User:Melisaozcep/Wedding Meal

It is a tradition given traditionally in Anatolia and its origins go back to Shamanism. It consists of local dishes served to guests with wooden tables and wooden chairs placed in gardens and streets in the Aegean region and many other regions of Anatolia. Guests are invited to dinner with various objects called ‘okuntu’ (readings) or invitations. Meals are cooked in large cauldrons by the women who have knowledge and experience in this subject, and with the preparations that start days before, by helping each other. These women, who are called wedding cooks, work cooperatively and generally provide tools such as kitchen utensils, cauldrons, trays, floor tables, tablecloths, jugs, forks, and knives for cooking. When it comes to making keskek, men perform the process of forging the meat of the kashkak, or they slaughter the animals to provide the meat needed for the kashkak. Although meat is traditionally obtained from freshly slaughtered animals, today this tradition has left its place to obtaining meat with different methods. It is important that the guests are well entertained by the variety and taste of the dishes. The host usually takes care of the deliciousness of the wedding meals and sees it as a dignity.

Although women and men are separated in Anatolia, especially in the Eastern, Central, and similar conservative-fundamental regions, the meal is eaten together, as it is a happy ceremony when eaten together in wedding dinner gatherings from Central Asian culture and Shamanist culture. If the venue used by the host where the wedding dinner is held is limited, the neighbors also open their homes to the wedding owner. The guests who go to these houses are also brought food with trays. In the same way, if the family did not come, for example, male guests who know each other or not, and because female guests come together and eat at a table, an impression may arise as if men and women are separated.

Traditionally, wedding meals are planned as lunch, but in some regions it is also served as dinner. Men are served a drink in the evening, sometimes for both lunch and dinner. Considering the food varieties that vary according to the regions, there are regions where fish can be served as a wedding meal, for example. The guests who complete their meal leave their presents. After the meal, this time the cleaning of the dishes joins the cooking and filling the trays that the wedding cooks continue throughout the day. This work is usually done by the relatives of the bride and groom who come to eat, and together they wash the dishes and clean the stoves and cauldrons.

The way the dishes are presented may also differ. While the dishes that were traditionally placed in large copper pots in trays were eaten together, today, different applications can be made. The young members of the family make the catering by waiting at the table and providing the necessary things to the guests who request anything. Starting with soups such as noodle soup and wedding soup, the meal continues with the offering of different combinations of dishes such as rolls, stuffed leaves, mixed fry, and kashkak. At the end of the meal, sweets such as baklava, halva, and semolina halva prepared at home are served.