Culinary sustainability as a resilience practice for Syrian refugees amidst urban precarity in Istanbul

In a context of urban precarity and food insecurity, our research examines how Syrian women in Istanbul (Turkey) (re-)create "Syrian cultural foods" as part of fulfilling gendered expectations for homemaking. Fleeing civil war since 2011, Syrians find safety in Turkey, but they struggle with a financially and politically insecure temporary protection status making the daily act of cooking a significant challenge. In contrast to research focused on sustainability primarily in terms of health and nutrition, we show the important role that culture plays in determining what food is considered sustaining. Specifically, we identify "culinary sustainability" strategies which are culturally embedded food practices that foster resilience for migrants in a new setting. Based on semi-structured interviews and participant observations in the kitchens of Syrian women in Istanbul, we identify three strategies: 1) Homemade food practices, 2) Adjustment, and 3) Recycling. Addressing a burgeoning literature that tries to integrate sustainability and resilience studies, we show how each strategy corresponds to a feature of cultural resilience (engaging forms of resistance, adaptation and innovation). Under severe socio-economic constraints, Syrian women use creative adaptations to innovate tasty new ways of showing culinary care in a new country and an unfamiliar megacity, Istanbul.