Rising Stars in Turkish Cooking Television

A friend sent me an e-mail one day, and told me that TRT, the national broadcasting network of Turkey, is making a new cooking show called "Turk Lezzeti," which can be loosely translated as "Turkish Flavor," but in my head I like to think that it is "Turkish Delight"! The concept of the show, which should be about 15-minute long segments, is that a famous cooking show host makes delicious Turkish food, and the catch is that she is being assisted by two yabanci (foreigners). To make this new show, TRT was desperate to find foreigners living in Istanbul who had at least basic Turkish skills, so they could talk on the show in Turkish. My friend and I volunteered immediately, as they encouraged friends to sign up as a pair. We were given the address of the studios located on the European side, and told to show up at 2PM. When we arrived, we were taken through a large studio and into the back for our makeup and hair! The woman doing our makeup was really cute, and I don't think I have ever had so much makeup on my face in my entire life. It felt like an inch thick! But Rebecca and I agreed this was probably the hottest we were ever going to look in our lives. Maybe we should hire that lady when we want to go out clubbing on the weekends! We were both given these bright striped aprons to wear, and were lead out onto the set, which looked straight from the 90s, what I recall the sets of Saved By the Bell and Mickey Mouse Club looked like. The cool part is that it was still a fully functioning kitchen. The host was very nice; at first we thought she spoke only Turkish but it became apparent quickly that she was completely fluent in English. I was a little embarrassed when I asked her later where she had learned to cook, and she casually said, "from my grandmother of course, and then I went to the Cordon Bleau," as if she had went to some community college cooking class. So she speaks French too! 

For the show, we were cooking two traditional milk-based Turkish desserts: gulac and muhallebi. I was responsible for the gulac, which is this milky desert made with philo dough, and you usually only see it made during Ramazan. The camera guys told us to only look at each other and the host, and not at the cameras, so we kind of just sat there chatting with each other and made some food. She did ask us a few questions in Turkish, but we went over beforehand what we would say so it wasn't a big deal. She also asked us a few questions about what we were making, just to have an excuse to give some info to our viewers at home:

Host: Emily, do you know when Gulac is served?

Me (busily putting philo dough into a pan): Well, GOSH, I don't know!

Host: WELL, it is usually served during Ramazan!

Me: WOW!

Host: Rebecca, do you know when Ramazan is?

Rebecca: NO, not at all!

Host: It is always changing each year, because it is on a different calendar.

Me and Rebecca (high-fiving): COOL!

And something like that. I thought I would be a bit nervous; but as my friends back home know

I am kind of a media sell-out so I have been around this block before, and I was also not too worried because I knew that they would edit it later. After I made the gulac, the host handed me and Rebecca a plate of pomegranate seeds and walnut pieces and asked us to sprinkle them on top of the dessert, making some kind of attractive design. Becca and I decided to do a heart. When the host noticed what we had done, she asked us why, and, just to be the cheesy tv stars we are, Rebecca replied, in Turkish, "because we made this from our hearts!" Cue the sound-track audience sighing "AWWWWW."

So, that was it! It was a lot of fun, and we got to eat our projects later with the rest of the crew, which was great. I was told that this segment should air sometime in May on TRT International, but I have no idea when exactly.