Turkey’s crisis impacts street food with meatless dürüm and plain desserts

Street food vendors are now offering plan or light versions of traditional delicacies, without some of the basic ingredients. Customers can get meat-flavoured dürüm with no meat. Plain or light versions include meatballs, pies, ravioli and baklava. Inflation is now at 61.14 per cent, the highest in the last twenty years. Government welfare policies are one of the causes.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – Turkey’s economic crisis is biting hard and the country’s culinary habits are taking a hit forcing many to turn to meatless dürüm and nut-less baklava.

To cut costs and allow people to buy, food vendors have been offering for some time a light and plain version of traditional food, albeit less tasty or appetising.

In Bakırköy, an upper middle-class neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul, a restaurant offered plain dürüm or wrap. In the owner’s own words, it “doesn't have meat in it, but they can eat their fill. They can smell meat at least.”

The chef puts a slice of lavash bread on kebabs on the grill to flavour it, then fills it with greens, tomatoes and onion. With a glass of ayran, a yogurt drink, the plain wrap is sold for 10 lira (US$ 0.67), which even students can afford.

A traditional dürüm with meat (100 grams of kebab) costs at least of 30 Turkish liras (US$ 2.1) on online food ordering apps, but prices can increase depending on the ingredients used.

This trend has spread in recent months, so much so that customers can now choose between regular and plain versions of many dishes.

The issue went viral on social media in early February when someone posted a picture with a sign that said “plain baklava” sold for 19.99 lira per kilo (US$ 1.35), one tenth the price of the regular pastry dessert, which is usually filled with chopped walnuts, hazelnuts or pistachio.

The list of plain or light versions of traditional treats includes tost (pressed sandwich), gözleme (stuffed turnover), stuffed meatballs without meat, mantı (a ravioli-like dish), Börek (filled pastry), and so on.

With the annual inflation rate at 61.14 per cent, the highest in the last 20 years, life is much harder for many families.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, consumer prices rose by 5.46 per cent in March compared with the previous month.

The highest yearly price increase was in transportation at 99.12 per cent, while food prices jumped 70.33 per cent. Overall, this was the biggest year-on-year increase since March 2002.

Since the start of the year, the cost of every food ingredient has gone up. Rising prices are part of an economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Making matters worse, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a surge in gas, oil and grain prices.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself has had to stop denying reality, acknowledging that prices are indeed rising, but claiming that he alone can solve the problem.

A March 2022 survey found that 59 per cent of Turks say that their income does not cover their expenses, this according to Can Selçuki, director of Türkiye Raporu (Turkey Report).

Pro-government media have tried to stem the criticism. However, a recent poll found that the economy is the main issue for 70 per cent of the public while only 33.8 per cent think that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Erdoğan can solve the crisis.

Yet, the current crisis is due in part to welfare policies on which the AKP and the president built their power base. Under his helm, the rich have become richer, the poor have gained a little, and the middle class, the country’s backbone, has weakened.

Meanwhile, the government boosted welfare spending in the past year in response to the pandemic and ahead of the next elections scheduled for 2023.

• turkey
• economic crisis
• street food
• inflation
• erdoğan
• akp
• delicacies
• regular
• plain
• light