Muhallebici shop to get taste of city’s wetlands

ISTANBUL

A public installation by Cooking Sections, launched during the 17th Istanbul Biennial last year, “Wallowland / Çamuralem” reopened in Istanbul and will continue its mission and program in a new location in the Kurtulus neighborhood.

It reinterprets a Muhallebici (a buffalo milk dessert shop) to celebrate the water buffalos and their herders surrounding the city.

The installation is embedded in a wider long-term research project by Climavore x Jameel at RCA into the preservation of Istanbul’s wetlands and the water buffalos that have used them as a home and habitat for hundreds of years. As buffalos found refuge and wallow in the region’s former industrial sites, the wetlands evolved with their help to support a unique and varied ecosystem of multiple species, including a unique bird migration corridor.

Buffalo milk is a historic and quintessential ingredient in Turkish cuisine that relies on the protection of wetlands. These peripheral landscapes to the city are culturally diverse and deserve the highest protection, but as the wetlands become increasingly encroached by urbanization, Wallowland’s goal is to support this unique ecosystem and its historical food traditions.

Guests are invited to the new space to discuss and taste ongoing research on the history, environmental significance and culinary heritage of Istanbul’s wetlands and the buffalos that inhabit them.

Traditional buffalo milk products such as kaymak, yogurt, muhallebi and sütlaç, will be served alongside new recipes developed through collaborations between the herders and a number of restaurants and culinary institutions in Istanbul.

The shop operates as the urban outpost of the wetlands, convening researchers, chefs, herding communities and the wider public. It will serve as a platform for ongoing debates and conversations through a public program of talks and events leading up to Istanbul’s 2nd Water Buffalo Festival which will take place on Sept. 16. This annual celebration continues to highlight the presence and permanence of both water buffalo and herders in Istanbul.