Afyonkarahisar: City of heroic history, delicious food

Due to its location on the crossroads of favorite holiday destinations, Afyonkarahisar province has always been our stopover point during our car journeys; hence, it was high time for me to get in the car and discover Afyonkarahisar for good. I do not have an eye on its famous sucuk, which is a kind of dry, spicy sausage. Turkish cherry bread pudding was the one that whet my appetite. I still remember the taste of the dessert served with delicious Afyonkarahisar's kaymak, which is a creamy dairy product similar to clotted cream. Lamb kebab, döner and village bread with poppy seeds are other dishes also still haunting my memory. So, let's take a quick visit to Afyon as the weather cools and winter is at the door. Let's rest in its healing thermal waters, eat and drink plenty.

We can divide Afyonkarahisar into two sections, new and old. Old Afyonkarahisar is the area where old mansions now run as restaurants and boutique hotels are located. We can also call it the bustling and crowded part of the city. The bazaars and the famous castle of the city are also here. It's perfect for getting lost in the streets and photographing historic buildings.

First stop: Afyonkarahİsar Castle

We can start our visit to the city with Afyonkarahisar Castle. The castle, which has continuously passed through different hands, starting from the Hittites to the Ottoman Empire, was the subject of many legends. Today, we can only see the walls of the castle, located across from the Grand Mosque in the center. To reach the castle, you need to climb 1,000 stairs. The food in Afyonkarahisar so delicious that the idea of doing a little exercise by climbing up to the castle doesn't sound so bad. An endless Afyonkarahisar view is waiting for you on the hill. The entrance to the castle is free. Afterward, you can take a breather in the old mansions that have now been converted into cafes or eat gözleme, a flat bread filled with meat, spinach or cheese. Both the stairs and the fresh air tend to make people hungry.

Where Great Offensive started

Apart from the thermal hotels, Kocatepe is often the place visited first. You will have an interesting experience if you go with a guide to the place where the Great Offensive was kicked off on Aug. 26, 1922 by Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In almost every city, there is a grand mosque. This one is known as the Mosque of 40 Pillars, as it was built on a total of 40 wooden pillars. You can visit the mosque dating back to the Seljuk period between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Afyonkarahisar Mevlevi lodge is one of the oldest ones in Anatolia. Afyonkarahisar has become an important center of the Mevlevi order. The Mevlevi lodge, which is thought to have been built in the 13th century, was restored in 2008 after having survived many fires and was put into service as a museum. There are dervish rooms, kitchens and cemeteries in its garden. You can visit the museum free of charge.

Journey to the past

You can visit Anıtpark, which was erected in the memory of the city's salvation from Greek occupation in 1936.

Triumphal Museum next to the government office was used by Atatürk as headquarters during the Great Offensive. It is open during working hours.

If you are interested in antiquities, there is also an archaeological museum with a rich collection. It is open every day but Mondays.

Çeşmeli Konak (mansion with a fountain) is also the first special museum and serves as a culture and art center.

Pastries, sucuk, kaymak and more

Afyonkarahisar definitely deserves a gastronomy tour; moreover, its cuisine offers much more than the bread pudding, kaymak and sucuk, which I mentioned in the beginning.

Everyone has heard of İkbal Restaurant, which was founded in 1922. It has two branches: One is on the main road, while the other is in the center. In general, vacationers take a break on the road; however, the taste of the restaurant in the center is different. Its tandır is delicious. Do not forget to leave space for cherry bread pudding.

Have you ever tried sucuk döner? It is a dish you should absolutely try in Afyonkarahisar, and the best place to eat it is Gamze Döner. Don't forget to order some foamy handmade ayran, Turkey's famous yogurt drink, with it.

Almost everyone has visited Şefika Aunt's house in the village of Ayazini. She is also famous and was on nearly every television channel. Her gözleme with potatoes, cheese, spinach and mixed ingredients are very tasty. She grows the products she uses in her own field.

Aşçı Bacaksız (Chef Bacaksız), which has been serving since 1840, is now one of the cornerstones of the city. You should stop by to try famous its lamb kebab, which takes three days to prepare.

Salim Chef was a cook at the palace in the past. His grandchildren run the restaurant, which was named after him in the grand bazaar in the center. In the restaurant, you can try dishes like tandır and güveç kavurma.

If you want to take some cherry bread pudding home, visit Aftat. They pack it so well that it will reach your home still ready to eat.

Here's exactly what to eat when you're getting over food poisoning

One second you're enjoying some food from your favorite takeout spot, and the next you're logging your best running time yet while frantically searching for the nearest toilet. Anyone who's ever experienced food poisoning—which is caused by food that's been contaminated with bacteria or other infectious organisms—knows it's all sorts of miserable. And the recovery process is anything but easy-breezy. Rather, it's a full-time job looking searching vetting the proper food for upset stomach.

A couple hours after eating contaminated food, the wave of nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea hits like a brick. Then as you're getting over it—which can take days—the sheer thought of food can be traumatic: something you ate just caused you a whole lot of pain, and no one wants to experience round two. Because of that, there are some rules to keep in mind in order to ensure your stomach stays happy.

First, skip out on eating things that can upset your stomach even more—including dairy products, caffeine, alcohol, and anything that's high in fat or highly-seasoned, says the Mayo Clinic. The Oregon Clinic also recommends avoiding any raw veggies, citrus fruits, or hot or cold beverages, which can also make your symptoms worse. Once you start adding foods back into your diet, it's best to go for bland options that are easy for your body to digest, such as saltine crackers, bananas, toast, and rice. On top of that, it's also recommended to replace any fluids you've lost by slowly sipping on water, as well as options like apple juice, weak tea, and vegetable broth.

As long as you take things slow and don't get fancy with your food, your body will be able to get the sustenance it needs to recover. Unfortunately, that means ditching avocados and matcha lattes—at least for a while.

5 Ingredients for Health: Starting with Food

On Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg, Dr. Robert Graham—board-certified physician and founder of FRESHMed NYC—combines mainstream medical practices with therapies inspired by ancient wisdom: an integrative model of medicine. "My dad was a biochemist, so I grew up in this integrative model. One of the things that really stood out is my mom was distrustful about the conventional Western model. She still thinks she's the only doctor in the house, because food is such a powerful medicine, especially from her culture," said Graham.

You can listen to Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg on Apple iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music or wherever you consume your podcasts. While you're listening, subscribe, rate and review the show; it would mean the world to us to have your feedback.

"I realized there had to be some new model of healthcare that honors the ancient wisdom or traditional medicine approach and incorporated, safely and effectively, into the conventional medical model," explained Graham. In 2016, Graham started FRESH Med, an integrative health and wellness center. Through his practice, he aims to address the root causes of today's diseases, rather than the symptoms of them, with traditional medical methods such as yoga, meditation, and healthy food. "I'm just a new messenger of an old story," said Graham.

At Graham's practice, however, science supports every treatment. "My three pillars of what I do, from food, to meditation, to positive psychology—whatever I recommend—I always tell all my patients: it has to be safe, effective, and evidence-based. That's what we call science," said Graham.

Food is Graham's first ingredient for health at the practice: plant-based diets can cure diseases for patients and the planet. In 2013, Graham created Victory Greens, the first edible organic garden on a rooftop hospital that provided patients with healthy food. Graham also recently completed culinary training and has taught more than 200 healthcare workers and medical residents how to prepare healthy meals—inspired by his belief that if doctors have healthy habits, their patients will too. "The best thing you can do for your health is cook your own food," said Graham.

With five new ingredients for health—food, relaxation, exercise, sleep and happiness—Graham is seeking to place the tools for healing directly in the hands of patients facing disease. "I don't believe hospitals are where health begins; it happens in our communities, our homes, our kitchens, and our gyms," said Graham.

Easy ways to reduce your food waste

The week-long Eid Al Adha holidays have come to an end and people all over have shown the precarious symptom of being unable to find the will to go back to work. Many decided to travel; some expats flew back to their home countries, while the rest stayed back in Oman and enjoyed the long holidays with their friends and family here.

Festival holidays are always special, as you know there is always something to look forward to. Celebrations galore, new clothes, exchange of gifts, and of course the delicious food that you always overeat, which can send you into a food coma for the next couple of hours. During these nine days, Oman did not just celebrate Eid Al Adha, but the Indian expats from Kerala also celebrated their harvest festival, Onam. The celebrations are as grand and large for both festivals. They involve new clothes and lots and lots of food. While during Eid, the meal is meat-heavy with shuwas and biryanis, Onam is associated with the sadhya, which is a number of vegetarian dishes served on a banana leaf.

However, what follows after savouring the sumptuous meal is what people fail to ponder over. Huge quantities of food are prepared, a lot of it eaten, but a lot more goes to waste. According to Be'ah, Oman Environment Services Holding Company, food accounts for 27 per cent of municipal waste and its cost is estimated to be OMR57 million in a year. The amount of food is generally higher during festivals, especially Ramadan and Eid.

It's not just in homes that we find food being wasted in painful portions; it's the same in restaurants too. Food wastage is a huge problem that needs to be looked into. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), every year, 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted. This is equivalent to the amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

But for those who wish to consciously reduce the amount of food they are wasting at home, there are some easy ways that may just lead to saving kilograms of food. Cook less and count the number of people you are preparing the food for instead of cooking in bulk. Make sure you look at the expiry date on products before buying them and use them before they expire. Avoid impulse buys and always keep a grocery list that you will stick to.

Most importantly, make use of your leftovers. There are many innovative ways to use leftovers that you can find on YouTube and prepare a delicious meal for yourself. Every time you have the urge to waste some food on your plate, remember there are thousands of people starving in different parts of the world without even one square meal. In fact, one in every seven people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of five die daily from hunger.

It is also up to hotels and restaurants to adapt sustainable practices that help in stopping/avoiding the mass wastage of food. Certain hotels in the country resort to methods such as recycling and reusing leftovers in innovating ways. Excess food is quite often recycled to the staff cafes. Hotel chains have even urged charities to focus on food wasted in hotels and restaurants and redistribute them among those in need.

World chefs gather to tackle issue of food waste

If you have ever thrown out food because it's started to spoil, or left food on your plate uneaten because you were too full or didn't like the taste of it, then you - like many others, myself included - have been guilty of food waste.

Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world is lost or wasted before it ends up on the table.

Food loss is food that's spoilt before it reaches the retail stage. Food waste is food that's fit for consumption but not consumed and discarded.

In a world where one out of nine people goes hungry, reducing the amount of food waste can be said to be a moral imperative.

And when you factor in the greenhouse gases emitted by food that ends up in the landfill, then it becomes an issue of sustainability as well.

The World Association of Chefs Societies, or Worldchefs, is tackling this issue head-on, through Feed the Planet, a Worldchefs initiative run in partnership with Electrolux and AIESEC.

At the Worldchefs Congress in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, Chris Koetke, chairman of Feed the Planet, told an audience of chefs and culinary students, "If you can improve your bottomline through looking at food waste and improve things on the planet, why wouldn't you?"

Feed the Planet has launched what's called the Food Waste Challenge - a plan that encourages chefs worldwide to start measuring the amount wasted from their kitchens, and make a commitment to cut the mountain of discarded food.

"Those of us in white coats - we cook a lot of food; we use a lot of energy; we use a lot of water; we make a lot of waste," said Koetke.

"So we have a responsibility to the larger society, to the planet, to make sure we're doing well in each of those categories."

ReTaste, a pop-up, not-for-profit restaurant in the Swedish capital of Stockholm takes the concept of reducing food waste one step further.

Twice a week, ReTaste serves up seven-course meals using mostly produce that would otherwise have been thrown out by supermarkets.

It's a collaboration between two companies, Retired Hen, a food sustainability consultancy, and Pauls Kok, a restaurant.

In an on-site demonstration at the Worldchefs Congress, ReTaste chef Christopher Ekman whipped up some dishes using produce given by local supermarkets. His menu included pasta made from stale bread that had been ground down and then mixed with flour, eggs and salt.

Ruth Osborne, cofounder of Retired Hen, had a message for her audience: "You make incredible food out of premium products. And … if you use your imagination, take those skills, you can also make incredible meals out of less than premium products. And teach people that actually, they're valuable and worth the enjoyment."

My takeaway from Worldchefs Congress is this: we all have a part to play in reducing food waste - whether it's finishing the food on your plate, or consuming that misshapen fruit.

7 delicious foods you never thought to grill

Sure, hamburgers and barbecued chicken are backyard grill staples. But for a special side dish—or even an unexpected main course—you can put your gas or charcoal grill to work! From a crispy sandwich to "grilled guacamole," we've got a bunch of unique grilling ideas to help you make the most of your next cookout.

1. Flatbread

By now you probably know you can cook a pizza on your grill. (Seriously—it's so good. These 15 ways to make pizza on the grill will prove our point!) But have you ever made a flatbread? Here's a recipe for Grilled Cheese & Tomato Flatbread that brings together the best of smoky grilled pizza with creamy cheese and bright garden-fresh tomatoes. Yum!

Test Kitchen Tip: Keep your eyes on your flatbread at all times. It will go from lightly browned to burned faster than you can say "Parmesan."

2. Grilled cheese

Let's say you're craving a grilled cheese—you know, something like our Best-Ever Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Did you know you can make grilled cheese, literally on the grill? (It's called a "grilled" cheese after all!) Simply build your sandwich, and place it directly on the grill grate to toast, the same way you'd toast a hamburger bun. Be sure to use thick slices of bread and plenty of butter.

Test Kitchen Tip: As with flatbread, this baby browns up rapidly. Keep your eyes on the grill; don't let it cook for more than a minute before lifting it up with a spatula to check on it. You might even want to consider using a copper grill mat since the cheese gets good and drippy.

3. Quesadillas

If you think about it, what are quesadillas but a Mexican-style grilled cheese? It stands to reason that you can grill up a classic quesadilla just like you would a traditional grilled cheese sandwich. Here's a recipe for Grilled Caprese Quesadillas to get you started, but once you get the hang of grilling quesadillas, you can improvise with the ingredients!

Test Kitchen Tip: You can place the quesadilla directly on the grates, but might consider using a copper grill mat. You could also consider using a parchment paper sheet. Just make sure the temperature on the grill doesn't go higher than 400° F.

4. Fajitas

It's no surprise that you can cook the meat for your fajitas on the grill. But you can cook your veggies over an open flame, too. Simply slice 'em into one-inch strips (so they won't fall through the grates), toss with oil and grill over direct heat for six to 10 minutes (or until crisp-tender and slightly blackened). For skinnier vegetable slices, you can place an oven-safe skillet over direct heat, and with the grill cover open, sauté those peppers and onions as you would over the stove.

Test Kitchen Tip: You might lose fewer veggies if you place them on a…wait for it…cooling rack! It needs to be all metal, oven-safe and able to withstand the heat of your grill. It will keep those veggies from falling through, and when you're done cooking, pick the rack up (wearing an oven mitt, of course) and serve!

5. Anything in a cast iron skillet

Literally anything you can make in a cast-iron skillet can be made in that same cast-iron skillet on your outdoor grill. For example, how about this Southwestern Spaghetti? Or a tangy Lemon Pepper Tilapia? It's also easy to use your grill for baking, especially when it has a temperature gauge. Both the Fudge Brownie Pie and German Apple Pancake are real crowd-pleasers!

Test Kitchen Tip: When using your cast-iron skillet on the grill, you're getting the best of both your oven and your stove. When a recipe calls for pre-heating your cast-iron, simply do so on the grill with the cover closed (as if it were your oven).

6. Fruits

Maybe you've tried grilled peaches and realized how wonderfully sweet the fruit gets on the grill. Just about any summer fruit can benefit from a little heat. Start by grilling pineapple with brown sugar (it's heaven!) or mangoes for a Grilled Mango & Avocado Salad.

Test Kitchen Tip: Fruit is another great opportunity for using a cooling rack or grill basket. Be sure to spray it lightly with oil to keep things from sticking.

7. Avocado

But wait…there's more! Why stop at the grilled mango for your Mango & Avocado Salad? Go ahead and grill up that avocado, too. Just cut them in half, remove the seed, brush with fresh lemon or lime juice and olive oil and grill them cut-side down for two to three minutes. For anyone who loves avocados, you'll want to give this recipe for Grilled Guacamole a whirl.

Test Kitchen Tip: When grilling avocado, keep in mind that it's a delicate fruit. It's important to brush it (or spray it) with oil to prevent sticking.

Obese people enjoy food less than lean people – new study

Global obesity rates have risen sharply over the past three decades, leading to spikes in diabetes, arthritis and heart disease. The more we understand the causes of obesity and how to prevent it, the better.

We are interested in understanding reward-driven eating. Laboratory experiments have shown that obese people are less rewarded by food than people who are lean. We wanted to know if this held true when people were in a more natural environment – that is, going about their everyday lives.

For our study, we developed a smartphone app to record spontaneous patterns of food wanting and liking as they occurred.

The participants used the app to score the intensity (on a scale of 0 to 10) of how much they wanted food whenever the thought of food popped into their head, regardless of whether they then ate or not. If they did eat, they rated the intensity of how much they liked their food (0 to 10), straight after eating. The app also recorded the time the participants ate and how long they took to eat.

Participants used the app continuously for two weeks. They also completed a questionnaire about their food cravings and attitudes to food, and had their various measurements taken (such as height, weight and body composition).

We grouped the participants according to their body fat. Of the 53 participants, 20 were a healthy weight and 33 were obese. Our analysis showed that obese participants reported slightly fewer food-wanting events per day – an average of five, compared with six in the healthy weight group.

Both groups resisted about the same proportion of food-wanting (30%) events. And the duration of meal times was about the same: about 18 minutes.

The intensity of the obese group's food wanting was not significantly different from the healthy weight group's food wanting, showing that obese people don't have more frequent or intense food-wanting episodes.

However, obese participants reported significantly less intense food liking than healthy weight participants, revealing that they enjoyed or were rewarded less by the food they ate. There was a strong correlation between wanting events and craving traits measured by the questionnaire, which was not seen in healthy weight participants. Thus, obese participants showed that their decision to eat was strongly driven by cravings and not by hunger.

In the healthy weight group, the intensity of wanting food when people resisted temptation was less than when wanting was followed by eating, as one might expect. And the scores for liking were high after eating. This suggests that, in people with healthy weights, the decision to eat or not to eat is based on the intensity of wanting, and that food enjoyment supported the decision to eat.

This pattern, however, was not seen in the obese group. Their decision to eat, or not, didn't seem to be driven by conscious wanting intensity, and their food satisfaction did not support their decision to eat. Emotional motivation in connection with cravings seems to be more influential in eating decisions in obese people than in healthy weight people.