Sephardic cuisine as a disappearing cultural value: A rewiev on İzmir Sephardic cuisine

Izmir is a city with a multicultural structure that has hosted various communities throughout history. Food culture is one of the areas where the effects of this cultural diversity can be seen. Considering Izmir's food culture, it is possible to see the effects of many different communities, especially Sephardic, Balkan immigrants and Rums. Apart from commerce and education, Sephardic community's contributions to Izmir cuisine, who migrated from Spain to Ottoman in 1492, were inevitable. When the literature is examined, the scarcity of the studies on Izmir Sephardic cuisine is remarkable. Researching and recording the food culture of this community, whose population has been decreasing due to various reasons, is important in terms of preserving this culture and transferring it to future generations. The purpose of this study is to specifythe distinguishing features of Izmir Sephardic cuisine in Turkish-Sephardic cuisine; to determine the current state of Izmir Sephardic cuisine; the current knowledge of this food culture in the literature and what can be done to maintain this culture. For this purpose, interview technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used and 21 people were interviewed. When the findings of the literature and the interview findings were compared, it was found that there were differences as well as similarities in the category of festive dishes. Depending on today's consumption preferences and living conditions, the results have emerged that Sephardic meals have started to disappear, the dishes are not known enough and are not continued by Sephardic youth. Key words:Izmir, Sephardic cuisine, Cultural value