Afiyet Olsun!

On Saturday Kenzie, one of my AFS friends and her family invited us for an afternoon barbecue, and since I rarely pass up an opportunity to eat some delicious Turkish food I happily accepted. It was a beautiful springy  day as we sped along the gravel roads that line the lake of Adana. I don't feel that the lake here gets nearly the credit it deserves especially since I would argue that it is the most beautiful part of the city. To get  out to our picnic spot it is quite a drive, past the packed commercial center, past the sprawling apartments, past the little houses that make up the outskirts of town into an area of lush green hills and lakeside restaurants. It would be very picturesque if it weren't for the trash that is pretty much everywhere. It is amazing thought the changes that occur once you make it past the urban areas, it turns into green fields, clear blue water, and absolutely awesome sunsets.

Long before the sunset though, we ate, and I was excited for this part because I was pretty hungry. So when Kenzie's host mom asked "acıktınızma?" (are you all hungry?) I quıckely replıed that I was and being a Turkish mother she immediately started preparing me something. She pointed to a bowl of what looked like ground meet and asked if I would like it in a flour tortilla, I didn't think twice when I said sure. Though as an afterthought I should have thought twice since I really had no idea what it was, but my general rule of thumb when it comes to Turkish food is to try everything and it generally works out pretty well. She handed over a pretty appetizing looking burrito with an "afiyet olsun," the phrase you say to the people who are eating. I knew I was in trouble when my friends giggled a bit but I took a first big bite anyway of what turned out to be lung, sheep lung.


If you have ever had sheep lung you may know that the though first taste is not good, it's not terrible either, but as you continue chewing the it seems to get bigger and bigger and the taste more and more distinct. Trouble is that in Turkish culture you eat what is on your plate and it is pretty impolite to take one bite of something and stop eating. But for the first time since being here I really did not think I could eat any more. I carefully set it down on my plate trying to create the illusion that I would come back to it later. The rest of the food was wonderful, sausage cooked over a campfire then stuffed in fresh bread, çiğ köfte, a sort of raw meat that is wonderful, and more. But every time I looked down at my forlorn sheep lung I felt a guilty. At some point one of the men there noticed that I wasn't eating it and quietly fed it to one of the many stray dogs that roam especially in that part of Adana but it only made me feel worse. Food is a huge part of the culture here, men and women take a special pride in not only their own cooking but the dishes of the country.I'm not exactly sure what I should have done, next time though I will try a little harder to get down a few more bites unappetizing as it may be.