Our first field visit on 21-Jan-2023, we participated in the preparation of the famous Mouloukhiyeh dish

Shopping in local shops for the first field visit and interview

Preparation of a Syrian-Turkmen vegetable patty dish called al-aje ( العجة) 

Gathering with friends at a Syrian şamiyat restaurant serving falafel, hummus, and foul.

Eating Kabsa (lamb with flavoured rice), Kibbeh in a yoghurt sauce, and cheese Manakish in a Syrian restaurant.

Gathering with a Syrian family and eating Fried Kibbeh, Chicken Maqlubeh (rice with vegetables), and Kibbeh Labaniyeh (Kibbeh in yoghurt sauce, mint, and garlic).

Food made with love at the Iftar gathering of the research team with a Syrian woman in Istanbul during Ramadan on April 07, 2023.

Kunafeh (or Knafeh) is a popular dessert in Syria and the Middle East in general. It is consumed especially during Ramadan. The photo was taken in a Syrian house in Istanbul during Ramadan and shows two different kinds of Knafeh:

Qatayef Asafiri is a popular dessert in Syria and many parts of the Middle East during Ramadan. It is a mini pancake filled with cream, dipped in pistachios, and served with syrup.

Freekeh grain is popular in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. Therefore, there are many ways of cooking and serving Freekeh dish in Syria. The pictures show the method of serving (Mansaf Freekeh) according to Aleppo cuisine.

In this field visit to a Syrian woman in Fatih district in Istanbul, she made Harak Osbao حراق اصبعو. The dish name is so funny; it literally means "burned his finger". It is a traditional Syrian dish and is particularly famous in Damascus. It is a delicious, sweet, and sour stew made of lentils, dough, or Eriste, and garnished with coriander, garlic, crispy onions, crispy pieces of bread, and pomegranate seeds.

Grilled Kibbeh with Tabbouleh (Mediterranean herb and bulgur salad) as a side dish, served in a Syrian restaurant.

Grilled Kibbeh is kibbeh dough stuffed with minced lamb and nuts, then cooked by grilling. It is a delicious and traditional Syrian dish.

Qatayef is a crunchy and sweet dish served during Ramadan in Syria and the Middle East. It is a pancake filled with cream or nuts, fried, then dipped in syrup. The photo was taken during a team member's visit to her Syrian friends in Istanbul.

Making Kibbeh Nayeh-Fried Kibbeh

Making Kibbe Nayeh-Fried Kibbeh

Mouneh is a traditional Syrian practice of storing large quantities of food at home, and one of the methods of preparing Mouneh is pickling. Bottles of pickles, an essential part of the Syrian Mouneh were found in a Syrian woman’s house during our fieldwork in Istanbul.

Our team members joined online IMISCOE 20th Annual Conference organized by the Unviersity of Warsaw Centre of Migration Research. Asst. Prof. Susan Rottmann made an introductory speech at the panel about our project. This year's conference theme was "Migration and inequalities: In search of answers and solutions". Our panel was titled "Sustainable food and cultural diversity: Discourses and practices. Part 2". The panel provided a platform to discuss topics including but not limited to the integration of food cultures into local discourse and practice on food sustainability; the power dynamics that operate in defining, identifying and supporting sustainable food habits; the dynamics of migration with reference to urban/rural environments and cultural diverstiy. 

Our PhD researcher, Zeynep Yilmaz Hava, presenting the research questions, theoretical framework, and litereture that shaped our paper titled "Unequal home-making practices among Syrian refugees in Turkey in acontext of economic uncertainty", which examines how economic precarity and inequalities impact food and home-making practices; the impact of the urban context on everyday livelihood; and the culinary coping strategies that help women recreate place attachment in the context of forced migration. The theoretical framework of the project has two major perspectives. While the first part deals with precarity, urban life, and place attachment; the second part mostly deals with the issues of gender, space, and agency with an intersectional approach. And we care about studying food and home-making practices because we think it is a means of empowerment, agency, and a strong part of identity formation.  

Nour Zanjer, MA researcher from our team, is presenting the culinary coping strategies developed by Syrian refugee women in Istanbul to cope with economic precarity in a context of forced migration. The paper discusses three main culinary coping strategies: make it at home; recycling; and adaptation. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observation with Syrian women in Istanbul, we argue that economic precarity and ineqaulities impact food and home-making practices for Syrian refugee women in Turkey. The urban context of Istanbul creates intertwined challenges in terms of exposure to more opportunities for consumption, yet limited access to resources and space. Plus, the emotional and financial burden of feeding the family increases after forced migration in a context of economic instability. Hence, women create culinary coping strategies to perform multitasking in feeding the family and keeping the budget at the same time.