Kismet one summer in the White Mountains of New Hampshire leads a Turk from Istanbul and a Vermonter from the Northeast Kingdom to marry. In the unlikeliest of places they build a restaurant and a devoted community around the delights of Turkish cuisine -- until a calamity threatens to take their life's work down.
Meze on Main Street ~ A Love Story originated in JAM – Junction Arts & Media's 2022 documentary filmmaking course in partnership with Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning at Dartmouth. Long-time Tuckerbox patron and first-time filmmaker Jim Zien was curious about how this locally-beloved, Turkish dining establishment came to be in rural Vermont, far from the kinds of cosmopolitan settings where international cuisines thrive. Two years later, a thirty-minute documentary emerged under the mentorship of JAM's executive director, Samantha Davidson Green and with technical assistance from the JAM crew. Proprietors Vural and Jackie Oktay share the restaurant's origin story – and theirs. As the years unfold, unanticipated events reshape the story more than once. From calamity to community, Meze on Main Street follows the couple as they face an unexpected disaster and find overwhelming support from their friends and regulars.
