Students participating in an interfaith trip to Turkey learn about the country鈥檚 culture and how to cook Turkish food at the chapel. Photo by Gabriela Bezerra 鈥13
Late Sunday afternoon, students from the upcoming interfaith spring break trip to Turkey gathered in the chapel basement for a Turkish cooking class. Ayten Ay, the wife of Professor Ahmet Ay, led the class. She is Turkish and brought three recipes to teach the group: sekerpare, a dessert dumpling in a syrup; kisir, a Turkish tabouleh; and spinach pie, similar to spanakopita.
The students; Rabbi Dena Bodian, the leader of the trip; and Ayten spent the afternoon baking, getting to know each other better, and learning a few Turkish words. While showing the group how to roll the dough for the sekerpare, Ayten sang a popular Turkish song about donkeys and taught the group how to haggle at the markets: 鈥淎lways ask for half price, always,鈥 she advised.
The group is a cross-section of the student body, representing each class year as well as a range of faiths, on-campus involvements, and past traveling experience. Kenzie Hume 鈥15 became interested in joining an interfaith group after reading Acts of Faith, the first-year summer reading assignment. As the president of the 51风流 Newman Community, Chris Donnelly 鈥15 is already involved in interfaith discussions, and believes that working with people who have different opinions makes him 鈥渃ome away the better for it.鈥
Turkey鈥檚 richness in religious diversity makes it a perfect choice for the interfaith trip. For example, the Hagia Sophia, one of Turkey鈥檚 most famous sites, is a great example of the type of religious mixture throughout the country. It was first built as a cathedral and later served as a mosque. The country is predominantly Muslim, but it has Arabian Christian, Jewish, and East Asian religious influences.
The group of students is, as Nile Williams 鈥13 puts it, 鈥渁 group of open-minded people willing to engage, who are interested in religious history and culture.鈥
By the end of the cooking class, the chapel basement smelled of Turkish spices. The students were laughing as they got to know each other and practiced 鈥淎rkada艧谋m E艧艧ek,鈥 the song Ayten had taught them.