There’s a reason I’m back in the area I grew up. Only half of it is food.

As a perpetual Turkish foreigner, my visits back home are lists of dishes and family members.

My dad hates it because I’m fat and he’s feuding with the rest of the family.

But you try knowing pastırma, sucuk , mantı and kazandibi and not getting to eat it years at a time.

A few months ago I ended up making kokoreç out of chinchulines and fistfuls of cumin and oregano