Gülhan Salcan

Gülhan loves to cook — she grew up with her mother’s stories and delicious food, and now teaches her own children local and traditional dishes. One method of passing these traditions on to the next generation is to take part in a custom seen throughout Turkey: many people who move to large cities like Ankara or Istanbul return to their hometowns each summer, to visit family and prepare a variety of preserves to eat throughout the year. Gülhan and her children return to Elazığ — a city and province in Central East Anatolia — for about two months. They make jams and pickles, brine vine leaves, and dry vegetables for the winter, bringing them back to enjoy in Istanbul.