In November 2021, the Türkiye–Albania Gastronomy Diplomacy Initiative was launched in Tirana as a meaningful social gastronomy project centred on the transformative power of food. Led by Ebru Baybara Demir, the two-week training programme was designed for orphaned mothers, positioning gastronomy as a tool for social inclusion and empowerment.
Throughout the programme, participating women learned the time-honoured recipes of both Turkish and Albanian cuisines, developing a shared culinary language rooted in cooperation and mutual learning. The initiative aimed not only to teach cooking skills, but also to support the creation of sustainable income opportunities, enabling women to build new livelihoods through shared commercial kitchens.
The kitchen established in Tirana once again demonstrated that gastronomy is more than flavour—it is a universal language of solidarity, healing, and connection, capable of bringing people and cultures together around a shared future.