Examining the Projection of Food Sociology from a Table Manners Book...

"Gulsum Hekimoglu"

 

TO THE ENTRANCE

The purpose of this study is to examine an etiquette book for table manners with an analytical and holistic attitude. The starting point of this study is what a book describing the etiquette of cheese eating, wines, tableware, dining hall, cuisine and materials can bring to sociology researchers. For this purpose, a descriptive study has been structured about what an important etiquette book that archives the past can tell us.

 

Table manners, etiquette and cookbooks provide an important sociological lens to the researchers to understand any period or social phenomenon. Pointing this lens at the kitchen, which is seen as the most routine and unimportant area of ​​life, can present important data and surprises to careful researchers. Because these books, the society they came from; provides important clues about political, economic, ideological, religious, cultural structure and changes. If the social context in which it is written can be read, it becomes a useful resource for understanding the past and the present with the influence of the past.

 

In this context, the Perfect and Illustrated Manners Guide was chosen as the text to be analyzed. Written in Ottoman Turkish, the book is a work of the early Republican period, reflecting the end of the 19th century, which is attributed as the Westernization period of the Ottoman Empire. Written by Abdullah Cevdet, who is also a physician, politician and man of letters, the book is a candidate to be the first in many respects. 

 

The book was published in 1927; In addition to information about the protocol for family dinner, banquet tables, servants' tables, European, American and Russian ways, it also offers a rich 'education' on presentation, recipe and table manners. The work, which is not only a etiquette book, presents important photographs about the gender phenomena of the period in which it was written , the dominant ideology of the period, its agricultural, cultural and economic texture. It is hoped that the selection of this book by Abdullah Cevdet as the text to be examined will be fruitful for this study, as it allows many categories to be revealed.

 

Social systems, classes, social groups and the balanced or conflictual functioning of these groups; relations of domination and bargaining, power, authority, pressure or cooperation; In the 20th century, when macro-narratives of social integration or social division began to shake one by one, grand narratives were also largely dissolved. Because it has begun to be understood that macro analyzes are not sufficient to make social life meaningful. Social scientists, who focus on the daily life, phenomenon, acts and products of the individual, have developed new methods and approaches. Therefore, it was only in the 1980s that the sociology of food emerged as a separate field of study (Murcott, 1983).

 

There are some studies that draw attention to the fact that food is not only a subject of biology, but also a social phenomenon, as George Simmel wrote in his article in 1910. However, in classical sociology texts, the subject of food is in a narrow field of study. These studies, which are closely related to anthropology; nutrition cultureexamined within the boundaries of practices and religious rituals. In the 1980s, it became possible to study food by enriching it in the context of gender, ethnicity, political programs, ecology, power relations and socio-economic inequalities. Therefore, some difficulties may be experienced while trying to create a theoretical background on the sociology of food. However, despite this difficulty, it is possible to talk about three theoretical approaches to the sociology of food. These; functionalism, structuralism, and developmental approaches.

 

The functionalist approach conceives of society as a system of interdependent systems, each of which performs separate functions. People are socialized to perform their social functions, and the social order is maintained through this compromise. This level of analysis finds its equivalent in food studies as follows; functionalist writers treat food as a prototype that reflects social relations. In this approach, food is read from the question of how it can integrate society. 

 

The function of food for the functioning of society is examined. The activities of finding, producing, processing and distributing food will provide social cooperation. Therefore, food activities will contribute to the consolidation of social relations. This approach seeks to understand why people in the social system prioritize certain foods or avoid certain foods over others. This approach, fed by social constructivism (Beşirli, 2017: 50), includes studies aiming to understand the size and functions of food in human associations. These studies, in summary, include food and eating behaviors; It operates in the context of social balance, social cooperation and social integration.

 

According to structuralism, which shares many of the hypotheses of Marxism, food codes are socially controlled. Although taste and taste may seem like individual preferences at first, interpreters pay attention to the class, cultural and social background behind it. One of the important names of the approach, Bourdieu's Distinction: A Social Criticism of the Judgment of Taste is one of the most important works of this axiom. 

 

The theorist, who works on food, nutrition and food with class analysis and on the axis of differentiation, also reveals the differences in the taste for food on the basis of class in his related work. Expressing that tableware, materials, food habits and presentation are a social 'statement' (Bourdieu, 2015: 126), the theorist best describes the working style of structuralism in the sociology of food. Similarly, Levi-Strauss, one of the structural theorists, states that the stages of preparing food, cooking, serving and eating are a kind of 'language' (Lake and Of, 2007: 192). As can be understood, this approach opposes the reduction of nutrition to biological approaches. 

 

Moreover, as can be seen, the functionalist perspective focuses more on the food itself, while the structuralists work in the kitchen and focus on table behavior. Just as functionalists do not include conflict and difference in their analysis of food, structuralists do not include cooperation and microanalysis in their analysis of food.

 

Although the developmental approach positions itself with the aim of opposing structuralism, they do not deny the structuralists' studies of social control mechanisms based on food and determining social behavior through nutrition. Again, this approach opposes the functionalist approach in many ways. For example, according to this understanding, societies should be evaluated with a continuous dynamic change, not static, contrary to the functionalist approach (Akarçay, 2016: 68). 

 

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Although the developmental approach does not seem to offer a specific theory like the structuralist and functionalist approaches to the sociology of food at first glance, it is quite important because it takes contemporary cultural forms into account and tries to establish the relationship between them and past forms (Beardswoth and Keil, 2012: 112). The idea that made this work possible was embodied by following this spotlight held by the developmental approach. Subjects such as how changing palate tastes manifest themselves, etiquette rules about food, etiquette and cookbooks, comparisons of culinary cultures, the contribution of food to the social structure and the development of the human mind, why some foods and eating styles are especially avoided are among the main topics of the developmental approach.

 

1. READING ABDULLAH CEVDET'S BOOK ON ECONOMY WITH THE CONTRIBUTION OF DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

 

As mentioned earlier, the developmental approach may not seem to offer a distinct theory compared to the functionalist and structuralist approaches to the sociology of food. However, the contributions of the developmental approach feed the sociology of food to a great extent. According to the developmental approach, food-oriented acts and taste are shaped by the effects of social dynamics filtered from the past to the present. This approach examines the reflections of political, social, economic, religious, cultural, ecological, gastronomic changes and regulations in the kitchen in the historical process. Therefore, the developmental approach provided a theoretical basis in order to see the sociological implications in a book on table manners written in the early Republican years.

 

1.1. AN IDEAL TURKEY

 

It is known that the first cookbook written was Melceü't Tabbahin , written in 1844 by Mehmet Kamil, who was also a medical doctor like Abdullah Cevdet . The number of cookbooks continuing with Cooks' Shelter, Chief Cook and Housewife reaches 40 by 1927” (Samancı, 2014: 22). It is seen that the food and table manners books written since this date have started to become quite rich. In the work written by Ahmed Tevfik from Thessaloniki in 1912, Kindness Lessons are given to Children. 

 

In the book Teşrifat ve Adab-ı Muaşeret, written by Lütfi Simavi in ​​1918, there are evaluations on how people should behave at the tables where they gather and the method of iftar. In Gentleman, written by Hasan Basri in the same year, advice is given to those who will visit Europe and young people about food and table manners. In the relevant book, men and women are often referred to as 'monsieur' and 'madame'. In the work of Gendarmerie and Civil Service and Adab-ı Muaşeret-i İçtimaiye, written by Captain Mehmed Şerif from Ayıntab in 1921, there are also courtesy rules at military tables.

 

In the aforementioned books, as in the studied work of Abdullah Cevdet, the rules of food and table were perceived as a modernization project. The main motivation in the work, which is written in a didactic language and is an educational book; It is the adaptation of Turkey to the requirements of the modern world. So much so that the author says the following in the section where he describes the banquets:

“Our contact with Europe and America, that is, with nations whose tastes and decency have increased, is increasing. We are at their tables either as guests or as hosts. With adab, we must be careful not to appear unpopular. Let them not judge us badly” (Cevdet, 1927: 231).

 

The developmental approach was originally developed by Stephen Mennell. However, while forming this analysis, Mennell largely drew on Norbert Elias's conceptualization of the Civilization Process and social process theory. Elias makes all his evaluations by keeping social transformations in focus. Societies are in a dynamic state of constant change. Moreover, this change is a "bipolar" change. In other words, social development is a process that is possible to transform backwards. 

 

In his famous work, The Civilization Process, he deals with the behaviors and concepts called 'civilized' and 'uncivilized'. According to him, all behavior that is now civil to us derives from uncivilized attitudes. This is not the opposite of good and evil. Therefore, there are stages and course of development, it still continues (Elias, 2013: 142). One of the most outstanding characteristics of civilization is self-discipline and self-control. This development from external to internal also shows itself in eating activities. One of the most important issues he deals with in the Civilization Process (2013: 143) is the change in eating styles and table activities.

 

This process has not changed the whole of society simultaneously and to the same degree. In the palace period, when the hierarchy was rigid and institutionalization was weak, the eating styles and table rules imposed organically from the outside cost the bourgeoisie with the decline of the palaces. Therefore, there is a rising and receding effect of palaces in the way of hosting guests, eating and drinking preferences, etiquette, presentation and decor. This effect can be seen in many parts of Abdullah Cevdet's book. Therefore, the main target audience of the book is men and women who live in a home life that is likened to Western norms, keeping the ideals of the Republic alive and sticking to the modernization project.

 

Modernity in Turkey is a continuity rather than a break. The rise of the West in the 19th century ended with the inevitably articulating itself to the West. The challenging conditions of this century gave birth to the Tanzimat (1839), which can be considered the beginning of Turkey's modernity project. In this process, which also included the Early Republican period, the ideological axis was shifted towards Europe and America – in some areas.

 

“Chopping bread for soup is the job of the rude peasants”. “The meal is eaten for three meals.” “Breakfast should be arranged separately, lunch is separate.” “We have to know that there is a way to eat.” “Westerners should not judge us badly.” “Let us not be troubled by our imperfections.” (Cevdet, 1927), food and table manners are treated almost like a diplomatic matter of national honor in the book.

 

Samancı (2019) in his study, which focuses on the eating and drinking culture of Turkey in the early modernity period and the Ottoman Empire, states that modern Turkey's table and palate culture is the continuation of the Ottoman. 

 

Therefore, the dominant culture in the book largely reflects the food, drinks, equipment and decor used in the palace kitchen of the Ottoman capital, Istanbul. 

 

The dining halls should be bright and spacious, the guests should have devices called chauffe-pieds, which are electrically heated at home, in order to consider all their comforts, the middle maids should be given orders with a soft voice, 4 glasses/glasses should be placed for each person, the napkin cannot be opened completely, the flowers should be scarce. In the book, in which information about how scented and flower baskets should be, the economic situation and concerns of the Turkish people of the period are not included. Assuming that it is possible for everyone to reach all these conditions, and other daily experiences other than these life experiences are marginalized, it is said that "only an intelligent person knows how to beat".

 

Beginning from the second half of the 19th century, European-style table rules and eating-drinking tendencies became fashionable in the Ottoman elite. The European table setting has begun to dominate in many aspects such as the use of individual cutlery, the obligation to sit on the chair and eat at the table, and the use of special porcelain (Samancı, 2019: 17). This effect also reflected itself on the materials and foods used. While processing how asparagus should be eaten, a plate with roquefort cheese should be changed immediately after; It has been stated that shrimp and lobster can be held lightly with fingers, but mussels should definitely be eaten with a fork. Wines are also included. 

 

In the book; It was emphasized that wine, liquor and coffee should be of good quality, and it was stated that wine occupies an important place in the polite world (Cevdet, 1927: 231-248). So much so, that the brand names of the wines were given information about how the serving order of the wines could be. Wines that can be served until the first meal is served; Erenköy, Cyprus, Auxerre and Coulanges. In the second meal, more elaborate wines such as Beaune, Nuits, Volnay, Chambertin should be served. When the end of the second course is reached, then it is time for Bordeaux wines. In addition, biscuits, creams, cakes and poufurs took their place in the book, just as they were on the table of the Ottoman elite.

 

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As can be seen, the influence of the West on the culinary culture in this period mostly refers to the elites of Istanbul. With similar books written, Cumhuriyet strives to spread this food culture . In other words, the book is an educational book that suggests that the new nation should be fully modernized. It goes beyond reflecting daily life and people's domestic lives. Rather, it is a work designed to design the private space with some rules. 

 

It is aimed to teach the knowledge and manners of the West for the transformation of the private sphere in the construction of the contemporary nation.

 

Especially in the section where banquet tables are explained, it is clearly explained how the family model to be designed will be. These banquet tables are not only defined as the most important aspect of making new friendships and a means of having fun, but also as an image and impression creation. In the book, "masters who think about their dignity and want their houses to have a good reputation" were addressed, and it was stated that the landlady, who carefully examined the white and embroidered napkins before being placed on the table, were "housewives who care about their honor and dignity". 

 

Many topics are mentioned, from the glasses to be used at these tables, to the covers, how to dress and how the guests should behave. It is recommended that hard-to-eat fruits should be eaten with a fork and knife, and each grape should be taken with a special small spoon. In the shaped drawings given, the seating arrangement at the table, how the host woman and the host man will sit, how the invited women and invited men will be seated are explained.

 

It is ambiguous to what extent all these codes of behavior that are tried to be gained and the rules of etiquette that are tried to be taught will correspond in real life. However, it is clear that this restructuring based on food will have affected social status, gender relations, consumption behaviors and the economy.

 

The information tried to be given in the book, which seems to have been written for an ideal society simulation, is in the nature of an order and quite prescriptive. The book, which speaks with the target of an ideal Turkey and with imperative moods, is a "secret" ideological tool that aims to replace the rules of the West in Turkish cuisine, organizes human relations and organizational behaviors in daily life accordingly, and thus enables the rebuilding of political power in a "self-controlled" manner.

 

1.2. GENDER OF THE TABLE

 

It is possible to see the signs of political, ideological, economic and social factors outside the kitchen in the food and table manners books. The author of almost every book (as Wheaton points out (2009: 11) provides important information about gender and class in his society. Similarly, Ken Albala (2013: 116) states that cookery and etiquette books can be examined in order to follow the traces of gender.

 

The male and female representations in the book examined in this article give clues to the researcher about the gender roles of the period. In the book, there are women's codes that are made dependent and subordinated. For example, men are referred to as "masters". 

 

Such patriarchal cultural norms show that; In this date, when women do not have the right to vote and to be elected, men are seen as the sovereign of both public and private spheres. One of the difficulties faced by women in daily life is the creation of a symbolic world of meaning that creates gender stereotypes for women. Therefore, definitions such as "master" have been effective in determining the social status of men and women by reflecting on their social relations and human behaviors. These and similar expressions not only draw the graph of the organization in the life of the period, but also design the composition of the traditional family model. In the book, the woman is imprisoned in an image that lives under the auspices of her "master" and is thus made open to control.

 

Table manners related to wage workers in the house, such as servants, butlers or feeders; It has been studied under a separate title called 'servants' table'. What is quoted in this section reveals the dominance of men in the home: “Some masters let servants take what they need from the food on the table. There are private houses with many janitors. If the master is generous, instead of one plate of meat, he gives two plates of meat. Sometimes, the servants in the houses may eat four times a day. The lady of the house takes care of these matters.” (Cevdet; 1927: 62-64).

 

In the book, the “wife of the house” is held responsible for the guests being comfortable, relaxed and peaceful and not missing anything. The lady of the house should supervise everything so that there is no fault during the invitation. Moreover, “The masters of the house do not give information about the meals to be brought to the table at the invitation, it would be inappropriate. However, the lady of the house can provide this purpose with the following words for example: “Sir or madam, take a little more of this chicken, its back is phyllo dough. 

 

We have nothing to eat but a stir-fry and peas.” (Cevdet, 1927: 253-274). As can be understood, the woman is coded as belonging to the domestic kitchen, which is responsible for the household. The woman, who has been doing housework, taking care of children, cooking, canning, hosting guests and being represented as belonging to the private area since the past, has once again become a part of the household through the food and kitchen. Moreover, as Delphy pointed out (1999: 83), while domestic services have value when purchased from the market, the same services have no value when produced by a married woman. In the book, the woman, who is held responsible for all kinds of work and presentation in the kitchen and at the table, is described as fulfilling her "family obligations".

 

The fact that women should not eat cheese is stated in the book in a definite and fait accompli way. It has been stated that if they eat it, they will stand out and this will be contrary to cleanliness/moral cleanliness. Nutrition, which is a way of meeting a biological need, is a gendered practice that includes and reflects the inequalities between men and women (Sobal, 2005: 136). In these inequalities determined by patriarchal norms, men are often on the more advantageous side. 

 

It is known that men are more comfortable in the processes of food supply, sharing and preparation. For example, meat, which is attributed as one of the most vital foods in historical studies, is built specifically for men. Taste is also gendered and categorized as female herbal and male carnivorous. Although this situation has no legal sanction, abstract boundaries have been drawn between the crystallized social norms and the female taste and male taste. 

 

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There are theorists who argue that delicatessen products such as cheese and stronger products such as meat are specific to men (Bourdie, 2015: 278). While 'invaluable' foods such as grains, fruits and vegetables are attributed to women, meat products designed as 'the most valuable food' are bestowed to men (Adams, 2019). Being male when evaluated from this context; it will require being carnivorous and keeping a distance from a herbal diet. There are studies (West & Zimmerman, 1987) pointing out that men who are loaded with patriarchal values ​​reinforce their gender with nutrition. Through this feeding, patriarchal men seek ways to get rid of feminine states and roles.

 

The book also assigned important tasks to women in the creation of a new kind of bourgeois domestic space. These restructurings in home and family life include important indicators of socialization based on gender, as well as what the new norms will be, cultural tastes, and the position of classes. For example, in the examined book, it is understood that the male-female relations of the period were reconstructed through 'diplomacy':

 

“The man who takes the lady on his arm takes great care of her, accompanies her to the dinner table and pulls her chair; the lady does not sit herself until she is seated in her chair; takes care that nothing is missing; as soon as he feels the urge to drink water, he puts it into his glass; This master asks the servant for what the lady needs. The duty of the man sitting next to a lady at the table is not just to play the role of a eunuch knight. The man should also be the companion of the table neighbor lady with a pleasant conversation. Whether the man is cute for the lady or not is out of the question; because it should not be forgotten that the first thing to be obeyed in the polite world is diplomacy” (Cevdet, 1927: 253-274).

 

Most of the time, women are not allowed to go beyond definitions of passive femininity such as weakness, inadequacy, incompetence (Landes, 1999: 432-432). As can be seen, the examined book, thanks to the images it carries, reinforces the perceptions of 'neediness' and 'inadequacy' towards women and thus provides a reading suitable for patriarchal ideology. However, it is a social delusion that has been going on for many years and that women want to live under the 'protection', 'supervision' and protection of men. These delusions of vulnerability and dependency turn into settled perceptions after a while and impose a kind of 'truth'.

 

In the book, gender inequality is frequently encountered in the narratives of socialization based on gender. For example, it has been reported that the coffees of male guests should be given separately. While the master of the house was calling the male guests to offer cigarettes and coffee to his office, it was told that the ladies chatted among themselves during this time, and it was forgotten and/or denied that women could also drink cigarettes and coffee. However, having a male and female body; Determining our social characteristics such as determining behavior, developing attitudes, thinking and making decisions is not related. 

 

Our behavior is often a reflection of the social and cultural environment we grew up in. Ann Oakley, who presents examples from the researches made on this subject, explains the creation processes of the differences between girls and boys in the family, school and environment. From the moment they are born, the two sexes are dressed in different colors (blue-pink), directed to different toys (car-baby), and manipulated into different professions (nursing-engineering) (1980: 92-93). 

 

These studies point to social characteristics rather than biological differences. Gender-based categories in tableware, invitations and meals covered in the book are not limited to the kitchen, which seems to be the most ordinary area of ​​daily life. It gives information about gender relations and change in the most important areas of life outside of the kitchen. Gender socialization often involves gender exclusion and gender discrimination. These situations often mean bigger problems for women. Gender-based sociability, cultural codes supported by daily practices reproduce themselves in the public-private distinction and power relations by separating the social life spaces of women and men.

 

1.3. CONTENTS

 

Driver says that table, kitchen and cookbooks tell important stories about the past, especially about the time they were written (2015: 15). Books in this group can tell Albala (2013: 117) what materials were in the kitchen of that period, what kind of ingredients were valid, and what was grown on the land at that time, out of nothing. Based on the statements of Driver and Albala, it is possible to make appropriate determinations about the economic, agricultural, ecological and political structure of the society from which the book examined in this study emerged. When focusing on the 'materials' and 'products' in the reviewed book; A useful resource can be found on the country's diet, at least what a certain section of its population eats periodically.

 

From this point of view, it is noteworthy that the book examined does not include any material that has specific characteristics, is different, and distinguishes one from the other. Turkey, as a country with many regional, ethnic and geographical differences, has a diverse and therefore very rich cuisine as well as similar. However, these items and products were not included in the banquets, invitations or family tables in the book. It is understood that the spirit of the period and the 'ideal Turkey' project that was desired to be created was also adhered to at the table. The ambiguity of regional, geographical and ethnic differences can be interpreted as a product of the effort to create a homogeneous and pure cuisine. For example, products such as isot, kale, dımak, uryani plum, and kete, which are indispensable in the kitchen of many people, are not included in any table, but rather prepared with universal values.

 

In the book, attention has been paid to the image of a table that is more complex than the real thing, and essentially 'for show'. At this point, the influence of the author's ideals and values ​​should also be considered. Books of this type are mostly written around a specific purpose. This aim is far from defining precisely what exactly people actually cook and what products and ingredients they consume.

 

Albala (2013: 117); reminds us that these books rarely recorded what people actually ate. The book of tables and dishes is more enriched today. Some books only deal with the classics, while others deal with basic cooking methods. Apart from this, there are also books written for children, the elderly and those who are sensitive to certain products. There are even ethnographic culinary books that study a particular religious group, ethnic community or region. However, historical books such as the one examined in this study are more prescriptive than descriptive, and idealizing rather than describing the day:

 

“The edible parts of the asparagus are cut with a knife or fork. Asparagus is never held by hand and brought to the mouth.” “Shrimp and lobster are eaten with fingers. However, care is taken to ensure that the fingers are contaminated as little as possible.” “Plates should be changed frequently. For example, the servants may accidentally leave a plate containing roquefort cheese or containing fragrance in front of the guests.” “Liquors are preferably presented by the hand of the lady of the house.” 

 

“Ice creams are always eaten with an ice cream spoon, and pötifurs are eaten with a fork unless they are wrapped in paper” (Cevdet, 1927).

 

The list of materials in these narratives, used in the kitchen of that period; It can allow casting of products from cheese, meat, alcohol, vegetables and pastries. Thus, it can provide information about food diversity, supply chain, food trade, markets and the food, table organizations and cooking habits of a certain group in the early Republican period. However, it is clear that the methods and some products in this book were not known to a large number of people at that time and it was not possible for the low-income to reach them.

 

According to Mennell, gastronomy writings played a democratizing role from the first moment (Mennell, 2003: 251–252). The gourmets who wrote about the cooking techniques of modern and sophisticated dishes and the gastronomy writings in question had a function that knew how to eat well and thus abolished the distinction between the nobility and the leaders of the period and the people. Manners and gastronomy in shaping the tasteThe democratizing function of the books is to convey the knowledge of the elite to the non-elite (Mennel, 2013: 246-247). Although the expression of elite standards through taste has changed and gastronomy and etiquette have played a mediating role in this process, this does not hide the fact that some works are structurally exclusionary. The examined book does not reflect real daily life and has an elitist, theoretically discriminatory and exclusionary character.

 

In addition to making references to select materials, the book frequently mentions a compelling 'self-control' in people's eating behavior at the table. There are a number of teachings on training individuals' taste buds and controlling their taste and appetite. This state, which Mennell calls the 'civilization of appetite', is a kind of social control mechanism.

 

The theorist studied appetite control with a developmental reading, grasping Elias's Civilization Process model as his starting point. Like other forms of Elias' self-control mentioned earlier in this study, appetite and taste have also been changed and civilized over long periods of time. According to Mennell, changing structures, patterns, judgments and cooking techniques in social figurations have civilized the appetite. The transformation of appetite into a social control function with etiquette, food prohibitions and table taboos is the civilization of appetite (Mennell, 1985: 20–39). With the increase in the encounters between social layers and actors with the modern state and the diversification of interdependence networks, the control provided by external and domination has turned to an internal control over time.

 

Stages such as regularity, continuity, diversity and reliability in the civilization process laid the groundwork for the change of cuisine. These new values, which found immediate response in table manners, turned into a compelling power on human behavior through etiquette books. As these positive effects in the civilization process continued, wealthy groups in societies began to imitate the eating practices of the elites and to adopt the food taboos of the elitist. 

 

This process was not limited to a social imitation, but also encouraged it (Mennell, 1987: 388–389). The fact that the phenomenon of self-control over one's appetite is characterized together with the modern state is also seen in the book examined: "The soup spoon should be used by putting it in the mouth, not the tip." “You eat each grape with a special spoon.” “Never wipes a plate with bread.” “It is vulgarity to bring food to mouth with a knife.” “Peas are not taken to the mouth with a fork in grains; It is eaten after crushing it lightly on the plate and ensuring that it does not roll from the fork while going into the mouth” (Cevdet, 1927).

 

These rules, which advise one to constantly control himself and refer to the class basis of the table, describe how eating is socially constructed. The book, which describes the products that the urban, educated, upper class will know, and how to eat these products, appeals to this class again. The difference between social class and groups is manifested in differences in nutrition. Thus, the democratizing function of Mennell's writings on etiquette and gastronomy has been replaced by a function that activates exclusion mechanisms.

 

EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION

 

Cookbooks and etiquette books are a source of reference that can be used to understand social history. In these sources, the food grown in the period and geography of the work, national traditions, agricultural policy, religious structure, accessible beverages and materials, cooking techniques, the producers and consumers of that food, the technology of the period, the place, the cuisine, the rules, the economic situation of the country, the fashion, the gender A lot of information can be reached about the roles of family, family structure and human relations. It is possible to make important sociological determinations by following this information and making an analytical evaluation on the basis of this information.

 

The book named Perfect and Illustrated Manners of Manners, which was written by Abdullah Cevdet in 1927 and examined in this research, was also examined with the aforementioned purpose and desire. The examined book was evaluated within the framework of developmental sociology. The social change in food preferences and eating-drinking behaviors has been tried to be comprehended. The projections that can be seen about the act of eating in the early Republican years in the examined work have turned the book into an alternative source for sociology.

 

In the book, an attempt is made to create an 'ideal Turkish cuisine/table'. The book - almost - this ideal food cultureIt is a product of efforts to spread the word. Written in an educational but more commanding language, the book includes eating and drinking codes worthy of the new modern nation. The modern nation-state construct is reconstructed over the table, and family and human relations are designed through food in this way. Nationalist tones are heard in many places in the book and knowing how to eat is treated as a national honor. It is understood that the kitchen has an important place in the republic's goal of reaching the ideal society. Because when looking at all the processed items; Rather than reflecting the real situation of an already existing society and its daily experience, it refers to the targeted ideal society and idealized practices.

 

In addition to the social conditions of the period, the book made the structures and changes in the private sphere visible in the public sphere. It is seen that this idealized table also has a gender. The book, in which the man is represented as the 'master' and the woman as the 'person in charge of the kitchen', is also an important archive showing the private/public spaces and the clear boundaries in these areas. In the book, which holds important spots for researchers in terms of the dynamics of social development processes, it is also understood how the early Republican period read genders. The woman, who is coded as the actor of the domestic field, is depicted as a part of the modernization project that will structure the Western norms in domestic relations and at the table. 

 

The woman has a facilitating function in comparing the food culture and family life of the new nation to the ideal. However, this role is not a factor. The woman, who is kept 'inside', depicted as incompetent and passive, is surrounded by sexist teachings in the book under the name of etiquette. In the etiquette book, in which socialization based on gender is encouraged at the table, dining areas and in the kitchen, sexist exclusion mechanisms can also be easily noticed.

 

The examined book has opened important avenues for understanding social history. The materials and products included in the book have also been illuminating at this point. The products in the book have explained how the taste is socially shaped and even controlled. When we look at the contents used, it can be seen that the modernization project of the period was fed very faithfully. 

 

Restaurant cuisine, Restaurant menu, Hotel Kitchen Organization,

 

A homogeneous Turkish cuisine has been tried to be prepared by denying all the differences in Turkish cuisine. The values ​​of the traditional Turkish culinary culture point to a modern cuisine suitable for the universal table, where ethnic, regional and geographical diversities are not visible. Moreover, the tables furnished with shellfish, roquefort cheese and French wines blurred the boundaries between social classes and between the poor and the rich. 

 

The book, which appeals to elites who constantly try to distinguish themselves from other social groups with their tastes, eating-drinking preferences and lifestyles, put the social exclusion mechanisms into action and opened the argument of the democratizing function of Mennell's gastronomy books to discussion. The book, which describes both the materials and how to eat and drink these materials in a prescriptive language, does not give any information about the table of workers, peasants and lower classes of the period. 

 

Other life practices of the period were ignored, with materials accessible only to urban, educated and upper-class individuals and with methods known to this elite. Especially in the sections where information about the invitation and banquet tables and the rules to be followed here are given, the phenomenon of self-control draws attention. Appetite control and self-control styles, which Elias considers as a sign of the civilizational process, also showed themselves in this eating and drinking etiquette book written in Turkey's modernization breakthrough.

 

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As the head chef Ahmet ÖZDEMİR, I see the source:

Ms. I sincerely thank Gülsüm Hekimoğlu for her academic studies titled "Examining the Implication of Food Sociology from a Table Manners Book" and wish her success in her professional life. It will definitely be considered as an example by those who need it in professional kitchens, related research and in the world of gastronomy.