Participants in the Istanbul bag-making workshop. Photos courtesy of Buğday.

Paper bags aren’t too commonly used in Turkey, but shopkeepers just love giving out plastic ones — for a tiny item that you could easily tuck into your purse or a pocket, for a single soda you’ll probably just drink on the way home anyway, for a few nectarines that are already in another plastic bag. I’ve gotten used to saying “Poşet lazim değil, çantama koyabilirim” (“a bag is not necessary, I can put it in my purse”) — and to the funny looks people usually give me in return. So the old “