Turkish Cuisine Week is celebrated each year from 21 to 27 May, both in Türkiye and around the globe, under the auspices of First Lady H.E. Emine Erdoğan.

Turkish Cuisine Week (TCW), Türkiye’s annual celebration of its rich culinary heritage, returns for the fifth time from May 21 to 27, emphasising what truly gives a dish significance. This year’s Turkish Cuisine Week theme, “The Heritage Table,” highlights the stories, memories, culture, traditions, and heritage embedded in a shared culinary heritage. It encourages food lovers to remember that it’s not only the unique flavours we taste that matter, but also the shared heritage on our tables.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye today announced the official theme for Turkish Cuisine Week 2026: “The Heritage Table” (Bir Sofrada Miras). Running from 21 to 27 May 2026, the week will be celebrated across Türkiye and at Turkish diplomatic missions and cultural centres worldwide. This year’s theme presents Turkish cuisine not just as a set of dishes but as a vibrant, shared cultural heritage— developed over centuries through migration, rituals, collective effort, and longstanding traditions at the table.

“The table is the oldest language of togetherness,” reads the theme’s central message. “Food connects people across time.”

The theme unfolds across three conceptual layers: Dialogue — the table as a platform where eras and cultures co-create shared meaning; Transformation — culinary memory inherited from recipe to recipe and generation to generation; and Archive — the kitchen as the most reliable archive of unwritten history, recreated daily on our tables.

Celebrations, which will focus on tasting the living heritage, will take place both in Türkiye and at overseas events hosted by Turkish embassies and missions. Planned activities include:

Shared Table Dinners: Long-table communal dining events that celebrate coming together.

Chef Collaborations: Joint dinners pairing Turkish chefs with international counterparts to foster cross-cultural culinary dialogue.

Technique Demonstrations: Hands-on workshops featuring traditional methods such as “yufka” rolling, slow cooking (keşkek, tandır) and open-fire grilling.

Ark of Flavours / Lezzet Arşivi: Pop-up living kitchen archive presenting historic recipes, ingredients and techniques, alongside guided tastings, for press, cultural leaders and gastronomy audiences.

Living Recipes Field Archive: This documentation highlights dishes influenced by migration and settlement, reflecting regional differences as they are today.

Spotlight Dishes

This year’s featured dishes highlight both cultural richness and culinary excellence. UNESCO-listed “keşkek"—the slow-cooked wheat and meat porridge—symbolises shared celebration and collective effort. Baklava represents craftsmanship and the passing of traditions through generations. "Mantı" (Turkish dumplings) reflect themes of migration and travel. "Dolma" showcases the diversity within a shared culinary language, while “helva” signifies solidarity and memory.