Turkish Rakı II

Meal with “Rakı” generally takes hours due to the fact that Rakı is consumed during dinner with numerous types of appetizers. As I’ve already mentioned in the previous post, all the appetizers and Rakı bottle are served together and Turks are calling the table with Rakı and appetizers as “Rakı Sofrası” which means in English “Dining Table with Raki”. 

 Traditional Dining Table

Rakı is not consumed usually alone. Turkish people traditionally like to be together and especially for this case, they are having their meal together and enjoying their meal with Traditional Turkish Music. We can say that, Rakı is the meeting point of people who need to share their problems with friends, want to celebrate something. 

Turkish traditional music generally accompanies long dinners with Rakı. The songs generally are related with love, emotions. Some of them are cheerful, some of them can feel you upset. 

Rakı is very meaningful for Turkish people. It is main compenent of our cuisine. Rakı means “Sharing” for us. This culture which comes from Ottomans, still conserves its importance and after modern Turkey was founded, it became more wide-spread. Now it is consumed by women and men, also young people and old people. Thanks to some important people like “Aydın Boysan” who is architecture and one of the most famous personality regarding these “Dining Tables”, this tradition still continues in Turkey.   

In this photograph Aydın Boysan is drinking Rakı in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Beyoğlu is one of the most crowded and most beautiful places in Istanbul. There are lots of cafes, restaurants, bars in that area. In Beyoğlu, there is one place which is extremely famous all over the world. The name of this place is "Çiçek Pasajı". It's originally called the Cité de Péra, is a famous historic passage (galleria or arcade) on İstiklal Avenue in the Beyoğlu (Pera) district of Istanbul, Turkey.

Besides appetizers, Rakı is often served with seafood. For Turks, drinking Rakı in company with the famous Bosphorus view is an incredible thing. In Istanbul, close to Bosphorus strait there are lots of restaurants and cafes where you can find fresh seafood, Rakı and amazing view. 

 

An amazing view of the Bosphorus strait, with the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Istanbul.

It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents (Wikipedia)

Actually, when Ottoman Empire was conducting Anatolia, Rakı had been only consuming in only “Meyhane” or in the home. Meyhane was a kind of a place that you could find only these appetizers and Rakı. The culture, which I’ve mentioned, has come to modern day thanks to also these places. Still, in Turkey there are lots of them, however now you can live this culture in restaurants, bars and cafes as well. 

Old Meyhane. In other words, the place that you can drink Rakı and eat appertizers with live traditional music (fasıl).

Image is taken from http://tr.visit2istanbul.com/eski-istanbul-gece-hayati/