Traditional Foraged Spice, Sauce, and Egg-Painting Plants of Hatay, Türkiye: Bringing the Traditional into Commerce

Abstract

In the province of Hatay in Turkey, which has been added to the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy list in recent years and has made significant progress in gastronomy tourism, answers were sought to the following questions: What kinds of change have these developments caused in traditional foraging spice/sauce uses? In the 21st century, is it still possible to introduce new herbal products from the wild into agriculture? What effects does the multi-ethnic structure have on the traditional use of spices/sauces/food coloring plants? How have the uses of spices and sauces changed over the years? In addition, what level of spice/sauce variety was obtained by foraging in this Eastern Mediterranean province? Some spices, e.g., Thymbra spicata, which were supplied by foraging, have started to be obtained through agriculture due to the increasing demand following the city's entry into the UNESCO gastronomy cities list, and have become an important income source for the city. These plants, which are brought into agriculture from the local flora, are also important as alternative agricultural products that can be easily grown with minimum agricultural input in the climate and therefore water crisis conditions our world is facing. Some unique plant usages presented here, e.g., egg painting plants used by spring fests of various ethnoreligious populations, show how different ethnoreligious populations can affect each other when living in harmony for centuries. Hatay was the province that suffered the most destruction in the earthquake of February 6, 2023. We hope that this article, written just before the earthquake, will provide socio-economic guidance in the rebuilding of the city.