Multicultural Istanbul Cuisine

İlhan Eksen, an author of books focused on food culture, presented a seminar on “Multicultural İstanbul Cuisine.” Eksen started the seminar with a brief speech on how the cuisine was created and the effects of history, geography and humans had in the creation process: “All the different ethnicities living in İstanbul have created different cuisines using the same ingredients based on their beliefs and traditions.  All these diverse cultures make up the rich cuisine that is known as İstanbul cuisine.”

Mr. Eksen continued to talk about the foods and culinary cultures of different ethnicities such as Armenians, Rums (the inheritors of the Romans) and Jewish communities. He also mentioned the changes in the culinary culture due to the influences of the Western world and the restaurants and patisseries that have opened with that mindset.  He finished the seminar by explaining the effects of the Anatolian culture had on İstanbul cuisine and the foreign fast food chains that have opened in Turkey, due to globalization. After the seminar, the participants were offered dishes from different ethnic groups.

5 March 2015

Lecture video is in Turkish.