded meatballs.
“I make the recipes as I learned them from my mother and my aunts”,, tells the forties, originally from the Gaziantep region, in the south of the country, renowned for its gastronomy. Today, it's celebration day, but Meral admits: meal preparation also takes up a lot of space in his daily life. Accountant in a private foundation, this active mother exploits the slightest interstice in her timetable to put herself in the stove. “” I cook for mine and try to make different dishes every day. Kemal,, My 13 year old son is growing, and he does high level sports. He needs proteins. I try to regularly prepare meat, but it has become very expensive, so I can no longer buy as much as before ”she regrets. Even in the modest district of Fatih, on the European shore of Istanbul, the price per kilo of minced meat in butcher has reached 800, even 1,000 Turkish pounds (approximately 22 euros) with inflation, when the minimum monthly salary is 22,000 Turkish pounds (around 493 euros).
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Source: Lemonde