Simit and Simit sellers

(Illustrated ) Simit seller by Warwick Goble

Simit has a long history in Istanbul. Archival sources show that the simit has been produced in Istanbul since 1525. Based on Üsküdar court records (Şer’iyye Sicili) dated 1593, the weight and price of simit was standardized for the first time. The 17th-century traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote that there were 70 simit bakeries in Istanbul during the 1630s.[1] Jean Brindesi's early 19th-century oil-paintings about Istanbul daily life show simit sellers on the streets[2]. Warwick Goble[3], too, made an illustration of these simit sellers of Istanbul in 1906[3]. Simit and its variants became popular across the Ottoman Empire.

Simit-seller. When moving about he carries on his head his tray, balanced on the red pad resting on his turban. Artist: Warwick Goble. Image published: London,1906. Simit is a circular-shaped sesame bread popular in Turkey...

Simit or gevrek (Turkish), (Macedonian: ѓеврек, Bulgarian: геврек, Serbian: ђеврек) is a Turkish circular bread, typically encrusted with sesame seeds or, less commonly, poppy, flax or sunflower seeds, found across the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and the Middle East. Simit's size, crunch, chewiness, and other characteristics vary slightly by region.The word simit comes from Arabic samīd (سميد) 'white bread or fine flour'. and semolina. The word is also used in Greek, as σιμίτι Koulouri. A type of bread very similar to simit is known as obwarzanek in Poland and bublik in Russia and Ukraine. The main difference is that the rings of dough are poached briefly in boiling water prior to baking (similarly to bagels), instead of being dipped in boiling water and molasses syrup, as is the case with simit.

Other names are based on the Greek koulouri (κουλούρι): Aramaic qeluro/qelora; or the Turkish gevrek 'crisp': South Slavic đevrek, ђеврек, gjevrek, ѓеврек, геврек; Romanian covrig; and in Judaeo-Spanish roskas turkas.

In İzmir, simit is known as gevrek, although it is very similar to the Istanbul variety. Simits in Ankara, which is the capital of Turkey, are smaller and crisper than those of other cities. Simits in Turkey are made with molasses. 

[1] Sahillioğlu, Halil. "Osmanlılarda Narh Müessesesi ve 1525 Yılı Sonunda İstanbul’da Fiyatlar" Belgelerle Türk Tarihi 2 (The Narh Institution in the Ottoman Empire and the Prices in Istanbul in Late 1525. Documents in Turkish History 2) (Kasım 1967): 56 | Ünsal, Artun. Susamlı Halkanın Tılsımı.[The Secret of the Ring with Sesames] İstanbul: YKY, 2010: 45

[2] Simit sellers in early 19th century Istanbul. Painting by Jean Brindesi (1821-1888) from Illustrations de Elbicei atika. Musée des anciens costumes turcs d'Istanbul
, Paris: Lemercier, [1855]

See first source: CONSTANTINOPLE, PAINTED BY WARWICK GOBLE, DESCRIBED BY ALEXANDER VAN MILLINGEN, M.A., D.D. PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK, LONDON MCMVI

Jean Brindesi was born in 1826 and worked primarily as a watercolour artist.

During the Abdulmecid period (1831-1861), he worked on scenes involving soldiers in Istanbul.

Two albums of lithographs after his drawings were produced by Lemercier in Paris: Elbicei Atika – Musee des Anciens Costumes Turcs de Constantinople, 1855, and Souvenirs de Constantinople, 1860; these two works are collections of picturesque views of the city of Constantinople. The originals are kept at the Istanbul Topkapı Palace Museum and at the University of Istanbul.

While the first album represents the government and military dignitaries, the second one tries to capture the atmosphere of day-to-day life in Istanbul through quaint and lively depictions. Not much is known of the artist’s life. His workshop was in Pera (Galatasaray) on Asmalı Mescit Sokak. Jean Brindesi died in Istanbul in 1888 and is buried in the Feriköy Catholic cemetery.

[3] Warwick Goble (22 November 1862 – 22 January 1943) was an illustrator of children's books. He specialized in Japanese and Indian themes.    Goble was born in Dalston, north London, the son of a commercial traveller, and educated and trained at the City of London School and the Westminster School of Art. He worked for a printer specializing in chromolithography and contributed to the Pall Mall Gazette and the Westminster Gazette.

See also: Fascination with the Ottoman Empire, Travelogues and Orientalism