A pot sent next door is a small social contract. It may announce aşure season, a birth, a death, a crowded kitchen or simply the fact that dinner came out especially well. The vessel crosses a threshold carrying more than food.
Never return it empty
The rule is flexible but persistent: the plate or pot comes back with something inside. Fruit, cake, a few stuffed vine leaves — the return keeps generosity from becoming a debt and turns one gesture into a continuing route.
A neighbourhood can be measured by the distance its dishes travel.
