The Department of Ottoman Studies at the National Hellenic Research Institute in collaboration with the Consulate General of Greece in Istanbul is hosting a series of lectures titled “Food, Spirits and Gastronomic Traditions in the Eastern Mediterranean” at Sismanoglio Mansion, the consulate’s cultural center at Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue in the Beyoglu area once known as Pera.

The fourth series of lectures in a number of events focused on Mediterranean cuisine will show how fresh Mediterranean products such as wheat and oil have been linked to the economic and political life in the region from antiquities to the late Ottoman era. Previous lectures had focused on bakeries in Byzantine Constantinople, taverns in the 16th and 17th centuries, etc.

In the new round of lectures that kick off on January 20, speakers will explore the distribution of food, the handling of marketing systems controlled by state mechanisms, methods used by governments to obstruct social outbursts by ensuring that food deliveries reached the towns and cities.

The lectures are to have simultaneous interpretations from English to Turkish with round table discussions at the Bodossaki Foundation’s digital platform BLOD (Bodossaki Lectures on Demand). The lectures are free of charge and to be held on January 20, February 17, March 17, April 22 and May 20.