GAGAUZ MUTFAK KÜLTÜRÜ
ON THE GAGAUZ CULINARY CULTURE

Summary/Abstract: The kitchen serves as its heart and main hub of social activity of almost any home. By extension, cuisine is a symbol of both eating and living well, and of social relations, making of the ways to understand any society. Cuisine brings society together – from daily to celebratory meals for births, weddings, funerals, religious holidays…. – and constitutes a key role in forming a society’s cultural identity to be on from one generation to the next. Today, many theories regarding the ethnic origins of the Gagauz, an Orthodox Christian Turkic people. That said, they live in Eastern Europe around the Black Sea, and are known for their rich oral tradition. Many speculate that they hail from Seljuk, Kipchak, Pechenek, and even Uz roots. However, their language falls under Oghuz (southwestern) branch of the Turkic language family, alongside Modern Turkish and Azerbaijani. Alas, according to UNESCO, it is highly endangered. The study aims to examine Gagauz cuisine through the lens of language. In it, we will look at Gagauz food and drink, as well as how terminology related to cooking and food storing methods, festive meals (incl. banquets), kitchen layout, cooking utensils, food storage methods, alongside culinary customs as they exist in both the Gagauz oral tradition and folklore.

• Details
• Contents