Three kitchens, one table. And the difference is what gives it flavour.

The Migrating Tastes is a short documentary about meze: a Turkish chef, a Syrian chef, and a chef who has lived in both countries. Each cooks from memory, and in the end they all sit down at one table. Directed by me.

DIFFERENCE IS POWER

THE FULL FILM · 15:31

The full film.

The three chefs around the meze table at night, under the lanterns

LANGUAGESTurkish · Arabic · English
SUBTITLESArabic and English, on screen
SHOTIstanbul, December 2021

In Persian, “maza” means flavour.

Small plates served in Türkiye, Syria, Lebanon, Greece and the Balkans. Every country has its own way, but it is the same table. That is where the film began: what sets us apart is the very thing that brings us together around food.

THREE CHEFS · THREE KITCHENS

Three chefs, each carrying a memory.

01 · ŞERİFE · TÜRKİYE
Chef Şerife

Lamb liver, with an onion salad of parsley and sumac.

Until her thirties she barely ate liver. Then one bite in an Armenian kitchen changed her mind, and the recipe became hers. On her ear: the last dried pepper left from her grandmother.

“Bitter or sweet, life is beautiful.”Şerife, in the film

SYCAMOREPEANUTSWAMP
02 · MONEER · SYRIA
Chef Moneer

Fattoush and hummus, the Syrian way.

He got his love of cooking from his grandmother, and dreams of being the best chef in Syria. To the table he brought makdous his mother made and sent from Syria.

“Fattoush without bread isn’t fattoush.”Moneer, in the film

AQUA ISLANDHOT TODDYCREOLE
03 · DIMA · SYRIA & TÜRKİYE
Chef Dima

Mutabbal. Add meat, and it becomes Türkiye’s Ali Nazik.

She has lived in Syria and in Türkiye, so she became the bridge between the two kitchens. She talked about Eid, maamoul, and neighbours who sent the plate back full.

“Every dish holds a memory — some sweet, some that hurt.”Dima, in the film

AQUA ISLANDHOT TODDYCREOLE

PRE-PRODUCTION · LOOK BOARDS

Before we shot, every chef had a colour.

One board per chef: light, frames and colour. Şerife in the garden sun, Dima in the kitchen, Moneer at night by the fire.

Şerife’s look board: the garden, the tree, greens and browns — **Şerife**BOARD I

Dima’s look board: the kitchen, pale blue with amber — **Dima**BOARD II

Moneer’s look board: night, lanterns and the food table — **Moneer**BOARD III

2026 · NEW GRADE + SUBTITLES

I went back to it after five years.

The first version had flat colour that didn’t match from shot to shot, and no subtitles. This year I regraded it shot by shot and added Arabic and English subtitles timed to the speech, so it finally looks like the documentary it was meant to be.

The shot in the first version, before the grade

BeforeAfter

Directed by me, with a small crew.

Direction and post-productionMe. From the shoot, to the edit, to the 2026 version with the new grade and subtitles.
Camera crewA small team from Geeks34.
Concept and treatmentCan Koçak, under the motto “Difference is power”.

THE MIGRATING TASTES

FeaturingChef ŞerifeChef MoneerChef Dima

TreatmentCan Koçak
Production CrewGeeks34
Post-ProductionAhmad Darwish

Directed byAhmad Darwish

Behind the camera

December 2021, at a house and garden in Istanbul.

The chefs and crew laughing in front of the painted cabin

The slate before a shot of Dima in the garden

Reviewing a take on the tablet with Şerife

A story about people and cultures? We tell it honestly.

From the idea and the shoot, to the grade and subtitles, to a film that reaches people as it is.

Let's talk See also: Maaloula