Habitants living in Taşbaşı village of Hakkari, store their vegetables they collected from mountains, cheese in the canisters they gathered in the mountains, and different foods in caves to protect from the summer heat.

Those living in Taşbaşı village, located 50 kilometers away from the city center, benefit from the natural environment to store their food. The caves, which have been carved to be used as cold storage for the civilizations that have lived in the region for so many years, also respond to the needs of the Hakkari villagers. Villagers store yoghurt, cheese and other foods in these caves to ensure that they do not spoil.

Hacer Tasçı from Taşbasi village, who stated that she used caves as a refrigerator for 30 years, “Our elders learned this practice from Armenians who lived in the region previously. In the past years, Armenians kept their food cold with this method. We have settled to this village 30 years ago. There were neither refrigerators nor freezers, so we had to store all our food here. We are still using this method.”

Aysel Dayan also stated that the refrigerator in their house is inadequate and that they use the cave and said, “This is an old tradition of the region. We put our winter food here; yogurt, cheese, leaves and vegetables we gathered in the mountains in the spring. Thanks to caves, our materials remain cold. That’s why we continue to do this tradition.” (Mehmet Ozkan - ILKHA)