The Atlantic Institute and Istanbul Cultural Center are proud to announce the 2019 Turkish Food Festival was an incredible success! We would like to thank Greenville Technical College for hosting us again this year, our volunteers for helping make this all happen, the Turkish community for coming out and putting on an amazing event, and all our friends, neighbors, guests, and attendees for making this year's festival a special one. We are truly blessed to have such a positive response for our humble food festival.

We are already gearing up for next year's Food Festival and hope to make each one better than the last. To that end, please consider heading over to the Facebook event page linked below to leave us a comment on what you enjoyed and what we can improve upon! We cannot express how important feedback is, so if you have the time we would appreciate your input.

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures and video of the event! Thank you all so much again for coming out and helping bring awareness to the Turkish community in the Upstate and to the plight of those in Turkey currently being persecuted based on political and religious beliefs. The funds raised this year will go a long way in getting legal defense for the women and children that are in prison right now just for their associations with people who believe in a stable, democratic Turkey.

Visit us on our Facebook page for more details.

Turkish Food Fest a Fantastic Success!
The Istanbul Cultural Center would like to extend our sincere appreciation to everyone who came out to show support for our Turkish Food Festival! The weather could not have been more perfect, the food could not have been more delicious, and the attendees could not have been more friendly and receptive! We certainly had a lot of fun preparing and serving delicious Turkish food to our attendees. Not only that, but we learned some Turkish language, posed with a Sultan, and got a chance to experience Turkish culture first hand. We cannot wait to come back next year with more space, more activities, and much, much more food!

Spartanburg Food Festival

For the past two years Istanbul Cultural Center has participated in Spartanburg's International Festival. We served many wonderful Turkish Food from our Food Booth and taught many people about Turkey that came by the Cultural Booths. Seeing all the different cultures coming together at this event is a really wonderful experience. The Spartanburg International Festival is one festival that you don't ever want to miss.

Spartanburg Food Festival

Saturday May 22nd The Atlantic Institute and its partner The Istanbul Center hosted a Turkish Food Feast here at our Columbia branch. Patrons were given the opportunity to enjoy an authentic, home cooked Turkish meal made by members of the Institute and their families. The event also featured a “learn Turkish” booth in which guests could go to, to learn some simple words and phrases in Turkish from Turkish volunteers as a part of the Istanbul Center. Over a hundred people came out to enjoy the food and each other’s company. It was a successful, fun event that lent itself toward cross-cultural conversation, which is ultimately the goal of any event hosted by these two organizations. Thank you to all those who came and feasted and a special thank you to our volunteers who cooked all of the incredible food! We appreciate each and every one of you who played a part in this events success and hope to host more events of this kind in the future.