Every child comes across this fun word when we are young and enjoys running around saying it while pretending they are performing a magical act.
Probably at the circus or on television we learned the word commonly used as an incantation by stage magicians. I loved to say it when I was a child.
Language specialists will tell you that word association helps you remember new vocabulary. When I first heard the Turkish word “Akçaabat,” the first word to come to my mind to associate it with was the word “abracadabra.” I am not sure why, but I did.
You may be wondering just what this word means. “Akçaabat” is the name of a small town on the Black Sea coast near Trabzon in northern Turkey that today is known for its meatballs. According to Wikipedia, “the first settlers of the town came from Aegean shores and named the town “Platana” because of the abundance of plane trees. … Later on, the name evolved into Pulathane, meaning “the land of iron.” According to the Ottoman sources, the town center was called “Pulathane,” which belonged to the county of “Akçeabad,” meaning “the abundance of money.”
Any visitor to Turkey will understand that meatballs are big business here. Turks love their food and love the café culture.
It’s as though someone at some time held a magic wand over a meatball and said the word “abracadabra” and bingo! Meatballs multiplied. This special meat dish (known as “köfte” in Turkish) can be found everywhere in Turkey but they are not all the same. It is said that there are well over 100 different kinds of meatballs in Turkish cuisine. I am surprised that they don’t offer tours in Turkey to visit different cities to taste their meatballs! Every city has its own meatball recipe and naturally, it is named after the city (e.g. Adapazarı, Adana, Akçaabat, Edirne, İnegöl, İzmir, Elazığ, Ödemiş, Tire, Tekirdağ, and Sultanahmet in İstanbul and many more). I guess such a tour is not really necessary, though. In every major urban center where locals from towns in the east and elsewhere have gathered in the big city, they have opened a restaurant or café that serves their favorite local dishes. I know in İstanbul, there has been an explosion of new cafés, restaurants, bars and culinary establishments.
You are probably wondering how you can have so many varieties of meatball! According to the article “14 Turkish Köfte (Meatball) Dishes Worth Trying,” the diversity of themeatballs can be found in the following: “The minced meat used: lamb or calf”; “The onion: grated or chopped”; “The cooking style: fried, grilled or baked”; “Variety and preferences in spices”; “Type and amount of oil or butter used for frying”; and the “amount of the fat the meat has.”
So why is the Akçaabat meatball special? It is a unique kind of meatball because they only use the veal of the calves they breed and slaughter. They use a different and special part of it to get the special taste for Akçaabat meatballs. The other feature of the meatball is the many cloves of garlic used.
Making meatballs in Turkey takes more than a little magic! Like most Turkish food, it requires time and effort to make them. Yes, the ingredients are simple, but you need to have enough patience to see the same result since the mixture of the ingredients needs to marinate for up to 24 hours. Then, you can grill them. Best to serve with grilled tomato, green pepper, onion, eggplant, mushroom and bulgur (cracked wheat). Interested in seeing more details about shapes and sizes and ingredients?
As you can see, Turkish culture is a fascinating and flavorful blend of East and West in every way! I’d add to the quote by Fellini — meatballs!
Life is a combination of magic and pasta. ~Federico Fellini
Afiyet olsun!
Charlotte McPherson