VOX POP tête-à-tête – 13th November 2013

KAV Garden Party and The Food Lodge

 By Engin Dervişağa

 KAV Garden Party

Recently I went to Tolga’s Restaurant in Karşiyaka where a Garden Party had been arranged by Christine Ford and Maria Chappell in aid of the Cancer Research Association (KAV).  When I arrived there were many stalls set up displaying a large amount of items for sale to raise funds for this charity.

I spoke to Ertan Akun who is a Board Member of KAV which was established in 2003.  He said that the research is investigating  the reasons for cancer in North Cyprus and 85% can be attributed to the environment (water – air – soil).   There are 5-6 projects going on at the moment and funds are being used to give scholarships to students who are working with the Bio-technology Research Centre of Cyprus International University.  Samples are being analysed to establish which water and soils are dangerous.   He also mentioned the Orchid Walk which is held each year and stressed that exercise and healthy living can all help to reduce the risk of cancer.

Moving on I spoke to Ҫetin, a Turkish Cypriot who previously lived in London and moved back to North Cyprus 11 years ago.  He was making jewellery and he had some really nice pieces on his stall for ladies and children.

I then spotted Christine Ford, one of the organisers of the Garden Party, and she told me she was delighted with the turn-out for the fundraising event.  Christine said that it all started when she attended a KAV event and she thought about arranging a coffee morning in her garden.  From there the event escalated and it was decided to hold it at Tolga’s as her garden would not be big enough.   The event took about 3 weeks to organise, with getting necessary permissions from the Authorities, but everything had gone smoothly and here they were.

Hatice Kerimgil gave an announcement, she said she had received a text message from the Founder of KAV, Dr Mustafa Camgöz, and she would be contacting him later.   She then called Ertan Akun to say a few words and present certificates to the people who had organised this wonderful event.

I then spoke to Maria Chappell, the co-organiser of the event, who told me she had lived in North Cyprus for 6½ years.   She had been invited to a KAV evening in Nicosia and, not knowing anything about this charity, wanted to find out more about it.  She asked Christine to accompany her and the event I was seeing that day was the result.   Maria thanked all of the media who had given support in promoting the event and the people who had helped with raffle prizes, the tombola and the stalls.  One final word from Maria was for people to spread the word about the Cancer Research Association (KAV).

Then I bumped into Sevime Mehmet, a friend of Hatice, who lives in London and comes to North Cyprus about 3 times a year, Sevime said she tries to help wherever she can and I noticed she was selling raffle tickets to the people attending the Garden Party.

The Kibris Liners entertained the crowds with their excellent line dancing which was thoroughly enjoyed and then I did a short interview with Andrew Tait and Glen King  of the duo Andrew Sings…..   They would be entertaining later so I took them on one side to find out a bit more about them.

Andrew and Glen started singing seriously in Turkey where they had previously lived for 5 years but because they were not allowed to perform legally in Turkey they decided to move to North Cyprus where they discovered they could perform legally and 7 weeks ago they made the move and have been doing well since they got here.  They already love it in North Cyprus and they had agreed to entertain at the Garden Party as they have always felt the need to put something back into the community and will continue to do so here in North Cyprus.   Both Andrew and Glen lost their fathers to cancer so they both felt this particular occasion was a very fitting event to support.

 The Food Lodge, Ҫatalköy

I visited the Food Lodge in Ҫatalköy which is a fairly new bakery.   There I met Sally who has been a friend of the 2 owners of the business for 7 years and helps out when needed.  Sally told me that she and her husband came to North Cyprus on holiday, fell in love with it,  and immediately bought a house and they have now lived here for 5 years.

Sally told me her line of work had been previously as  an Exhibition Director dealing with fashion products and she had been involved with leather fairs in Hong Kong, jewellery fairs in Dubai and gift shows in Australia where she moved to live in 1985.  She has travelled all over the world during her time involved with exhibitions.

I then spoke to Latife the co-owner of the bakery and asked what made her and her friend Sonya decide on a bakery and Latife told me she had been visiting North Cyprus for many years to visit friends and always thought that although the food is very good here there was something missing and that was European artisan bread and this led on to the types of cakes people remember from their childhood, like doughnuts for instance.    I had already noticed the different types of doughnuts on display.

Latife told me that she had studied as a culinary chef some 20 years ago in Germany where she lived for 15 years.  The work was hard and she decided to continue studying different aspects of food such as dietary needs and then went to work for a food development company in Dubai where she dealt with food safety.

When she and Sonya decided to start the Food Lodge, Latife said she had to teach herself practical baking.  Everything at the Food Lodge is baked fresh every day and Latife and Sonya are hoping to extend what they are currently doing to include a cafe where people can sit and have a tea or coffee and cakes or a light snack.  They do offer this on a small scale now but would like to be able to offer more variety of food for people visiting the bakery.

I then joined Latife in the kitchen where she gave a demonstration of how to make Chelsea Buns, which again I was told is a thing people remember from their childhood.

This was a very interesting place with many different types of bread and cakes on display and one thing Latife told me was that although you can buy doughnuts around the island, they do not compare with the types of doughnuts from yesteryear which they bake at The Food Lodge.