Food is one of the keys to building relationships, cooperation, intercultural exchange, and interaction. It is practiced on many levels, at both the state and everyday levels, and we communicate with people from all over the world in a culinary context. Culinary diplomacy can strengthen the state and nation, and have a significant educational impact on the international community.

When in 2014 Russia once again showed its true intentions by occupying our territories and committing crimes against humanity, the world’s attention turned to Crimean Tatar culture, which needed and still needs to be protected, preserved, and developed. Catering establishments opened by internally displaced Crimean Tatars and culinary clubs that offer cooking classes are at the same time a way of realization, profit, and an opportunity to emphasize identity without losing one’s self in the space of a new city for Crimean Tatars.

The cooking of traditional dishes helps to preserve ties with the multinational culture of the Crimean Peninsula, which is now becoming more visible. Crimean Tatar restaurants, an important social space for Crimean Tatars to meet and present their culture through food, are increasingly common on the streets of Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and other Ukrainian cities. A significant contribution to intercultural dialogue is made by NGOs that research and popularize Crimean Tatar culture.

Food is one of the oldest relationship-building tools and a basic human need. Eating together has always been an important part of family celebrations and rituals. Collective consumption of food was a recognition by all participants of the significance of the family event. Even today, no important event in Crimean Tatar families—a wedding, the birth of a child, or a long journey—takes place without a meal and prayer.

The traditions of drinking coffee among the Crimean Tatar people, in particular, is a good example of a communication strategy in food culture:

• Hoşkeldi qavesi: Welcome coffee is served to guests during their visit, accompanied by leisurely conversation and the sound of grain being ground in a hand mill called “qave degirmeni.”
• Saba qavesi: Morning coffee brings the family around the table, where those closest to the family discuss plans for the day, support each other, and inquire about the well-being of the elders.
• Bayram qavesi: Festive coffee for hosting guests and relatives on the religious holidays of Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.
• Közaydın qavesi: This is a coffee for good news, used to celebrate joyful occasions and family achievements, such as the birth of a child, graduation, etc.
  

Recognition of the importance of culture is thus implemented at the international level in culinary diplomacy, as the joint preparation and consumption of food makes it possible to tell a story about a nation through the language of taste. The presentation of national dishes is an important indicator of how a nation sees and positions itself. Of course, dishes do not negotiate or convince, but they are one of the factors in finding a common ground that carries knowledge about the identity of a people, as gastronomy is a reflection of ethnic, religious, and socio-political identity.