World’s oldest dessert

It was a cold, drizzly January day in Istanbul and I was searching for inspiration at Goreme, an old-school dessert shop in the Kurtuluş neighbourhood. Renowned for its oven-baked pudding and consistently excellent dairy-based desserts, they also offer what is thought to be the oldest sweet treat known to mankind: ashure.

According to Islamic tradition, ashure – which is frequently dubbed “Noah’s Pudding” – was prepared as a celebratory dish by the prophet’s family after surviving the great flood and washing up on Mount Ararat, on the fringes of what is today the north-eastern borderlands of Turkey. Legend has it that this cornucopia of a dessert, which usually includes around a dozen different grains, fruits, nuts and legumes, was concocted by combining whatever ingredients were still left on the Ark.

The resulting dish is mildly sweet, rich and savoury with notes of fruit. When prepared hot, ashure takes on a comforting consistency resembling porridge; when served cold it congeals and takes on more of a custard-like texture.

Apart from bearing the lofty distinction as the world’s oldest dessert, ashure retains important spiritual significance today across Anatolia, the lands comprising the majority of modern-day Turkey.

“Ashure means ‘10’ in Arabic and refers to the 10th day in the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. The dessert is cooked in homes during that week and distributed to friends, symbolising the spread of love and abundance,” wrote Vogue and GQ Turkey food editor Cemre Torun in an article for Fool Magazine, noting that ashure is “perhaps the most symbolic dish in this part of the world”. “This date is of particular importance to Shiite Muslims – and of special significance to Alevis and Bektashis – because it represents the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Huseyin, an event that ignited the Shiite-Sunni split in Islam,” Torun continued.

Torun’s piece explored the culture and culinary habits of her late grandfather, a spiritual leader of the Bektashi faith, a Sufi-inspired sect influenced by Shiite traditions. Though the Bektashis trace their roots to Anatolia, their headquarters moved to Albania after Sufi orders were banned in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish republic. Their belief system is close to that of Alevism, itself a heterodox, non-Sunni religion. Though Alevis constitute 20-25% of the Turkish population, their faith is not legally recognised by the government.

Religion and history aside, Torun told me that ashure reflects the broader attributes of Anatolian cooking.

“The presence of ingredients like chickpeas and beans showcases the importance given to balance and flavours, emphasis on abundance and prosperity, how nutritious the cuisine is in this region, and the importance of the pantry in our kitchens. They are always filled with all kinds of beans, lentils, grains and seeds,” she said.

In Turkey and beyond, there are countless varieties and recipes for ashure, owing to the laundry list of ingredients that can be used. Usually vegan, it is chock-full of nutrients and is an ideal winter dessert because it is wholesome and filling.

Suna Cagaptay, a professor of architectural history and archaeology at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University, describes in her article for New Lines magazine about how the storied desert also made its way into Greek and Armenian culinary traditions.

BBC