‘True food can easily reach heart,’ says Bangladeshi ambassador in Turkey

By Merve Berker

ANKARA (AA) – Voicing a wish to bridge the two cultures, Bangladesh’s ambassador in Ankara said that he desires high-quality Bangladeshi restaurants to be opened in Turkey for “true Bangladeshi food to reach Turkish people’s hearts.”

The Bangladeshi Embassy in Ankara organized a culinary festival on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence and birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation.

Delivering the opening speech of the event, Bangladeshi Ambassador to Turkey Mosud Mannan stressed the importance of local cuisine in the cultural diplomacy, mentioning the food-based similarities between the two countries.

Pointing out the “similarities” between Bangladesh and Turkey, he said both countries are Muslim majority and have similar languages, which make them “very close” to each other.

Mannan stated that the kebab, biryani and halwa are very much the same even though they originate in two different countries. “We don’t have anything like Turkish baklava, but we have Rasmalai as one of the well-known desserts of Bangladesh.”

Both the Bangladeshi and Turkish cuisines have similar ingredients used in different dishes, he said, though Bangladeshi people tend to use more spice than Turkish people.

He also expressed desire to boost business cooperation with Turkey.

“Despite pandemic, the business has gone up,” Mannan said, adding that the two countries recorded a $920 million trade volume in 2020, which rose to $1.2 billion so far this year.

“And we are hoping that by the end of this year, it will be $1.4 or $1.5 billion,” he said.

- Rohingya refugees, cultural diplomacy

Also addressing the Rohingya issue, he appreciated the Turkish government, people, media, and non-governmental organizations for their supports for the Rohingya refugees currently living in Bangladesh as there are about 1.4 million of them in the country.

“Turkey supported us not just financially, but (it voiced support) at all international organizations,” Mannan said.

The ambassador also touched on the cultural diplomacy.

“Food festivals, music, painting, and poetry are mainly the parts of cultural diplomacy,” he stated, adding: “There is a very big room for food festivals for promoting it.”

“In Bangladesh, we always say that true food can easily reach the heart of a person, which is otherwise quite difficult,” he explained.

Mannan said they also want to reach the hearts of Turkish people via Bangladesh’s special cuisine. “This is why we are holding this food festival.”

The diplomat said he would be visiting Turkey’s southern provinces of Adana and Mersin in the next days.

He expressed his desire to see at least one or two high-quality Bangladeshi restaurants in Ankara and Istanbul, to be followed by others in the Aegean province of Izmir and central Konya, and other provinces.

“We already have those restaurants especially in Europe,” Mannan said, mentioning thousands of Bangladeshi restaurants in UK and London, in particular.

“Similarly, in other European capitals plus the US and Australia, there are very good high-quality restaurants, and I’m very much looking forward to having those in Turkey.”

The event ended with tasting a variety of foods prepared by Bangladeshi chefs.

Bangladeshi food tasting will be open for all enthusiasts on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings this week at the main restaurant of Hilton Hotel.