Dinner of Herbs

Village Life in 1960s Turkey

Eland Books
Carla Grissman
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Carla Grissman spent the better part of a year living with a local peasant family in a farming hamlet in remote Anatolia, some 250 km east of Ankara. The hospitality, friendship and sense of inclusion that she received from the inhabitants of the Anatolian village of Uzak Koy created a refuge and hidden Turkish homeland for Carla. The laughter, camaraderie and generosity of heart, plus the sense of being an honoured member of this community never left her. She kept a private memoir to help keep these chance friendships fresh in her mind and 40 years later they were published as Dinner of Herbs (in 2001).