Greek – Turkish Dinner at I-House !

Mert Ulas (Turkey)

It was a big surprise followed by a smile for everyone who heard about our dinner. A Greek-Turkish dinner prepared by mainly three international students, one student from Cyprus, one student from Greece and the other student from Turkey. The idea came first from Dino, my friend from Cyprus. He wanted to make a different event from the Mediterranean Dinner to give the residents a more local taste.

I thought we could not find the required ingredients but we were pretty lucky that Dino had some relatives here who knew where to find the Middle Eastern markets but the things we ate everyday in our countries were luxury products for here so we override the budget as expected. It is very sad that we have to pay extra for the food we are used to eat everyday in our countries.

In the day of event we started cooking from morning till afternoon. Many other residents helped us while cooking, it was very fun and we had no conflicts at all. We started serving at 7 o’clock in the dining room which was decorated by Greek and Turkish flags. We had a play list of Greek and Turkish music playing. As far as I can see, all the guests, more than forty people, enjoyed their dinner while trying to pronounce the names of the foods. After the dinner we showed a movie called “Taste of Spice” which was a Greek-Turkish movie and maybe the best choice of movie to be shown after a dinner like that.

No matter how the politics are between those countries, there are still bonds between their citizens who have lived on the same land together for long time. I hope more opportunities and events like that will strengthen our relationships cause for many centuries we have dined at the same table and many more we shall.