"Lüfer Bayramı" and Slow Food Turkey

Last week, I was happy to experience a true "mobilization" around the alarming situation of fish in Istanbul and Turkey in general  (and obviously around the world).

I am certainly not an expert on this subject, but one can easily understand the situation of certain endangered species among fish, in terms of drastically decreasing quantities, fewer varieties etc.

"Lüfer Bayramı" encompassed various events organized by Slow Food Convivia in Istanbul along with food enthusiasts and activits.

Lüfer or Blue Fish (wiki entry)  was actually used as symbol  in this case, to raise public awareness.

On Friday 14-Oct-2011, I attended an interesting conference on this subject at the Culinary Institute in Maslak (MSA), Istanbul, where 5 different participants sharing their thoughts and actions (more importantly) from their different perspective. The panel included:

Defne Koryürek, Fikir Sahibi Damaklar - Slow Food Istanbul Convivium
Mehmet Gürs, chef/işletmeci   (Chef and food sector entrepreneur)
Kaya Demirer, Turyid başkanı (Restaurant, Entertainment and Tourism Association - Director)
Ramazan Öztürk, SürKoop başkanı (Sea  products and Fish Cooperative Institution - Director)
Meriç Albay, SÜMDER başkanı (Sea and Water Engineering Association - Director)

(the conference was obviously in Turkish, a very good yet tough experience for my language skills)

To obtain more up-to-date information and follow their events and actions, I invite you to check the website, tweets and Facebook account of  Fikir Sahibi Damaklar - Slow Food Istanbul Convivium

And definitely, definitely, all of us should be aware and informed about the International Movement Slow Food, and their actions. Please check their website for additional information www.slowfood.com