Turkish Cuisine Week 2026 to highlight shared culinary heritage

Türkiye’s annual celebration of its culinary traditions will return May 21-27 with a theme emphasizing the cultural heritage and collective memory embedded in Turkish cuisine, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced Wednesday.

The 2026 edition of Turkish Cuisine Week, held under the auspices of First Lady Emine Erdogan, will center on the theme “The Heritage Table” (“Bir Sofrada Miras”), presenting Turkish food not only as a collection of dishes but also as a shared cultural legacy shaped over centuries through migration, rituals and communal traditions.

Organized by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the weeklong celebration will take place across Türkiye and at Turkish embassies and cultural centers worldwide.

“The table is the oldest language of togetherness,” the ministry said in a statement announcing the theme “Food connects people across time.”

According to the ministry, this year’s concept is built around three themes: dialogue, transformation and archive. The statement said that the initiative aims to show how culinary traditions evolve across generations while preserving memory and cultural identity.

Events planned for the week include long-table communal dinners, collaborations between Turkish and international chefs, workshops demonstrating traditional cooking techniques and pop-up culinary archives featuring historic recipes and ingredients.

Featured dishes this year include the UNESCO-recognized keskek, a slow-cooked wheat and meat dish associated with communal celebrations; baklava, symbolizing craftsmanship and tradition; manti, Turkish dumplings linked to migration and travel; dolma, representing regional culinary diversity; and helva, associated with remembrance and solidarity.

The ministry said event resources, including recipes, videos and promotional content, are available on the official Turkish Cuisine Week platform, turkishcuisineweek.com.