Baklava brings blessings
How a dessert can carry cultural identities and family histories of survival.
Much of my Turkish-speaking family relocated to Turkey under pressure, where they were compelled to assume Turkish nationality and an ethnic identity that did not fully reflect who they were.
This baklava brought tangible blessings to my family. Most importantly, it afforded my grandmother a measure of financial independence in a society that restricted the agency and economic mobility of women.
Arbër Qerka-Gashi
Arbër Qerka-Gashi is a London-based writer, curator and researcher. He holds a BA in History from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a master’s in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture from Birkbeck, University of London. He writes on themes related to the Balkans, Albanian identity, diaspora experiences and Kosovo’s cultural expression.
This story was originally written in English.