BBC_Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes_6of6_Morocco and Turkey
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00:00My Outro For My 20th Birthday
00:30I'm coming towards the end of my journey around the Mediterranean Sea, the sea that
00:43was considered for so long as the very centre of Western civilisation.
00:51I travelled to Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar.
00:54This ten mile gap between Europe and Africa is what keeps the Mediterranean alive.
00:59It's constant flow of water from the Atlantic rushing in between the pillars of Hercules
01:04and then deep below the surface rushing out again.
01:07It's like a cycle of life, a massive engine.
01:10The fresh water coming in on top and the old water flowing out.
01:14It keeps, if you like, the dream of the Mediterranean alive.
01:20I always wondered why this mainly landlocked sea seems so sparkling and clear.
01:27Well, it's the force of the Atlantic, that ocean that for centuries was considered the
01:32end of the Earth.
01:33There, there be dragons!
01:38The stepping off point for my trip to Morocco is Tangier, that white city that's so beguiling
01:44to the bohemian set, especially the English.
01:47The writer Paul Boll said, you don't look at the city, you look out of it.
01:54I'm going to Chefchaouen.
01:56I feel very embarrassed about it, but I didn't bring the Land Rover, simply because everyone
02:00said it would get nicked again.
02:03So I ended up in this white minibus and I suggested we pull into this motorway service
02:10station for lunch.
02:13There was this huffing, puffing container topped with a big bubble of cling film.
02:18And this is how our lunch is cooked, steamed lamb.
02:22You can see it's been steaming away for about two hours until it's really tender.
02:26I'm told this is how they would have cooked it out in the desert on campfires, except
02:30there might have been a shortage of cling film, but they dust the lamb with cumin and
02:35there's a dipping sauce for bread made with tomato, chilli and more cumin.
02:39It's like harissa.
02:41My official guide is Saad.
02:43He said he used to be a policeman, he might still be for all I know.
02:47And our driver is Hicham.
02:49As far as I could tell, there was only one thing on the menu, and that was lamb.
02:54It's such a lovely thought, you're leaving Tangier, you go to Chefchaouen and you know
03:00that this is right in the middle.
03:02Yeah, yes, lovely, and all the people know it.
03:05And you stop, you have a small couple of stops to repose and to diverse and to eat and to
03:12be quiet.
03:14I had this notion before I came to Morocco that it would all be desert, but of course
03:19it has the Atlas Mountains and the Atlantic, and together they provide plenty of moisture.
03:25It looks amazingly green and fertile.
03:29Chefchaouen is up in the Rif Mountains.
03:31I know it's a popular tourist destination, but there are reasons for that apart from
03:35its beauty.
03:36A, it's a lot cooler up here, and B, I was told the food is authentic to the mountain
03:42region.
03:43But like all the tourists I know who've been here, they've all come back with an obligatory
03:47tagine.
03:48It's a bit like the donkey wearing the straw hat from the Costa del Sol.
03:53How much?
03:54Oh, now we're in trouble.
03:55Maybe tomorrow, okay.
03:56Maybe tomorrow?
03:57Oh, wait.
03:58Yes, maybe tomorrow.
03:59Okay, you mean you...
04:00Yes, yes.
04:01Fine, I'll come back tomorrow.
04:02Tomorrow, maybe, if you want.
04:03This is unbelievable.
04:04I mean, these guys are normally...
04:05Expensive one.
04:06Yeah?
04:07Expensive one.
04:08How much?
04:09This cost 100.
04:10100?
04:11No, 100 is the big one.
04:12Yeah, it's big, but it's not 100 dirhams worth.
04:14You make the good price, not 100.
04:16You know?
04:1720?
04:18Yes, 20, yes.
04:1920?
04:2020, yes.
04:21It's a deal.
04:22It's with you.
04:23Yes.
04:24Do you know something for me?
04:25Do you know something?
04:26Do you know I still can't work that out?
04:27I only said that to start the ball rolling.
04:30Perhaps the vendor found the air up here a little intoxicating, but all I know is that
04:34I've got myself a bargain.
04:38What a wonderfully strange place this is.
04:41I didn't come here all those years ago when I was hopping around the med in my youth.
04:46More's the pity.
04:47It seems to be every hippie's dream come true, and I bet there's more than one Hotel California
04:52here.
04:53That is unbelievable.
04:54I mean, it's absolutely psychedelic.
04:55I mean, no wonder in the 60s bands like the Stones and the Pink Floyd came here and had
05:05a couple of spliffs.
05:06I mean, imagine getting a bit high and walking into that.
05:10You'd go on forever.
05:18We don't really know enough about tagines.
05:20I think we think they're just designed for tourists to take home, but in fact, they're
05:24very practical.
05:26They're designed to cook stews or couscous.
05:29The point of them is, A, they need to be made out of terracotta to sort of keep the heat
05:35very gentle.
05:37Stew goes in there.
05:38Most people think there's a hole in the lid, but there isn't.
05:41The point is that the steam goes up inside and condenses as it's a little bit colder
05:47at the top and drops back onto the stew or couscous and bathes it in vapor and keeps
05:53it really nice and moist.
06:03It's ever so nice to have a camera just allowing me to record my thoughts as I'm walking through
06:08here, but it's just about, the sun's about to set, the light is beautiful, and you just
06:13think about this beautiful blue color.
06:17I don't think you could sort of recapture it anywhere else without this light.
06:22It's almost like you're surrounded in sort of heavenly light.
06:25It sort of does justice to the sky above you, and it just gives you this immense sense of
06:31calmness and serenity.
06:33It's fantastic.
06:36Well, the tagine made it back to Cormore, and with only a little trepidation, I set
06:41about putting it through its paces for the first time with one of the most popular dishes
06:46I found anywhere in Morocco.
06:48Well, I had this kofta and egg tagine at Takasa Hazan in Chefchaouen, and I just thought it
06:55was a wonderful little lunchtime dish, and I thought if anything needs to be cooked in
07:00a nice, proper Moroccan tagine, this is the one.
07:04In fact, I bought the tagine in Chefchaouen and brought it all the way home, which was
07:08quite a lot of trouble, actually, because they're a bit heavy, and the airline wasn't
07:11too keen on it.
07:12But here it is, and I'm very proud to have it at home.
07:15The meatballs can be beef or lamb, but whichever, use plenty of cumin, paprika, and chopped
07:21parsley.
07:22Well, I'm just waiting for this tagine to heat up now.
07:25I'm a little bit apprehensive.
07:27I wasn't totally sure that the tagine salesman was selling the tippy-top tagines, so I expect
07:34the whole thing's going to shatter in a minute.
07:43At least it's managed to get hot enough and stayed in one piece.
07:47So first off, sear the meatballs in hot oil.
07:51When they're browned all over, take them out and make the sauce in the same oil, with garlic,
07:56chopped onion, more cumin, and more lovely hot paprika.
08:01It's a spicy dish, you may as well go for it.
08:04Plenty cumin, plenty paprika.
08:07Then some tomato, chopped and deseeded, or tinned will be fine.
08:11If you're trying out your new tagine, this is definitely the dish to go for.
08:16It's not complicated, and it'll show off your latest acquisition beautifully.
08:22When that's all combined into a sauce, all those tasty little balls can go back in.
08:27Lastly, break half a dozen good free-range eggs on the top.
08:31Do them individually so they set as separate eggs.
08:36Well, I was expecting the tagine to crack, and it hasn't.
08:39I was expecting the yolks to break, and they haven't, so everything's going according to plan so far.
08:47Now cook with the cover on just long enough for the eggs to set.
08:52There's something very pleasing about a yolk.
08:54It's just trembling, it's so delicately set.
08:57Lastly, scatter a good amount of chopped coriander all over it.
09:01You have to serve it with some bread.
09:03The Moroccans love their bread.
09:06I know I've said it before, but a dish, like a colour or a smell, can be so evocative of a place or time.
09:13And this one will always fly me straight back to Chefchaouen and those magical powder blue alleys.
09:20I wonder if that tagine salesman still thinks he got the best of the bargain.
09:35This man has only one song, and it's about a missing passport.
09:39And this cafe is famous for its soup.
09:42It's called Bissara, made with dried broad beans and garlic.
09:46It's cooked every day for hours and hours, constantly stirred until it becomes creamy.
09:51It can get a bit nippy up in the Rift Mountains,
09:54and this substantial Bissara evolved because it's warm and nourishing.
09:58And it's one of Saad's, my guide's, favourite dishes.
10:02So what's in the soup?
10:04It's very nice, it's a speciality of Chefchaouen.
10:07It is?
10:08It's very funny, it's very special.
10:10There's only chance, you could just, you have to stop him.
10:14Saad, tell me that once the soup is cooked, they put on a generous amount of olive oil and cumin,
10:26lots of cumin and then some paprika.
10:30It reminds me very much of takadal in Indian restaurants.
10:34Here they have it with bitter olives and lemon wedges.
10:37I can see why it's so popular, because it's very spicy and it's got a real kick to it.
10:42So is this a speciality of Chefchaouen?
10:44A speciality of Chefchaouen, and all the Moroccan people, when we speak about Chefchaouen,
10:49we think immediately to drink the soup of Chefchaouen is Bissara.
10:54Another thing I found was a restaurant that makes a very upmarket tagra.
10:59This is really good, those anchovies, they look like jewels.
11:02It's interesting here, this is the chamoula I just asked,
11:05and the other night there was a totally different chamoula.
11:08We think that chamoula is one recipe, but it ain't.
11:11It's a moveable feast, my, my chamoula.
11:15So chamoula is all things to all men.
11:18This one has garlic and coriander, they mostly start with that.
11:22Then the all-important cumin and paprika, black pepper, chili, salt and ground cinnamon.
11:29Then olive oil, and this is the very heart of the dish.
11:34I'd go as far as to say that the making of the chamoula is the most important step in Moroccan cuisine,
11:40and probably the most enjoyable, because I like working with a mortar and pestle.
11:46Anyway, that's made into a paste to give the tomato and onion a bit of boost.
11:51So, on to the base.
11:53The chef here adds thinly sliced potatoes, and then those silvery anchovy fillets.
11:59This came from the Mediterranean this morning.
12:01It's only about 35 miles away.
12:04And then slices of tomato and lemon, green peppers and chili.
12:11Actually, it was in this restaurant, Kaza Hazan, that I had that lovely meat and egg tagine.
12:19Then it's drizzled with more olive oil and lemon juice.
12:22And after that, it goes up the road to a baker who's finished making the bread that morning,
12:27but his oven is still hot.
12:29And he cooks the tagres and tagines for the neighbouring restaurants,
12:33much like our bakers did for the workers in the cotton mills of Lancashire, with their hot pots,
12:38or in France, dishes like boulanger potatoes, or cazalets, of course.
12:47It only takes 20 minutes because the oven is so incredibly hot.
12:51I wonder why the baker's got so many clothes on.
12:54I was invited to try it by Hassan Ben Hamda, the owner of the restaurant.
12:59We're going to eat with the fingers, you see.
13:02We're going to use three fingers.
13:04Like this, bismillah.
13:06Do a bit of a dunk.
13:08Bismillah, like this.
13:11Squeeze it together.
13:15Quietly.
13:18It's very good.
13:19Delicious, no?
13:21Hassan, it's clear to me that Moroccan food is a very special cuisine.
13:25What would you say the secret, the essence of it is?
13:28Well, the essence is the authenticity of a product.
13:34I mean, what we call the vegetables, for example, is bio.
13:40It's just from the area of Chefchaouen.
13:42And the fish is Mediterranean.
13:44It's fresh fish.
13:46That's all in the spices and olives.
13:48Oil of olives give a good taste too.
13:51That's all.
13:52That's the secret.
13:53It's very simple.
13:54And everything from around here.
13:56Exactly.
13:57Everything is bio.
13:58Everything's from Chefchaouen, from the area of Chefchaouen.
14:02Hassan kept mentioning the word bio.
14:05Well, over here that means it's organically grown.
14:08I'm going to a farm halfway between Chefchaouen and Fez.
14:12It's basically for holidaymakers who want to get away from the hotels and tourist spots
14:18and live for a few days listening to the nightingales
14:21and seeing how things were done in the old way.
14:24Aisha Lakdar is making couscous, forming each grain with her fingertips.
14:31I must say, it's amazingly soporific watching her work and absolutely fascinating.
14:36I was thinking of that poem by Tennyson called The Lotus Eaters.
14:39And it is an afternoon like that.
14:42It's really hot, but there's something incredibly cooling about this courtyard
14:46and just watching her work like this.
14:48I don't feel like going to sleep.
14:50It's a bit like going to the hairdresser's, having something done with your hair.
14:53It's just terribly calming.
14:56Of course, watching this, making couscous,
14:59I wonder if I'm alone in thinking, or used to think,
15:02that it was a type of grain, that couscous was sort of different.
15:05But of course, this is just semolina rolled with water into little balls.
15:10I believe it's the precursor of pasta.
15:12This is where pasta originally came from.
15:15Not China, funnily enough.
15:18She sieves it to take out all the lumps and ensures all the grains are separate.
15:22And then it's time to steam them.
15:26David, the director, got a bit irritated with me at this point
15:29because I should have been watching the steaming.
15:31But actually, I was down in the valley below listening to a nightingale.
15:35Aisha has made an ultra-fine couscous, which they call sefa here.
15:43She seals the pot with a dough
15:45so that all the steam is driven through the couscous.
15:48But sometimes they put it over the pot where the stew is cooking
15:51so that the couscous takes on the flavours of meat and spices.
15:57The simplest form of this dish is with a tagine
16:00made with a boiling fowl and vegetables,
16:03carrots, onion, cabbage, chickpeas and pickled lemon.
16:06That's a meal for a family, eaten from the one dish.
16:10I know it's a long way from the Mediterranean
16:13and, strictly speaking, I shouldn't be here.
16:15But everyone, especially my chef friends, said I should go to Fez.
16:19It's the oldest city in Morocco and it's nearly as old as Islam itself.
16:25And the souk in the Medina, within the old city walls,
16:28is the biggest market I've ever come across.
16:31I remember as a youngster going to the cinema on Saturday afternoons.
16:36And this could be a scene with Douglas Fairbanks in Sinbad.
16:41Or Peter Lorre in his crumpled suit could be seen slinking round the corner.
16:46I could open a place here and just call it Rick's Bar.
16:51My guide here is Karima El Bakuchi
16:54and I use the word guide accurately
16:56because without her I'd be in here for some considerable time.
17:01I could easily get lost here, you know.
17:03I can't remember the hotel.
17:05And if I lost you, I think I'd never be found again.
17:08Well, actually, that's right.
17:10I mean, tourists can get lost easily here
17:12because Fez is full of narrow streets.
17:15Really, really full of narrow streets.
17:17And even we have here a street that we call the Street of Seven Turns.
17:23Well, not just turns. There's other ways leading off, isn't there?
17:26Oh, yeah.
17:27And in each one you find other streets.
17:30And it's really confusing.
17:34Now, these are really interesting.
17:36They remind me of, in India, things called remali rotis.
17:39Very thin bread dough, is it, Karima?
17:42Well, in Morocco we call it tride.
17:45Tride.
17:46Yes, tride.
17:47It's Moroccan bread but differently prepared.
17:50It's lighter and thinner that we mix with oil, as you say there.
17:54Then we put it on fire.
17:56It gives the shape.
17:58Looks lovely.
17:59So how do you eat them, then?
18:01We cut it into pieces.
18:03Cut it or tear it?
18:04Tear it with your hand, with your fingers.
18:06Then you put it in a plate.
18:08You mix it with chicken sauce and pieces of chicken, like this.
18:13And that's it. You give it to your guests.
18:18This market is a town in itself.
18:20People living here don't need to go outside the medina for anything.
18:24Although it's a bit claustrophobic at first,
18:28it's amazing how quickly you get used to it.
18:30I wonder if some people never go outside the city walls.
18:35There is a feast that we call sheep feast.
18:38It's the feast where we slaughter those sheep.
18:43All people come here to shop their knives.
18:46Is it a ritual thing to have your knife sharpened to slaughter sheep?
18:51Let's say it's a tradition.
18:53You have to slaughter your own sheep?
18:56Yes.
18:57In the religion, we say this is the only way to get blessed by God.
19:01Because the sheep that you slaughter, it's a gift to God.
19:05Do women slaughter sheep?
19:07No, no, no. Women don't slaughter sheep.
19:09It's only men.
19:10And it has to be Muslim, male, big, so that he can make it.
19:17Women don't make it, thank God.
19:22Dates are incredibly important in Moroccan cuisine.
19:25As indeed are a lot of fruit, dried fruit.
19:28One of the best tagines I ever had was in Marrakech.
19:30It was date, lamb and nut tagine.
19:33It was just that mixture of savoury and sweetness that they do so well.
19:37Interestingly, in old-fashioned English cuisine,
19:40sweet and savoury was used a great deal.
19:43But we sort of lost that skill.
19:45Funnily enough, I have a feeling that mincemeat
19:48must have come from somewhere like Morocco.
19:50The original mincemeat, which was actually minced meat and fruit.
19:55Now, of course, we just have the fruit.
20:05Everybody that's come to Fes said,
20:07you've got to look at the displays of olives.
20:09And I can see what they mean.
20:11I mean, look at that.
20:13Actually, the whole counter tells you an awful lot about Moroccan food.
20:17I mean, you know it's going to be spicy.
20:19I imagine that's extremely hot.
20:21And there's loads of pickles there.
20:23There's pickled chillies, cucumbers, carrots.
20:26And at the back, a whole line of, I think,
20:29probably the most important ingredient in Moroccan cooking.
20:33That's preserved lemons.
20:35They're just preserved in salt,
20:37but they flavour everything from tagines to chamoula to couscous.
20:41Everywhere there's that lovely tart taste of preserved lemon.
20:45Before I came here, I was told about a young chef
20:48who holds cookery classes.
20:50Cookery classes all over the world are now de rigueur.
20:53And it's not just Tuscany and Padstow.
20:55Joke.
20:56Lahcen Beki is showing his students
20:58how to make one of the most popular dishes here,
21:01lamb and prune tagine.
21:03In Morocco, the best way to eat a good food
21:07is with the family in Morocco.
21:09And what I try to do is, like,
21:11we go to the souk, we pick up ingredients,
21:13and we cook like in home.
21:15So you've just got tomato on the bottom and onion.
21:18Yeah.
21:20And then...
21:21And then we put meat.
21:22Yeah, it looks like shoulder of lamb, is it?
21:24Yeah, it's a shoulder, yeah.
21:26We fry it in olive oil.
21:28Yeah, first.
21:29First, yeah.
21:30And later we'll add some juice.
21:32What I like in this, you cook it for a long time
21:35until the meat take off all the flavour,
21:38the spice, herbs, and everything.
21:41When the steam come up,
21:43we bring the steam in the top.
21:45And there, there is a hole.
21:47There you can put cold water.
21:49Yeah, you put cold water here.
21:50Oh, I didn't realise that.
21:51Yeah, and it comes down, the steam comes down with juice.
21:54So it just, that makes the steam condensed.
21:56Nobody's told me that before.
21:58So in the tagine, he puts a generous bunch of parsley,
22:01cinnamon, cumin, ginger, and saffron.
22:04And this time, his students have come from America.
22:07What brought you all to Morocco for cookery classes?
22:11Why do you like Moroccan food?
22:13I think Moroccan food is one of the most sophisticated cuisines
22:17in the world, and I love the mixture of spices
22:20and the ingredients they use.
22:22I love the culture of the country.
22:24So together, those things bring me here.
22:29To add the sweetness to the tagine,
22:31Lahcen stuffs the prunes with almonds
22:33and then dips them in lightly toasted sesame seeds.
22:38This is by any stretch of the imagination
22:40a really good-looking dish.
22:42Things like the fruit here are not just chucked together
22:44and stirred in.
22:46It's on display.
22:48So when the tagine lid is lifted at the table,
22:50you go, wow!
22:52He's going to serve it with a vegetable tagine,
22:54and it's made with courgettes, onions,
22:56and a sauce of fresh tomatoes
22:58cooked with olive oil and garlic.
23:00And this tomato base is common everywhere,
23:02regardless of where you are in the Mediterranean,
23:05North Africa, or Europe.
23:07Now he adds cumin,
23:09probably the most used spice in Morocco,
23:12and then black pepper and paprika.
23:15Then some dried chili flakes and salt.
23:19Before he started cooking,
23:21Lahcen was a shepherd boy in the high pastures
23:23in the Atlas Mountains.
23:25And lots of the dishes I've discovered
23:27on my travels in the Mediterranean
23:29come from two sources,
23:31and that's fishermen and shepherds.
23:35Finally, he puts in some already fried aubergines
23:38and green peppers
23:40and lets the tagine work its magic.
23:42It's customary in cookery schools
23:44to eat what you've been cooking all morning.
23:48And I couldn't wait.
23:51What do you think of this, then, Nicole?
23:53It's different from anything else I've ever had.
23:55It's excellent.
23:57It's got this smoky, woodsy burn to it,
24:01and I don't know where it gets it from,
24:03but it makes it very distinctive.
24:05I've just heard that you started cooking professionally at ten.
24:09Is that true?
24:11Yes, I started when I was ten.
24:13Not professionally when I was ten,
24:15but I started to cook when I was ten
24:17because I cooked for myself,
24:19I cooked for my friends
24:21when I was in school.
24:23Is that not extraordinarily young
24:25or is it normal in Morocco?
24:27Yeah, it's not normal,
24:29but, you know, I live in the countryside.
24:31It's normal.
24:33We don't have school.
24:35You have to go to...
24:37Right.
24:40Actually, I don't know about English food.
24:42That's all right.
24:44I know fish and chips.
24:46Everybody knows fish and chips.
24:48It's got such a happy ring to it.
24:50Fish and chips.
24:52It makes you smile.
24:54Maybe one day there'll be a Moroccan TV crew
24:56turning up in Padstow
24:58and asking me for the secret
25:00of our seemingly most famous dish.
25:10I just wanted to use the camera
25:12to show you what it felt like
25:14the first time I turned up at my Riyadh.
25:16I mean, look at this alleyway.
25:18This is actually quite a wide one.
25:20It's really claustrophobic in the medina.
25:22You can lose your way so easily.
25:24In fact, I was thinking you need a ball of string
25:26to try and find your way back.
25:28But follow me. Merci.
25:30Come in here.
25:32I think this is what's so attractive
25:34about Moroccan life.
25:36It's a sort of secret life.
25:38Out of those very closed doors,
25:40out of that dusty alleyway,
25:42you come into this.
25:44Now, this was a prince's palace.
25:46And my gosh, doesn't it look like it.
25:48I mean, out there it's all dusty.
25:50And inside, in these Riyadhs,
25:52it's peace, it's beauty.
25:54And this is where family life would carry on.
25:56Family life, of course, in this case,
25:58in some style.
26:00But all of them are built in the same sort of principle.
26:02Mint tea is by far
26:04the most popular drink in Morocco
26:06and in the Arab world as well.
26:08It's not just fresh mint,
26:10but an infusion of green tea, fresh mint and sugar.
26:12It's a bit of a ritual.
26:14And they like it frothy,
26:16so it's poured from a height
26:18into these small, ornate glasses.
26:20And I've really taken a shine to it.
26:22It's supposed to stimulate the mind
26:24while also giving a sense of calm.
26:32My hotel was pretty snazzy,
26:35but the beauty of the outlying countryside
26:37and coast hasn't changed a great deal,
26:39I'd imagine, since the 60s.
26:43There's a few half-hearted attempts
26:45to build small hotels
26:47in the fishing town near Wadlaw.
26:49But as anyone can see,
26:51it's on the edge of saying goodbye
26:53to an old life and joining the fraternity
26:55of the Mediterranean holiday destination.
26:59And no doubt the people who live here
27:01would reap the benefit.
27:03But again, at what price?
27:09There's no harbour here,
27:11and the fishermen just pull their small boats
27:13onto the beach.
27:15These men had been out since dawn
27:17and they'd come back with a catch
27:19that would pay a fair day's wage, I think,
27:21even after the fuel.
27:23That's really interesting.
27:25Those are soles, Dover soles.
27:27This is the Mediterranean,
27:29but you can see the influence of the Atlantic,
27:31there.
27:35Well, I'm leaving Morocco today,
27:37but, you know, I've had a lovely time.
27:39The people are just a delight,
27:41they're nice to us, they're nice to each other.
27:43I've liked the food,
27:45and above all, I've liked the scruffiness of it.
27:47You know, I think as a tourist,
27:49scruffy is good.
27:51I think tourists generally want
27:53everything smoothed out,
27:55they want perfect hotels,
27:57they want sandy beaches with not a blemish on it.
27:59But that's not interesting,
28:01this is interesting.
28:03Well, I'm on my way now, far as east
28:05as I can go in the Mediterranean, to Turkey.
28:11I've been to Turkey before,
28:13but only the holiday bit in the west.
28:15This time, it's where Turkey
28:17bumps up against Syria
28:19in the far east of its borders.
28:22It's an open,
28:24free-for-all history lesson here,
28:26the near-perfect remains of forts
28:28built by the Romans,
28:30the Byzantines,
28:32and Crusaders,
28:34because this was a great springboard
28:36to the continent of Africa.
28:38And not only that,
28:40but it was, before the Suez Canal was built,
28:42an important link to the far east as well.
28:44I'm going fishing for grouper,
28:46a really popular fish in the Med.
28:48I'm with my guide and interpreter,
28:50Sir Han Gunga.
28:52He's not only a real font of knowledge
28:54about Turkey,
28:56but he's serious about his food as well.
28:58They've got well over a mile
29:00of baited hooks here,
29:02and so far, not one single fish.
29:04Curiously, though,
29:06I can't see any fish in the Med.
29:08I'm going to try and catch
29:10one of those.
29:12Curiously, though,
29:14I can't see any hooks with any bait left on.
29:16Funny, that.
29:18I don't know what it is about filming fishermen,
29:20but more often than not,
29:22when you go out with them,
29:24they don't catch anything.
29:26This is no exception.
29:28We're now up to about 189 hooks.
29:30Still no fish.
29:32There's a slight sort of sinking feeling
29:34that we aren't going to get any.
29:36But we live in hope.
29:38And, you know, I suppose
29:41it's a good occasion to say,
29:43while it's typical of the Mediterranean Sea,
29:45isn't it?
29:47Sir, and I have to say,
29:49it's not ever so good, is it?
29:51Would you ask him if it's always like this,
29:53the fishing?
29:55We haven't had much luck so far.
29:57How is this carp?
29:59This carp is weak, brother.
30:01Weak.
30:03It's weak.
30:05It's weak.
30:07It's weak.
30:09We decreased the amount of fish
30:11in the Mediterranean coastline.
30:13There should be some law against this,
30:15about big boats coming in
30:17as close as this.
30:19There are laws against it,
30:21but, as you know,
30:23they always find a way to...
30:25They said they caught this one
30:27the day before.
30:29Who am I to argue?
30:31Strange that there wasn't even just one fish.
30:33But the grouper is a king of fish
30:35in these parts.
30:37I'm just amazed by how expert he is with that incredibly sharp chopper.
30:44I mean, his fingers are so close to the blade, he's so confident.
30:48And he's not... He's not wasting anything.
30:51I just watched him take the fillet away from the bone,
30:54and here, he's judging every portion exactly.
30:57I just love watching people like him do something so skilfully.
31:02They're going to barbecue the grouper,
31:04and they sprinkle it with salt and then dip it in some oil,
31:07and it's ready for the charcoal.
31:09That'll take four to five minutes on each side,
31:12so it'll be cooked on the point.
31:14And also, there's a salad made with onion, cucumber,
31:18tomatoes, lamb's lettuce, parsley, lemon juice and salt.
31:22Like Greek food, perhaps I shouldn't say that here,
31:26salads play an important part in the meal.
31:29In fact, salad comes from way back in time.
31:32It just means salted things, like vegetables.
31:37Sherefe. Sherefe. Sherefe.
31:43So, with the grouper, large, fresh prawns,
31:46and then a terrific bulgur wheat dish with squid and prawns.
31:51Then pickled vegetables, including rock samphire and New Seasons garlic,
31:57straight from the barbecue.
32:00And this is all what you call a meze?
32:02Yes, this is just the starters.
32:04Just the starters. I see.
32:06And the Turkish salad, mixed salad.
32:09When you put cheese into it, white feta cheese, it becomes Greek salad.
32:13Without cheese, it's Turkish.
32:15Very nice. Well, let's tuck in.
32:18Well, it's my first day here, and the food is overwhelming.
32:22What I love about it is it's so different.
32:25I mean, how would you sum up Turkish cooking to a novice like myself?
32:29It's like a melting pot of people.
32:32The cultural roots come from as far as China, India, Iran, Central Asia,
32:38and then blended with the Mediterranean.
32:42Loads of food that we think are Greek are in fact Turkish, I read somewhere.
32:46Is that true?
32:47Moussaka is Turkish.
32:49Oh, come on! That is going too far.
32:52It's definitely Middle Eastern, maybe Syrian. Sorry about it.
32:56Yogurt is Turkish, as you know.
32:58What? Yogurt? Turkish?
33:00Oh, it's very, very nomadic.
33:02But seriously, I mean, one sort of wonders, Turkey, where are you?
33:05Are you Western? Are you European? Are you Eastern? Are you Asian?
33:10Where do you think you stand?
33:13The Turkish identity is one of the greatest problems that we cope with.
33:18I mean, are we European? I mean, Turkey is like a candidate member of EU.
33:22Or are we Asian or Middle Eastern?
33:25A Muslim society, but it's secular.
33:28We enjoy our raki to the greatest extent.
33:32So, what are we? I mean, what is our identity?
33:36I think it's more Mediterranean.
33:38I mean, we are part of this culture for centuries.
33:41And imagining this whole integrity of the empires ruled this whole geography for centuries,
33:47the relationship with the people, the travels, the Silk Road ended up at the Mediterranean harbours
33:53and the trade, the wealth produced in Mediterranean in centuries,
33:58I think Mediterraneanised all of us, all the peoples of Mediterranean.
34:03And we share a common culture.
34:06And I think most of us find our identity through sharing this beautiful sea,
34:13Mare Nostrum, our sea.
34:17I thought that was very well put, cultures and nations being Mediterraneanised.
34:23For some time now I'm making this journey,
34:26I can't help but think of the Mediterranean as being rather like a big communal swimming pool
34:31shared by 18 or so different families.
34:34Some get on and have barbecues together, others squabble,
34:38others become very protective of what they have, and some are downright belligerent.
34:44But they all share their biggest asset, the sea,
34:47from where everything we hold dear in the West, language, laws, civilisation,
34:52and, of course, lots of our food comes from.
34:55Sir Hans said some of the best food is found not so much in the holiday resorts
35:00but in the industrial and commercial centres like the city of Mersin.
35:05Sir, there's no tourists here.
35:07Well, no foreign tourists, they don't seem to come this far east.
35:10We're somewhere like Anatolia, just, what, about 300, 400 km down the coast?
35:15There's plenty of tourism there.
35:17Yes, but in terms of our subject, which is good food,
35:21I would really suggest this place rather than Anatolia,
35:25because, you know, all these tourist places, I mean, Anatolia is beautiful,
35:28but all these tourist places all over the Mediterranean, not only in Turkey,
35:32if you just stroll in these very tourist centres,
35:36rather than the real life and real men and women working,
35:40having a good life and going to fine restaurants,
35:43you will find a more fake thing, somebody like,
35:46hello, yes, please, let me take you to my shop or restaurant.
35:49Carpets? Carpets or, you know, tourist thing.
35:52So I think it's more real here,
35:55and if you really like to get good food in Turkey, this is the Mecca of it.
36:03All the food I've come across in the Mediterranean
36:06comes from a melting pot of cultures,
36:09formed through good times and bad, mainly bad,
36:12with famine, invasion and piracy.
36:15But Turkey, on the eastern side of the Med, next door to Syria,
36:19has a distinct Arab feel about it.
36:21There's lots of dried fruit and vegetables,
36:24a whole array of nuts, there's spices and pungent pastes,
36:28and you're never very far from rather exceptional street food.
36:38This is called tantuni,
36:40and basically it's a dish which comes wrapped in bread,
36:43a pliable bread they call lavash,
36:46and that's made more pliable by dipping it in this cottonseed oil.
36:50Then a layer of coriander and onion,
36:53and just warm-through chopped tomatoes.
36:56Fried ground beef seasoned with a little salt and paprika,
37:00and then it's rolled up.
37:03It may not look very spectacular,
37:05but it rivals any beef burger I've ever eaten.
37:08Afiyet olsun. That means bon appetit.
37:12How do you find it? Did you like it?
37:14I love it.
37:15Oh, this is a Turkish-style fast food,
37:17specific to this area of Mersin, called tantuni.
37:21Here on the street there are hundreds of those shops.
37:25It's fabulous. It's got a lovely fresh taste.
37:28It's got some chilli in there,
37:30but it's just so fresh, and I love the beef.
37:34And also I can taste that cottonseed oil.
37:37Yes, because this is a cotton-producing area,
37:40so they use cottonseed oil.
37:42And we drink ayran.
37:44Ayran?
37:45Ayran is a mixture of yoghurt, water and salt,
37:48which is a good fast food drink.
37:50It tastes like lassi, the Indian yoghurt drink.
37:53It's the same thing, isn't it?
37:55Yes, similar.
37:57Ayran.
37:58There's a drink in Scotland called ayran brew.
38:02I prefer this.
38:06Not very far away from Mersin is the ancient town of Tarsus,
38:10famous for being the home of St Paul,
38:13and also, under this arch,
38:15Cleopatra and Mark Antony entered the city.
38:18On the outskirts of Tarsus is a place kept very much a secret
38:22in the years that followed the last World War.
38:28This railway carriage was the scene to a highly secret,
38:31high-level summit when Winston Churchill met up
38:34with the Turkish president, Mr Nunu,
38:36and entreated him to join in the war against the Nazis.
38:40To make him feel at home, the Turks provided Winston
38:43with all comforts, champagne and brandy.
38:46Churchill even provided his favourite cigars,
38:49but after two days of heavy negotiating,
38:53President Nunu said,
38:55''Sorry, Mr Churchill, we're staying out of this one.''
38:59There's always a culinary point to my journey.
39:02Winston apparently became extremely fond of this drink,
39:05made with turnips.
39:07Today, this was provided by the local chief of police,
39:10who wondered what we were doing filming here.
39:13Now, what did they eat at the banquet?
39:15When Mr Churchill arrived here, the protocol officers asked him,
39:20''Mr Prime Minister, what would you like to have at the banquet?
39:24''What would you like to eat?''
39:26And he just said, ''Turkey.''
39:28And they made...
39:30Is this true?
39:34It's a true story.
39:36Well, he had a great sense of humour.
39:38This is the centre of Tarsus, but it could be a town in Greece,
39:42or, for that matter, Malta, Sicily, anywhere,
39:45because in the afternoon, no matter where you are,
39:48old men gather like so many starlings and put the world to rights.
39:52The only time when you see women in any great numbers
39:55is when they come out of church.
39:59Now, this place in Tarsus is famous
40:01for producing the most popular dish here, and that's hummus.
40:05I could live off this.
40:07And if you order it here, each bowl is made from scratch, like this.
40:11Well, as you probably know, it's ground-up chickpeas and garlic,
40:15and that's mixed with tahini,
40:17which comes from ground-up sesame seeds
40:20and made into a creamy, sticky paste,
40:23and then some hot water to loosen it and lemon juice.
40:26In fact, hummus is Arabic for chickpea,
40:29and chickpeas were eaten by the poor all over the eastern Mediterranean
40:33and beyond, across the Arabian Sea to the Indian subcontinent,
40:37where it probably came from in the first place.
40:40But that's what it looks like if you buy it from the supermarket in the UK.
40:46Now he adds sumac, a ground sour spice,
40:49and cumin, chopped coriander,
40:52and then he puts on some freshly boiled whole chickpeas.
40:57In searingly hot oil, he fries some paprika
41:00and a teaspoon of crushed garlic.
41:06I've never, ever seen this before. It's quite incredible.
41:09The length people go to create something really tasty is amazing.
41:16This is a million miles away from one of those party dips
41:19you have in those little partition containers.
41:22This one, in the words of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction,
41:26is a hummus royale.
41:30I was rather taken of this statue here of Suleiman.
41:34I think Turkey's got a reputation for being cruel and fierce,
41:38and he seems to epitomise that.
41:40But you learn quite a lot on these food trips,
41:43not necessarily to do with food.
41:45And one of the things that's quite clear to me now
41:48is that Turkey's like this enormously long...
41:51Quiet! I'm not going to give you any money, just be quiet!
41:54Shh! Hush!
41:56But Turkey is a peninsula that runs east to west,
42:00a whole country, a peninsula that runs east to west,
42:04right in the most sort of strategic part of, well, the world, if you like.
42:09I mean, it's still a strategic part of the world.
42:12The Americans quite recently wanted to drop a load of troops here
42:16to be close to the border with Iraq.
42:19But so what they always needed was fierceness.
42:22It's not necessarily to do with being cruel,
42:25it's to do with protecting your borders.
42:27There are eight countries surrounding Turkey,
42:29not to mention all the sea,
42:31and many of those countries
42:33don't necessarily have Turkey's best interests at heart.
42:44I'm going further east because I'm told the food is really good there,
42:48especially in the town of Gaziantep.
42:51Also, for years I've been fascinated by the Silk Route, and this is it.
42:56It was the trade link between Europe and China,
42:59a road which brought great fortunes and wonderful delicacies
43:03from the east to the ports of the Mediterranean.
43:06It's like driving across the steps here,
43:08and you can see in the landscape the character of old Turkey.
43:12Before they settled comfortably by the shores of the Mediterranean,
43:16the country was created by the nomads,
43:18the people who journeyed with their animals across Central Asia.
43:22They were great horsemen and superb warriors,
43:25and they're the bedrock of the Turkey we know today.
43:30But these buildings are the equivalent of a motorway service station,
43:35a stopping-off place for the caravans
43:38that were making their way to China from the Mediterranean and back again,
43:42laden with exotic spices, silk and other fine things.
43:46This really was the cutting edge of commerce 600 years ago.
43:54It was a pretty lawless existence,
43:57and the caravans were raided quite often by the nomads,
44:00and so this fortified refuge
44:02must have given them a great sense of security.
44:09So this is where they sort of parked up for the nights.
44:12They'd do their cooking and sleep in all these little rooms all round,
44:16and the horses, camels, mules and donkeys would be tethered here.
44:20What I really like about this site, and lots of them in Turkey,
44:24is how untouched they are. Nothing's been restored.
44:27There's none of those little sort of notices with perspex covers on them.
44:31It's almost as if the last caravan left a few hundred years ago
44:35and left it all to me.
44:39And you can just imagine the conversations here as they cooked these meals,
44:43the different smells of new and unknown spices,
44:46and the banter in the Turkish baths
44:48where they'd sweat out the dust of the famous road.
44:54MUSIC PLAYS
45:09The Silk Route is as busy as ever,
45:11mainly taking building materials to Iraq, which is quite close,
45:15so the road hasn't lost its sense of danger.
45:20And once you go through these tunnels,
45:23and cut through the mountains, then the world has changed.
45:26The Mediterranean is a memory, and we're in a landscape
45:30that would have been familiar to Genghis Khan and his unstoppable army.
45:47This is Gaziantep.
45:49It's the largest city in Turkey's Anatolia region,
45:52but I happened to mention how much I like kebabs to my interpreter,
45:56Sahan, and he just said, quick as a flash,
45:59then you must come here.
46:01It's where the best kebabs in the whole of Turkey come from.
46:04One of the things I've noticed going through these markets in Turkey
46:08is the real variety of really concentrated pastes.
46:12I mean, here we've got three types of paste,
46:15a tomato paste, which is probably made from tomatoes dried out in the sun,
46:20and a sweet pepper paste, and this one's a chilli pepper paste.
46:24I'm just going to try some of this.
46:26I'm intrigued.
46:28And that's what gives a lot of the kebabs there some really intense flavour.
46:37That is really interesting.
46:45I was just thinking that if I actually became bored
46:48with the prospect of walking round a market,
46:50then that would be the time to pack up the caravan and try something new.
46:54Markets, especially in places new, are a feast of inspiration to any cook.
47:00I've been to markets all over the Mediterranean now,
47:03Spain, Greece, Italy, great ones in Sicily, I remember,
47:07but this one's different.
47:09I mean, the sounds, the smells, the colours are different,
47:12and really I do begin to feel I'm in Asia now.
47:16I mean, just everything you look at now is sort of exotic and unknown to me
47:21and therefore incredibly exciting.
47:26This place is so different from anywhere I've been on my travels,
47:30I couldn't help thinking that if I'd parachuted here,
47:33I'd probably think I'd arrived in a town in Tibet.
47:36It's got a definite Mongol feel about it,
47:38and you can sense that it's places like this
47:41that reflect the origins of modern Turkey,
47:43places that become established because the nomadic warriors and herders
47:47decided to give up their wanderings and settle down.
47:56But as I said earlier, I came here because of the kebabs.
48:00What an excuse for travel.
48:02And here, at this restaurant, Imam Shardash,
48:05in the heart of the city, they are legendary.
48:09These kebabs, made from lamb or chicken,
48:12are mainly minced and formed around a skewer,
48:15alternating with a whole variety of other things.
48:18There are loquats, mushrooms, garlic and aubergines.
48:22Kebabs are a nomadic dish because cooking fuel, wood, was pretty scarce
48:27and so things had to be cooked very quickly.
48:30Little bits of meat cooked on sticks directly over a campfire.
48:33There's a reason for everything with food.
48:38This is the place to be seen in Gaziantep.
48:41I'm with Felice Hozekoglu, a food writer who lives here.
48:45Why Gaziantep kebab is popular?
48:48Because of the meat, because of the way they grill it,
48:51because of the art and labour and workmanship.
48:55While you are watching people grilling kebab,
48:58it's like they are in temple.
49:00They like their job and when you taste Gaziantep kebab,
49:04you taste the talent or the workmanship.
49:07I totally agree. Watching them, they seem very proud.
49:10Yes, they are. They are proud of what they are doing and it's reflected.
49:15The love for their job is reflected to the taste of kebab.
49:19I was also told that Gaziantep has some of the best food in Turkey.
49:23Why? What's so special about the area, the food, the produce and the cooking?
49:28You know, Gaziantep is on the Silk Road.
49:31On the Silk Road, there were many civilisations,
49:34Byzantium, Romans, Hittites, Assyrians.
49:37So, every civilisation added something to the cuisine.
49:42So, we have a rich variety of ingredients.
49:46We have tarragon, we have wheat, bulgur, rice
49:50and also here we have different varieties of cooking techniques.
49:55Gaziantep is like a melting pot, which makes Gaziantep cuisine special.
50:01The other thing that's really popular here is baklava,
50:05sticky, sweet filo pastry flavoured here with pistachio.
50:09And it's made a couple of floors above the massive restaurant.
50:15I don't mind saying I find this absolutely fascinating
50:18and slightly surreal with this haze of flour in the air.
50:22I was just thinking in my mean-spirited way,
50:24couldn't they get a machine to do all this?
50:26Well, maybe they could, but I doubt whether you could roll the pastry
50:29so thin you can see your fingernails through it.
50:32So, you've got a machine.
50:33Then the person that took over the place would be saying,
50:36right, well, we got rid of all this expensive labour,
50:39let's cut down on the ingredients.
50:41And before you know where you've got,
50:43you've got a competitive but deeply inferior quality product.
50:47I just think this is such a testimony to the skill of man.
50:52The ultra-fine layers are covered with a milk and semolina mixture,
50:56and then it's topped with chopped pistachio nuts.
50:59Then it's soaked in a syrup.
51:02This is the pistachio centre of Turkey.
51:05Baklava is one of those things, like yoghurt and moussaka,
51:08that I thought came from Greece.
51:10I can't say that out loud because the Turks get very cross
51:14when you mention such things.
51:16Well, this is really about skill.
51:19Talat here is just feeling the sort of length of the syrup.
51:23See?
51:24And what they were saying was it's about 107, 108 degrees centigrade,
51:29which is very hot, so he's got asbestos fingers.
51:34I think the expression, they sell like hotcakes, may come from here.
51:38But just spending a morning in that busy restaurant
51:41was a great source of inspiration to me.
51:45Well, this restaurant also got me very enthusiastic
51:48about making a lamacun.
51:50And for this, you need to knock up a flatbread.
51:53It's simple enough.
51:54You only need flour, warm water, salt, yeast and olive oil,
51:57which you knead together,
51:59and then rest in a covered bowl for 45 minutes or so.
52:03When I first tried this, I made it from a recipe,
52:06and I thought, well, it's all right.
52:08It was sort of spicy lamb in a flatbread.
52:11But then when we got to Gaziantep and went to Iman Shadesh and tried it,
52:16well, I realised, first of all, you don't just eat it flat,
52:20you fold it over, you put lots of parsley in the middle
52:23and lots of lemon juice, and it was lovely.
52:27The topping's just as easy.
52:29It's green and red peppers, onions and garlic, finely chopped.
52:33It's best done in a food processor,
52:35because that allows you to easily squeeze
52:38or press out most of the vegetable juices.
52:41If you don't do this, you're likely to end up with a topping
52:44that's too wet and sloppy.
52:46You could let it drain in a sieve,
52:48but this seems to me to be a better and more immediate way to do it,
52:52just by twisting it in a tea towel or muslin.
52:55Put that with a minced lamb and some chopped flat-leaf parsley
52:59and a healthy spoonful of Aleppo pepper.
53:02That's a ground, moderately hot, sun-dried chilli pepper
53:05from Turkey or Syria, which you can get in Turkish stores here.
53:09But if you can't get it, use less dried flake chilli,
53:12because you must have that heat.
53:15Then knock back the dough just a little and divide it into small pieces.
53:22You know, I really like street food, particularly these lamachuns.
53:25What I like about it is the economy that goes into them.
53:28Here we've got just plenty of dough, which is, of course, cheap,
53:32and a little bit of minced lamb and spice.
53:35It makes up something truly delightful.
53:40It was really interesting going to Adana and Gaziantep,
53:43because you really got that sense of Central Asia.
53:46It felt like sort of long, vast plains, and the food reflected it.
53:50There were still lots of Mediterranean influences there as well, of course,
53:54but dishes like this, like this lamachun,
53:57very much sort of nomad's food, designed to be eaten quickly.
54:01You know, you arrive, pitch camp, get off your horses, make something,
54:06start a fire, start a barbecue, cook a lamachun, cook a souvlaki,
54:11eat, bed and go the next morning.
54:17Wow. Now, that looks really good.
54:21I think one just has to say that sometimes just reading a recipe isn't enough.
54:26You've got to go and see for yourself.
54:29All you do is lay on a bit more of that flat-leaf parsley,
54:33a good squeeze of lemon juice, roll it up and enjoy.
54:40Well, I know it's rude to speak with my mouth full,
54:45and also to be full of superlatives for your own cooking,
54:49but honestly, if I was 20 years younger,
54:52I'd open a chain of little street stalls all over the country,
54:56this would be an absolute winner.
54:59This restaurant opens at four in the morning
55:02and just specialises in breakfast,
55:05but a breakfast like you've never seen before.
55:12What happens here is this.
55:14A dish has had sheep fat put in the bottom,
55:17then some cold rice and then some shredded cooked mutton,
55:21which has been simmered for 12 hours, horns and all.
55:25Next, it gets put onto a burner, more like a small rocket engine, actually,
55:30and then a generous sprinkling of local chilli pepper
55:33topped up with the stock the mutton was cooked in.
55:36And it's got a lot of garlic in it, too.
55:39Again, you can clearly see where this dish is coming from.
55:45I can see Tartars and Mongols waking up on the cold steps
55:49and heating up this fiery brew.
55:52It's delivered to you still boiling
55:54and it's a dish you approach with a degree of caution.
55:58Well, the first impression is it's very strong.
56:01There's a lot of Gaziantep pepper in there, which is really chilli hot,
56:05and it's also blisteringly hot as well.
56:08As you've seen, it's cooked so quickly and boiled so quickly
56:12and it comes to absolutely steaming hot.
56:15And there's lots of flavour, there's fat lamb, fat lamb,
56:20lots of rice. It's a bit much for breakfast.
56:23But once you got used to it, I think you'd really enjoy it.
56:27I was just asking what the name of the restaurant, it's called Metanet,
56:31which means inner strength.
56:33And, my gosh, this would give you that!
56:37Our interpreter, Sir Hans, said,
56:39I've come this far, I should at least glimpse the Euphrates.
56:43After all, this is where the Mediterranean influence
56:46finally gives way to another culture,
56:49where the olive grows peter out and the pistachios take over.
56:53In fact, I'd go as far as to say this is where olive oil finishes
56:57and way over there, crude oil begins.
57:02This was the eastern end of the Roman Empire
57:04and well-to-do citizens built their villas here.
57:07Most of them are underwater as a dam has been built further downstream.
57:12Before I started this journey,
57:14I thought I knew a lot about the food of the Mediterranean,
57:17but it was very little, really.
57:19I realise now I'm not interested in travelling for travelling's sake.
57:23I think food is a key that opens worlds.
57:28I've been at this Mediterranean journey for the best part of a year now
57:32and I've sort of picked up one or two general things
57:36I think about the Mediterranean.
57:38First of all, ingredients. Just a handful.
57:42Well, there's fish, the sheep, the olive, tomatoes, lemons, grapes,
57:48pasta, bread, a few more,
57:50but out of those few ingredients, a myriad of dishes.
57:54And the cooking of the region, that is so interesting.
57:57It's mostly about women, daughters, wives, mothers,
58:01all cooking recipes their grandmothers gave them
58:04and a welcome lack of chefs.
58:07Do you know, just over a year ago,
58:09when I finished my last journey going down the Rhone
58:12in that barge, the Anjodi, out into the Mediterranean
58:16and that satin pink sunrise, I thought,
58:19I wish I could go on and I'm so glad I did.
58:29Musical feasts to come here on BBC Two.
58:32Frank Sinatra meets Marlon Brando meets Gene Simmons
58:36for Guys and Dolls at 2.15.
58:38And before that, Bill Haley and the Comets rock around the clock.
58:42That's next.