Recently, I received a package from my family of freshly-made pogaça (pu-ah-cha) a savory dough pastry found in the Balkans, Carpathian Basin and Turkey. In my case, this savory snack is of the Turkish variety, and filled with feta and parsley, browned and topped with black sesame seeds. Once I reheated them, the scent of buttery dough and cheese immediately transported me to the corner bakery of my grandmother’s Göztepe neighborhood in Istanbul. The smell sparked vivid images of freshly-baked sweet and savory pastries in cases and shelves that surround the bakery’s centerpiece: the oven. As I snacked in my Brooklyn kitchen next to my humble oven, I was transported to those comforting moments many years ago in the bakery, and rediscovered the power of scent and taste to transcend space and time.
