MARI
We met Mari through Fîdel, who knew her for many years, partly through her legacy as a restauranteur. When we interviewed her, Mari had recently closed her 3-story restaurant right off of Istiklal Caddesi, and was working more as a private chef and thinking about her next career moves. Mari joined us for the interview at the flat where our team was staying, a beautifully restored top floor apartment in an early 20th century Armenian building, replete with frescos on the walls—it seemed a fitting environment given Mari’s Armenian heritage.
Mari is a vibrant, playful, effusive woman, full of stories and anecdotes, laughing and joking, and her phone was ringing constantly throughout the interview. Through her work, she has amassed a colorful collection of clients and friends, and seems to take an almost childish delight in life, even in the midst of closing her business and reevaluating her life.
Born in Diyarbakır, Mari described herself as a very curious child. She moved with her family to Istanbul after the coup in 1980 and felt very fortunate to live in this incredible city. Her grandmother encouraged her always to listen to each story and song she encountered, as if she were listening to her favorite song. She remembers, as a child, hearing the sound of women mourning; this profound memory has stayed with her her whole life. In her house, many languages were spoken: French, Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish, and then upon moving to Istanbul she started to hear Russian, Greek, Ladino, English, Hungarian as well. She remembers smells more than sounds, and has always been fascinated by smell—from her childhood she remembers the smells of cloves, baking bread, gardens, flowers, freesias in particular, the smells of springtime.
As a child, they kept their Armenian Christian identity secret. She remembers a priest coming to the house and holding religious services in the house, and the children were given sweets and told to keep quiet about what they had seen. The children had an idea that they were somehow different, and when they came to Istanbul they began to attend an Armenian School. It wasn’t until her mother’s funeral that many of their friends and colleagues understood that they were Armenian Christians.
Right before our interview, Mari had returned from Diyarbakır, where she was studying the making of lahmacun with a few different cooks there. She was preparing to go to Los Angeles for a private cooking contract, and to spend some time getting acquainted with the sizable Armenian community there.
Mari loves Istanbul deeply, and considers it her home. We are curious, however, to see where the next adventure takes her—her insatiable appetite for learning, deepening her knowledge and creativity around food, and her sense of wonder and love for different cultures and traditions guarantee there will never be a dull moment.
