Tandoori bread, one of the traditions about to be forgotten due to ongoing urbanization, has been kept alive in Sur district of Diyarbakır province. Evdet Aktaş is one of the women cooking tandoori bread instead of buying bread from bakeries selling more expensive bread due to the economic crisis.

Amed- Bread is one of the food products whose price is increased day by day in recent years due to the economic crisis. The price of bread, whose weight and price varies from city to city in Turkey, is between 1.50 TL and 2.50 TL in Diyarbakır. As there is a decrease in the number of bread units that citizens buy because of its increasing price, women living in the Sur district of Diyarbakır province cook tandoori bread and thus they are not affected by the increasing price.

Women gather and cook tandoori bread while having a chat with each other. They knead the dough at home and bring the dough to the tandoor made of mud and they shape round dough to cook bread.

She keeps alive the tradition inherited from her mother

Evdet Aktaş lives in the Alipaşa neighborhood of Sur district. She says they keep alive the tradition inherited from their mothers although the process of making tandoori bread is very hard. Pointing out that making tandoori bread are no longer made in the region due to technology and urbanization, Evdet says they don’t buy bread from bakeries for 25 years unless they have to.

“We can't afford to buy bread”

Stating that they make a new tandoor when their tandoor gets damaged, Evdet Aktaş says, “I have cooked this bread as long as I can remember. When our tandoor gets damaged or collapses, we make a new tandoor. The tandoori bread is both more delicious and cheaper. The price of a loaf of bread is not less than 1 TL and the price of flatbread is 3 TL. Instead of buying them, we buy flour and we cook our bread. Our family is a large family; we cannot buy bread from bakeries because its price is very high.

“It is the best alternative now”

Evdet Aktaş also says, “We cook tandoori bread once a week. The price of bread is increasing day by day. We cooked tandoori bread before, too. But now it is the best alternative against the increasing price. Our neighbors gather around the tandoor while we are cooking bread. We talk to each other. The relationship of people living here is better here. We know who has what kind of problems. We support each other.”