Ashure Night and Ashure Contest’s Excitement at the Pacifica Institute..
Last Saturday night, about 150 people from various backgrounds, cultures and faiths were gathered at the Pacifica Institute for the 6th Annual Ashure Night. The night
has started with dinner. While people were enjoying the delicious food and each other’s companies, they were also enjoying the live flute performance on the stage. The biggest event of the night was Ashure Contest (as it was for the previous years) and this year, it
had full of surprises.
5 Ashure teams (each team consists of 5 or 6 people, both Turkish and American) were created one week prior to the conte
st so that each team can brainstorm about how to cook ashure, the ingredients that are necessary and decide where to cook and how to decorate the ashure.
During Ashure Contest, each ashure has been evaluated by the judges in terms of the taste/texture and the presentation. Each team’s representative tried to gain more points from the judges while they were answering the questions asked by the host about the ashure they’ve made and their cooking experience. The judges who were selected among the guests used the evaluation forms that were prepared for this Ashure Contest.
The surprise video from a famous Turkish Chef, Oktay Usta, which was shown with English subtitles, was appreciated a lot. In the video, Oktay Usta has explained about the key points of making ashure, told about Noah’s ark and Ashure tradition and he has congratulate
d all the contestants. He has also given a message of peace, love and harmony while mentioning how beautiful to see people from various colors, races, cultures and faiths gather together.
At the end of the night, 2 winners were announced, one for Ashure taste, one for Ashure presentation. The winners were given Oktay usta’s recipe book and apron as their awards. The Ashure night has ended with warm chats, smiling faces and an ashure feast while all the contestants and the judges have received various gifts as a token of appreciation for their participations.
We dream a ship. On this ship, people of the globe live in harmony with one another. As a cup of Noah’s pudding, each nation embraces the other. We dream a ship. On this ship, everyone will be able to keep and retain their own identity, culture, faith, heritage, richness and taste.