Wine and Viticulture from Ottoman times to Turkish Republic

Three Turkish ladies talking about vineyards in Türkiye in front of an audience of academics in France, and what they talk about is totally new to the audience. This happened earlier this month in Tours, however, it was not a wine connoisseurs' event, but a food history conference. It was the ninth edition of the International Conference on the History and Cultures of Food, an event that gathers food historians from around the globe. The conference is organized by The European Institute for the History and Culture of Foods or L'Institut Européen d'Histoire et des Cultures de l'Alimentation (IEHCA), which is affiliated with the University of Tours, and is one of the most important food studies research networks in Europe. The institute brings together leading international experts in the field of food cultures, organizes regular conferences on various topics and provides training in the field of "Food Cultures and Heritage." This particular conference we attended aims to be a scientific event of reference, a meeting place and an essential forum for all those who work towards a better understanding of food. In that context, our session titled "Wine Vineyards in the Ottoman Empire and Türkiye" truly did bring a better understanding of viticulture in Türkiye from Ottoman times to today. The idea to organize such a session came from Dr. Özge Samancı, head of the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at Özyeğin University. She has attended all previous nine conferences, for me it was the third. Our third presenter was Ece Cankat, a research assistant at the Department of Hotel Management, of the same university.

From Lowly Taverns

Our themes complemented each other, Samancı, being an expert in 19th century Ottoman cuisine,...