Spices used by the people for treatment and health protection at CPVID-19 pandemic: Sample of Istanbul province Historical Spice Bazaar

The purpose of this study is investigating of what are the spices that people use for Covid-19 protection / treatment, how and how often they use their attitudes during the Covid-19 pandemic process. For this purpose, the historical Spice Bazaar of Istanbul has been determined as the universe of the research. The sample of the research was determined by convenience sampling method, so a total of 46 participants, 7 of whom were herbalist, participated in the research. In the data collection process, a semi-structured interview form prepared from the questions formed as a result of the literature review was used. In the analysis of the data, descriptive and content analysis methods were used. The data obtained from the participants in the research were divided into themes according to the descriptive analysis method and transferred to the tables, various codes were produced with the content analysis method, the tables were interpreted in detail, and some of the participants' opinions were directly expressed as quote below the tables given. It was determined that the participants found spices effective in the fields of health, taste and weight loss. When compared with the literature, it was seen that the participants performed the methods of preserving the spices correctly. It was revealed that 56,4% of the participants consumed spices for Covid-19 prevention or treatment during the pandemic period, and 38,5% of them experienced an increase in the frequency of spice consumption for this purpose. While 82,0% of the participants think that spices can affect Covid-19, 74,3% of these participants stated that they would like to consume spices for treatment if they caught Covid-19. Key words: Covid-19, Pandemic, Spice, Historical Spice Bazaar of İstanbul.