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Cultural memory through food: Identities after forced migration

A. Durukan

Published 2025 in Antropoloji

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore the impact of forced migration on the eating habits of migrants. It also seeks to determine whether people who have experienced forced migration have transmitted the foods they consider their own to future generations. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 families who migrated to Türkiye. After World War II, approximately 500,000 Bosnians, Albanians, and Pomaks in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were forced or encouraged to leave their lands. Türkiye accepted these migrants at that time. Long before these migrations, Crimean Tatars had begun migrating to the Ottoman Empire when the Russian army entered Crimea in 1771, and this migration continued throughout the 19th century. The participants in the study are members of families who experienced these migrations. According to the interviews, although Türkiye welcomed the migrants after the forced migration, the newcomers experienced difficulties in adaptation. They went through a process of acculturation as they became familiar with Turkish cuisine and culture, integrating many Turkish dishes into their own culinary traditions. However, the best way for them to ease their longing for home was to continue cooking and eating their traditional dishes, at least on special occasions. They sought to pass on their culinary knowledge and signature recipes to future generations, and the younger generations regarded this food culture as a part of their family’s historical heritage and identity. Despite the fast pace of life in a changing world, they have continued to cook and consume these traditional foods.

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