Berrak Demiroz of Turkish street-food van, Little Turk & Co, in South Australia, may have migrated with her family to Australia more than 50 years ago, but she has stayed connected to her homeland through food.
Berrak was born in Turkey's capital of Ankara in 1969. Just two years later, her family began their life in Australia in Wollongong, seeking better work opportunities. "We landed in Sydney and lived in old army barracks in Wollongong until my dad, Metin, could earn enough money to move to a rental," Berrak tells SBS Food.
Metin started out at Wollongong's Port Kembla steelworks before getting a job at the railways, which provided enough to afford to rent in the southern Sydney suburb of Eastlakes. Meanwhile, Berrak's mum, Zeynep, got a job with a telephone cables factory in Alexandria.
Through Metin and Zeynep's respective jobs, they met other Turkish migrant families with whom they became close friends. They began holding weekend gatherings in Eastlakes, which involved each family taking turns to host a traditional Turkish feast at their home. The feasts continued even when the Demiroz family moved further south to the suburb of Sutherland in 1980.
Berrak says, "At about lunchtime, we would gather at the home of the family hosting, and we would sit around the table for hours enjoying food, playing music, and just hanging out with everyone until late in the evening."
Berrak Demiroz. Source: Naomi Giatas
Berrak remembers that when her family hosted, her mum would get up as early as 3am to prepare the meals from scratch.
Zeynep made dishes like zeytinyagli taze fasulye (cold green beans in olive oil), Rus salatasi (Russian salad rich in mayonnaise, pickled gherkins, potato, peas and mustard), yayla corbasi (yoghurt soup), (minced lamb dumplings in garlic yoghurt) and hunkar begendi, a sautéed lamb dish on a bed of eggplant puree.
This Turkish stuffed pasta is typically served with garlic yogurt, and dusted with dried mint and chilli flakes. Source: Anson Smart
HUNKAR BEGENDI RECIPE
Lamb and eggplant Sultan's delight (Hunkar begendi)
For dessert, Zeynep made and , and guests enjoyed the Turkish spirit, raki, as well as syrupy Turkish coffee and black tea.
"My role during these family gatherings involved setting the table, cutting the vegetables for the salads, helping mum fill the hundreds of dumplings with mince lamb and pinching the dough into shape for the manti, but mostly the loads of washing up we would do throughout the day," says Berrak.
At about lunchtime, we would gather at the home of the family hosting, and we would sit around the table for hours enjoying food, playing music.
Zeynep also got up early to prepare picnics at Clifton Gardens in Mosman, which the group went to during the warmer months. She made dough and rolled it into a fluffy ball to make fried pastries called pisi for breakfast. "Other families where responsible for the main dishes and the barbecue meat for the outdoor cookout which would go on until sunset," Berrak says.
Zeynep often made her feasts with a recipe book she brought from Turkey called Bereketli Olsun, which translates into English as May It Be Plentiful. The other families loved its recipes so much that they also used it.
Zeynep Demiroz. Source: Supplied
"They grew up with this very cookbook, as they all immigrated here young and wanted to stick to what they knew," says Berrak.
They grew up with this very cookbook, as they all immigrated here young and wanted to stick to what they knew.
By the mid-80s, the get togethers became less frequent as the kids grew up and some families relocated, but they are still close to this day. "We still keep in touch, they're my extended family and we're always there for each other," says Berrak, who's now based in South Australia.
The Turkish food gatherings have sinced ended, but Berrak keeps the food of her homeland alive – namely gozleme – with her food van, which she launched in late 2020.
"When I realised how no one in the area knew much about Turkish food, I decided to introduce them to gozleme through a variety of savoury fillings, including spicy mince meat, spinach and feta, mushroom, potato and chicken cheese, and it's been a huge success," says Berrak.
An aunt inspired her to cook gozleme on a gas-powered cast iron dome in her backyard. "As a child, I never forgot how much I enjoyed eating them. So, when I decided to share gozleme, I called her up to give me some suggestions on how to make the dough, including filling ideas."
Little Turk & Co began attending the farmers markets in Normanville, a coastal town on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Now it frequents local wineries, including Big Easy Radio, a boutique winery in Aldinga. It will be at the Dowie Doole Cellar Door in McLaren Vale on 18 February.
Moving forward, Berrak hopes to introduce Turkish food to the local wineries in and around the Fleurieu Peninsula.
However, all these years later, Berrak still uses her mum's cookbook, mainly to make sweets and pastries like baklava and borek. "This cookbook sits on my shelf, tattered and torn, and stuck together with sticky tape. I will cherish this cookbook and make sure I use it more often to remember the good old days."
MORE TURKISH FOOD
Lamb manti (kuzu manti)
