The group titled Umut Güneşi (Sun of Hope) was founded by Senaa Almehani, who attended a solidarity programme for women at Human Resource Development Foundation (HRDF) Support Office for Syrian Refugees in Esenler, Istanbul. Women who got together around Almehani’s dream regarding a “kitchen of Syrian foods” in 2018 started calling themselves “Umut Güneşi”. They applied to the EU Madad Innovation Lab in March 2019 in order to realise their ideas. After they were accepted into the lab, they took part in trainings as part of the programme and developed their projects. In April 2019 “Umut Güneşi” was selected as one of the best projects of the programme and received a grant. This grant enabled them to get the materials and tools they need for the kitchen. Now their aim is to promote their group and food, while establishing a market to sell their products.
“Umut Güneşi” is a group composed of Syrian women aged between 40 and 60 years, from various cities, cultures, educational and vocational backgrounds. Having started with 10 individuals, the group continues to grow with new participants. We had a chat with them about their current work and their aims for the future.
How are Syrian recipes connected with Anatolian cuisine?
Syrian and Anatolian cuisine carry many commonalities due to geographical and cultural proximity. The common characteristics of both can be observed especially in neighbour regions close to our borders. For instance both cuisines feature dishes with dried beans. The only difference is tomato sauce is used in Syria while Anatolian cuisine uses pepper sauce in addition to tomato.
It is said that Syrian cuisine has a history of 10.000 years. Which cultures around the Middle East or other geographies have affected this history?
The Middle Eastern geography and climate shapes the products that are grown here. These products enrich Middle Eastern cuisine. In addition to its long-established history of thousands of years, Syrian cuisine has been affected by other cuisines around, influenced and enriched with contributions from Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Turkey, and Iran. It has blended the recipes learned from neighbouring cuisines with its own food culture. For instance the “El Musahan” dish, which has been incorporated into our culture from Palestinian cuisine, has kept its ingredients but has been integrated with Syrian cuisine after the addition of a pancake form.
With 10 more women you are currently preparing a project that features Syrian food and desserts. What was your biggest obstacle?
With our group called Umut Güneşi, we aim to promote Syrian food and to gain financial income with our production. Our group consists of women who have taken part in HRDF’s programme for women’s solidarity. We are Syrian women who are quite competent in cooking. The biggest obstacle in our way is the lack of a venue in which we can carry on with our production. There is a long and challenging road we still have to cover with regard to our products’ promotion and sales.
As a matter of fact Turkish people tend to like and accept Syrian flavours. We promoted our dishes with an event, and received praise from many individuals who said they would like to place orders. All our efforts focus on reaching perfection.
What was your biggest takeaway from the EU Madad Innovation Lab?
The Madad experiences helped enrich our ideas. We saw that we could reach our dreams step by step. We learned how to plan, how to write a project, and how to implement it. Our dream is to create a market in which we can sell our products, and be recognised both locally and globally.
As part of 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, a thematic tour titled Göç Eden Tatlar (Migrating Flavours) was designed, and participants were able to discuss the anthropology of eating while enjoying the recipes of Syrian chef Inam Alchaib. What can be done to increase similar practices?
These kinds of events reveal cultural similarities, and are quite important in order for the two communities to get closer together. In our joint kitchen event we got closer through our similarities, and were enriched by our differences. Doing more activities as such develops harmony, cultural wealth, and fellowship among communities. I hope these kind of events go on with the addition of other countries’ cuisines.
When we talk about the structure of immigration which strengthens cultural wealth, how can we embrace different cultures that are within migrating flavours?
When refugees are allowed in a country, they bring together their culture and traditions. In return the hosting country is enriched with the addition of different cultural values. The two communities interact with each other as part of daily life. This interaction fosters the culture of both societies, and through this dialogue the communities are affected by each other without knowing. The two cultures learn to stand together in happiness and sorrow when there are common values and proximity involved.
Once Syria was a country that allowed refugees. We lived together with many people from various countries such as Palestine. We embraced, supported, and learned a lot from them. Fate has it that we ended up as refugees ourselves. With us we carried our food, our culture. We wish everyone in the world has a heart big enough to embrace everyone else.
