Food festival frenzy
Across the country, there seems to be a craze for organizing food festivals. It feels like every town has one popping up, especially before the summer season and upcoming religious holidays begin, in the hope that each town’s culinary merits will gain media coverage. We food writers are invited to most, not only to write about regional cookery and produce, but also to moderate panels. Of course, we cannot attend all of them, as many of the events are usually crammed into a single weekend. After traveling twice to Antalya, I found myself in Bursa, not for a food festival but for a unique performance combining music, gastronomy and culinary history. I happened to be part of the performance as well. It was truly an amazing experience, worthy of a whole other article.
Charm of Ayvalık
Now, I am finally in Ayvalık, a lovely coastal town in the northern Aegean region. Here, I just had my “moment of the season” experience while moderating a panel with elderly local legends. We are here for the Ayvalık Gastro Fest, where there are many food stalls of local restaurants and producers, as well as many opportunities to taste various olive oils of the region, as the town was the foremost port in the Aegean Sea for olive oil trade. I’m writing these words while having breakfast at the lovely, family-owned boutique hotel Kapya, located at Cunda, one of the most charming neighborhoods of Ayvalık. Once an island, it is now connected to the mainland by a bridge-like road, making it feel like a place unto itself. Kapya Hotel gave me the long-lost spirit of family-owned small bed and breakfast places, their home style breakfast buffet features delectable home-baked delicacies. Cunda is special with its cobbled, winding narrow streets, old stone buildings, and a nice coastline walk lined with countless fish and meze restaurants. The mainland town of Ayvalık has its own charm, with nice seaside teahouses. The historic fabric of the town center is dotted with occasional old-style restaurants or eateries. The owners of such places were my panelists, and I must admit that I was delighted to meet them. They are the ones who carry the culinary legacy of historic quarters like Ayvalık, and they are the ones who sustain the living spirit of the town. Otherwise, the sameness overtakes every town center, with the same coffee chains and fast-food outlets dominating the food scene.
