Kebab becomes luxury for many Turks amid rising inflation, living cost

By Xinhua Published: Oct 28, 2022 08:36 AM

A chef cooks kebab at a restaurant in Ankara, Türkiye, on Oct. 27, 2022. Turkish kebab, an icon of Middle East cuisine, has been a traditional favorite treat among ordinary people in Türkiye. But rising inflation during the past year has made it out of reach for many Turks.(Photo: Xinhua)

A man has a kebab meal at a restaurant in Ankara, Türkiye, on Oct. 27, 2022. Turkish kebab, an icon of Middle East cuisine, has been a traditional favorite treat among ordinary people in Türkiye. But rising inflation during the past year has made it out of reach for many Turks.(Photo: Xinhua)

A chef prepares kebab meals at a restaurant in Ankara, Türkiye, on Oct. 27, 2022. Turkish kebab, an icon of Middle East cuisine, has been a traditional favorite treat among ordinary people in Türkiye. But rising inflation during the past year has made it out of reach for many Turks.(Photo: Xinhua)

Turkish kebab, an icon of Middle East cuisine, has been a traditional favorite treat among ordinary people in Türkiye. But rising inflation during the past year has made it out of reach for many Turks.

"We have lost about a third of our customers in the past year. They simply don't come and eat a kebab as before," Sevket Belli, owner of the Ozlem Kebabhouse in the Turkish capital Ankara's commercial Kizilay District, told Xinhua.

"I cannot blame our clients because we had to increase several times our prices in the past months due to soaring costs," he added.

The kebab is made of pieces of meat or fish and vegetables grilled on a skewer or roasted using a rotisserie. Many customers have reduced visits to the restaurants because of the rising price of kebabs.

"Last year I used to come here several times a week for lunch because it is close to my office, but nowadays it's once or twice a month," said Teoman, a customer at the Ozlem Kebabhouse who declined to give his full name.

Turkish families are struggling to keep up with rising prices of all goods, especially the 93-percent annual increase in food prices, according to the index released by the Turkish Statistical Institute in early October.

The country's annual inflation hit 83.4 percent in September, the highest since 1998, amid weakened currency and declining purchasing power of households.

Belli explained that meat prices have doubled since last year and so have electricity and gas bills, leading to rising costs that forced him to raise kebab prices.

"When you don't have spare cash, kebab becomes a luxury," he said, adding that some workers have returned to the old habit of bringing their homemade meals to work, instead of eating in a restaurant.

In another kebab restaurant in the neighborhood, Kemal Yasa, the manager, noted that even those customers who still visit his restaurant also ordered less.

"They don't order several plates of different kebabs, they generally stick to the most affordable items on the menu, such as the Lahmacun," Yasa told Xinhua, referring to a flatbread topped with minced meat.

Lamb mince or cube skewers, which use more meat, are still on the menu, but customers mostly avoid them as they are more expensive, Yasa said.

Prices are rising globally, due to the factors including supply shortages triggered by the COVID-19-related restrictions and Russia-Ukraine conflict. Turkish experts give a gloomy forecast for the economy in the coming months.

"We expect inflation to be at the level of 73.5 percent at the end of the year, which is exceptionally high compared with our historical records and with other countries," Enver Erkan, chief economist at Istanbul's brokerage house Tera Securities, said in a note to investors.

Erkan stressed that the government's policy to keep interest rates low despite high inflation would lead to further rise in goods' prices. The Turkish currency lira, which lost 44 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar in 2021, has devalued by 29 percent so far in 2022.