Reportage

Turkey: Faced with inflation, the Turks are turning to "homemade" products

Audio 01:15

A food store seller talks to customers at a market in Istanbul, Turkey, September 29, 2022. AP - Francisco Seco

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Consumer price inflation hit a new high in Turkey, hitting an official rate of 83.5% year on year in September.

Fueled by rising energy prices and by President Erdoğan's monetary policy, inflation is affecting all sectors, starting with transport and foodstuffs, whose prices have jumped 93%.

So, to save money, many Turks prefer “homemade” products.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul,

Expertly leaning over the stall, Fatoş buys the two main ingredients for her tomato paste, called “salça” in Turkish: tomatoes, of course, and peppers.

She will fill whole jars with it, which she will consume until spring.

Make your own salça?

A habit that this retiree had somewhat lost.

But the price of canned food has risen so much that Fatoş has gone back to cooking.

Not without complaining about the rising cost of his shopping cart.

Everything is expensive, everywhere!

Even the market has become expensive.

But it's still cheaper than in the stores.

So, you might as well cook yourself when you can.

It's simple: in Turkey, if you have money, you eat;

if you don't have any, you don't eat!

Selma, an employee of a cooperative that sells her salça on the market, confirms that her products have been less successful in recent months:

Everyone wonders how he will spend the winter.

Making your own salça, your own pasta… it was a bit out of fashion, but it's coming back.

The upside is that people are eating more home-cooked products.

The bad thing is that it relies mainly on the work of women... It makes their domestic work heavier.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who hopes to be re-elected in June 2023, faces Turkish discontent.

He promised a drop in inflation from the beginning of the year.

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