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TURKISH YOGHOURT 113
famous, and their food of the best ; he would send
out for what I liked. At one shop he knew of a
sheep roasted whole. At another there might be fish.
Was there yoghourt, I asked. Yes, replied this local
patriot promptly, and added that the yoghourt of
Tokat was better than the yoghourt of Silivri. By
this assertion he made a lar^e claim, for Silivri, on
the Sea of Marmora, close by Chataldja, produces
the yoghourt most esteemed in Constantinople.
So they brought me yoghourt now upon my order.
And because I had said nothing as to quantity, and
they supposed my appetite for this food must be in
proportion to the traditional English purse, I was
served with about four quarts in a tinned copper
bowl. I took what I wanted, and gave the rest to
Achmet, whose gratitude befitted a larger bounty.
A little later I saw him with a friend seated crosslegged
before the bowl, plying great wooden spoons,
several pounds of bread beside them, and contentment
evident even in their backs.
This yoghourt of Turkey merits a few words in
passing, it being a national food held in universal
liking. It is the one native dish—no, there are
two, for keshkek, I think, is another ; but of keshkek
I do not speak just now—that can be regarded with
unqualified approval by a European. An Anatolian
peasant sighs with contentment as he sits down to
a large bowl of fresh yoghourt and a loaf of bread.
He has good reason for gratification, for were he
wealthy he could com.mand nothing more palatable,
nothing better as a sustaining food. It is by no
means to be confounded with the vile acid sold in
England as yoghourt.
There are several sorts of Anatolian yoghourt—from
the milk of ewes, buffaloes, goats, and cows, and the
first is the richest, and the second the most abundant
and perhaps the most preferred. Yoghourt making
and vending is a calling by itself in Turkish towns
every peasant woman has the
You may see a yoghourt man go through the
H
but in country districts
skill.