In the spring 2026 seminar titled: “The Supper - Reflections on Food Cultures as a Common Space of Cosmopolitanism”, we aim to explore the culinary traditions of our diverse cultural backgrounds in greater depth from various perspectives.

Through the diversity of textures, colors, and flavors in food, the various cuisines of the world and their dining cultures have served as a cultural means of communication from the dawn of our shared history to the present day. As a common language transcending geographical borders, linguistic systems, and religions, recipes and food cultures have evolved over centuries and are subject to constant change due to shifting sociopolitical conditions and human mobility. For one example, the meze culture—found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire as well as in those influenced by Greece, Armenia, Arabia, Italy, and the Balkans—reflects the multicultural and cosmopolitan history of the Mediterranean region. A cultural tradition and culinary way of life for long conversations at the dinner table and a bridge between people that offers space for political debate, facilitates discussions about life in general, and can also be understood as a kind of political act of togetherness. In Greek, mezés means “inside” and “in the middle of the table.” In Persian, “mazze” means “to taste food” and refers to a selection of small dishes served simultaneously to guests at a table, a tradition originally widespread in parts of Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, the Middle East, and North Africa. Yet despite the transnational character of this culinary tradition and the shared spices and ingredients, it is possible to taste and recognize the different cultures through their textures and names.

Over the centuries, certain ingredients such as spices, fruits, and vegetables were transported between Africa, Asia, and Europe via caravan routes and the historic Silk Road—a network of trade routes that connected the entire known world at the time and served as a central economic, cultural, political, and religious hub between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century, remaining connected to the entire world to this day. We aim to explore, taste, and smell the various reflections on this vast subject matter as a group, in order to collectively understand the culinary as well as the socio-political aspects of food celebrations and hosting traditions, and how cultures continue to coexist and merge through culinary styles to this day.

We will then share the insights from this seminar with the audience during the AMAN AMAN! festival through collective artistic, culinary, and performative interventions over the course of the three-day festival.

AMAN AMAN! will be celebrated in Berlin with a three-day festival at SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut—through concerts, listening sessions, film screenings, lectures, and culinary interventions, the interwoven echoes of the Eastern Mediterranean region and the multifaceted stories inscribed within it will become audible, visible, and tangible. The region’s cultural heritage, which has always been shaped by migration, displacement, and exile, unfolds within Berlin’s transcultural contemporary space. The festival seeks fluid narratives beyond chronological orders and opens up polycentric perspectives from the diaspora that reposition themselves through sound, language, film, and cuisine—beyond clear-cut labels and clichés.