REGIONAL FOOD: THE CASE OF MARDIN

Behavioral patterns vary from one society to another. The culture that has been intertwined with the society has a structure that covers life as a whole. The values created by humans that vary from fun to funeral ceremonies, from eating and drinking to creating literary works, are called culture. Moreover, getting hungry and eating to eliminate hunger are both biochemical phenomena, whereas the time and the style of eliminating this hunger are anthropological and cultural issues. Mardin that has been home to many cultures for a long time throughout history has a rich food culture. The food culture is one of the most important means of providing the cultural values of the community, including the preparation of the material of a meal, the whole of cooking and presentation stages. The diversity in the culture of food becomes concrete with social differences. These differences are identified with details such as; consumption of tea and coffee, traditional dishes consumed in the region, breakfast culture, meat meal habits, meal rules and tableware, the importance given to feasts, the habit of entering the kitchen and making food at home, the use of spices, the consumption of beverages, the consumption of bread and preparation of winter products. In addition to these details, the varieties of the ingredients used in the meals give information about the characteristics of the food culture. Twenty participants interviewed through which the values and characteristics of Mardin food culture were tried to be determined. In this study, twenty questions were asked and the values and characteristics of Mardin food culture were tried to be determined