Dinner of Herbs

by Carla Grissmann

This travelogue is based on the author's remarkable experiences in remote Anatoli in the 1960s, where she spent the better part of a year living with a local peasant family.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2001

Reviews

[Karl Drobnic]

Absolutely a terrific book. Readers who don't know about Carla Grissmann are in for a voyage of discovery. I've posted a little about her remarkable life on my blog, and others who knew her are welcome to add more comments:

Link: Remembering Carla Grissmann (Grissman)

[Sarita]

"There are many reasons why people are where they are and go where they are going. An evasion, a search, a return, a need to see for oneself, a path continued. I was here now."⁣⁣
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Dinner of Herbs by Carla Grissmann tells stories about her stay in a remote Anatolian village called Uzak Köy.⁣
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It was difficult for her to get accepted in the village at first but eventually they welcomed her with such hospitality it left a deep impression on her.⁣
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During that time, Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. It is interesting to read how the inhabitants digested the news. They were also impressed that she had real nice teeth. It also talks briefly about Atatürk's Reforms and how this relatively religious community kept up with it.⁣⁣
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It is a beautiful travelogue written with honesty and compassion. This is the story about people, culture, food, and mostly friendship.⁣⁣
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“Their teasing of each other and of me was a warm human thing and seemed to me to be a part of wisdom, an open guileless generosity of heart. It takes a certain bigness in people to know that you only tease the person you love and respect."

[Virginia]

I quite liked this book. It isn’t so much a travelogue as a book of her memories from her 10 month stay in a remote east Anatolia village called Uzak Koy, published a little over 30 years after she left. Her descriptions of the people, their daily lives, their culture and religion, and the deep poverty of many of the residents, speak of her love for these villagers. The writing is not particularly elegant, but as she wrote in a single paragraph ‘preface’, it was written “ … in simple words, as a letter to them, to thank them for having given me so much, for having taught me so much.” I was moved by several of her memories. I also appreciated her section on Cappadocia (a brief history of its caves) and her brief allusions to Ataturk’s modernization efforts.

Carla Grissmann was an interesting woman. Cosmopolitan, multilingual, and compassionate, she led a life of varied experiences. A journalist and a humanitarian, she was responsible for protecting Afghanistan’s cultural heritage during decades of turmoil in that country. While it is somewhat surprising to me, it was actually characteristic of her, a single woman in her 30’s, to have spent that time, in the 1960’s, on her own in a remote hamlet in a Muslim country. She developed such a rapport with the residents that she titled her book based on Proverbs 15:17, “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than feasting on a fattened ox where hatred also dwells.”

[Lisa Morrow]

Grissman spent more than a year living in the small farming village of Uzak Köy, some 249 kilometres east of Ankara. Unlike many memoirs by foreigners which focus on the differences they find about living in Turkey and their difficulty settling in, she writes only about what she found – a generous people, a strong communal spirit and much happiness, despite living in mud houses with few resources. Life was basic at best yet Grissman expresses no judgements or desire to change things. As a result she provides a unique glimpse into a way of life that still continues in parts of Anatolia today.

[Andrea Smith]

What an amazing book! I felt I was there, in the little Turkish village. What a gift it is to experience someone else’s travel experience through a book. Sadly, I think this is her only book. Carla lived in many places but only wrote about this experience. I highly recommended this little gem!

[Christa Eker]

5 Stars - Loved it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book: I've been itching to get my hands on it for some time and it did not disappoint.

The look into village life in the heart of an Anatolian village was special. Of course, much change has happened in Turkey since the 1960s but how much of the societal culture matches my experience of an Aegean village life was actually quite surprising.

Definitely another recommended book for all those other rustic-life living Turkophiles like myself.

It's heartwarming and gritty, and well, who wouldn't want a nose into Turkish village life 60 odd years ago.

[Rachel]

Very interesting look at life in a remote Turkish village in the 60's I think. Author lived in the village for almost a year and shares her experiences with a very gracious touch and almost complete lack of editorializing. Would be interesting to know how that village has changed since those days.