Unlikely Entrepreneurs

Wherever Syrians settled, scattered across Turkish cities such as Istanbul, Gaziantep, Ankara, and Mersin, so did their culinary culture. They started opening restaurants, bakeries, butcher shops, and groceries. Long-standing institutions from Aleppo and Damascus migrated with their communities. Those nostalgic for home would make the pilgrimage to those stores to find fresh ice cream and halawet el jibn from Salloura, spiced beef sausage sandwiches from Syrjeia, and, from Buuzecedi, a hearty bowl of fatteh — a layered casserole of fried pita, warm chickpeas, and cool garlic-yogurt sauce, all doused in olive oil or ghee and topped with toasted cashews and pine nuts.