A Top Advisor to the President of Turkey Accuses Foreign Chefs of Being Spies

Has the world gone mad? And why is food becoming the locus of conspiracy theories?

First, there were the rampant rumors spreading throughout the US that pizza places had become hubs of child slavery and sex abuse orchestrated by, of all people, Hillary Clinton. These theories culminated last week in a gun being fired in a Washington, DC pizza joint. Even Roberta's, Brooklyn's favorite hipster pizzeria, has fallen prey to the craziness of the hoax known as Pizzagate.

And now, a food-related conspiracy theory is allegedly being spread in Turkey. There, according to RT, Agence France-Presse, and other news sources, a top advisor to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that foreign chefs are making guest appearances on Turkish cooking shows only because they are spies and trying to get access to inside information about Turkey and its military.

The adviser, Yigit Bulut, made the statements on the Turkish pro-government TV channel A Haber. As RT reports, Bulut explained, "I watched a program on a news station the other day. An Englishman and an Italian were sampling the tests of Anatolia and traveling to many provinces and villages, cooking food. Do you think they are doing that for their own benefit?"

To prove his point, Bulut added, "Have you ever seen a Turk hosting a cooking program on French TV, visiting its provinces, villages, and industrial facilities?" Instead, he said, these evil foreign chefs are "taking advantage of pure-minded Anatolian people" to gather secret information.

"Our people are pure, they are opening their doors to friends," Bulut said. "They tell all their secrets, they show everything. Where the military unit is, the radar, the ammunition, the weapons warehouse, how to enter and leave the village."

According to Agence France-Presse and the Bangkok Post, Bulut warned people to be alert and added: "And please, no one tell me this is a conspiracy theory or that I am exaggerating!"

This isn't the first time Erdoğan's adviser has put forth a puzzling conspiracy theory. As The Guardian reported back in 2013, Bulut said after a series of protests that foreign powers were trying to kill and discredit Erdoğan through telekinesis. In fact, following last summer's failed coup in Turkey, paranoia has run rampant in the country, especially with the pro-government constituency, and conspiracy theories are becoming commonplace.

The coup—including an attack on the Parliament and the deaths of 240 people—has been blamed on Fethullan Gulen, a US-based Islamic cleric, and his followers. The current Turkish government has been quite aggressive about attributing alleged anti-government sentiment to people in pretty much every nook and cranny of the country and abroad—including, now, food TV shows. Since the failed coup, more than 100,000 people have been fired from jobs in the government, airlines, schools, and independent businesses. Roughly 160 media outlets have been shuttered, and some 2,000 educational institutions have been closed.

At least all the governments of the world have now been thoroughly warned about those most vicious propagators of anarchism that are the Pioneer Woman and the Barefoot Contessa… right?