This Might Be Türkiye’s Vegan Paradise (All Traditional!)

This is Turkish food like you’ve never seen before! İzmir blew my mind!

📍İzmir, TÜRKIYE
I’m exploring the region of İzmir to learn all about the traditional dishes that happen to be vegan. From the famous bagel-like breads called Gevrek to an entire category of Turkish cuisine that revolves all around genius ways to cook vegetables with olive oil, this is the kind of food that usually only locals get to eat.

İzmir Part 1: https://youtu.be/QgddbLnm1H0

📚 My book Naturally Vegan (includes recipes and stories from my travels): https://geni.us/NaturallyVegan

🍴 RECIPES FROM THE EPISODE
Mercimek Köftesi: https://bakinghermann.com/mercimek-koftesi/

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:49 Ege Otları
01:26 Market
02:45 Sinkonta
03:26 Çipohorta
04:02 Çalkama
04:35 Lokanta
07:42 Gevrek
10:42 Boyoz
12:42 TeamWater
13:47 Zeytinyağlılar
14:48 Domat Bastı
15:28 Balkabağı Köftesi
15:59 Mercimek Köftesi
19:15 End

IZMIR FOOD TOUR

This episode begins with a visit to a local market, followed by a traditional Lokanta lunch at Beğendik Abi (https://maps.app.goo.gl/7yoob9wf2LJ6jfty8). Here, chef Handan Kaygusuzer showed me three traditional dishes: Sinkonta, Çipohorta and Çalkama. These are exactly the kind of dishes that not many would associate with Turkish food, but all of them are incredibly delicious and shine a light on what the local cuisine is really like. I also love how you choose your dishes at a Lokanta. Rather than from a menu, you walk up to the counter where the dishes are displayed and choose from there. So many of these are traditionally vegan, incredible!

My next stop demanded a 4 am alarm. I joined the bakers of the popular Zeynel Ergin Gevrek Fırını (https://maps.app.goo.gl/vF7bkzWqRkKuoXDy5) to see how they bake İzmir’s famous Gevrek. The early call time was well worth it. The process is fascinating and biting into a freshly baked Gevrek that’s still warm is simply priceless.

Across the bakery, they sell Boyoz, which are layered filo pastries, some of them stuffed. I had a plain one, one with spinach and one with sweetened tahini. All of them were delicious. Sometimes these are made with butter, so do check ahead if you’re on a plant-based diet.

My final stop is at the serene Asma Yaprağı (https://maps.app.goo.gl/pmEWkCExKfhdVZkCA). The moment you step into the garden, you know you’re in for a treat. Here, Ayşe Nur Mıhçı knocks out a huge range of traditional dishes, many of which again happen to be vegan. She showed me how she prepares Domat Bastı, Balkabağı Köftesi and Mercimek Köftesi, three unique dishes that are also often overlooked.

THE MISSION

Vegan food is not a modern invention. It’s a modern label. We’ve been eating plant-based dishes for thousands of years, be it for religious reasons, out of poverty or simply because of what was available naturally. This show is about discovering these kinds of dishes – dishes from around the world that just happen to be vegan — so that we can embrace them for a more sustainable plant-based diet.

📣 Let me know in the comments which country I should visit next and what dishes I might find!

💦 TEAM WATER
I joined @MrBeast and @MarkRober’s #TeamWater to bring clean water to 2 million people around the world. This is huuuuge! They’re partnering with local communities to build long-lasting solutions and lay the groundwork for them to own and operate their water supply. Donating $1 gives one person clean water for a year. $20 gives them clean water for decades. You can donate here: https://teamwater.org/

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Edit by Trang Nguyen

Get ready for Türkiye’s iconic
answer to the famous bagel That is crunchy. The country’s secret vegetable dishes. It’s always
the most simple dishes that are most satisfying. And restaurant-style home cooking
like you’ve never seen before. Boom! That is incredibly delicious. Nestled along Türkiye’s Aegean coast Izmir is a treasure trove of culinary highlights, and I’m ready
to taste them all with one mission, they’ve got to be
traditionally plant-based. In this episode,
I’m checking out three culinary hotspots to find the kind of dishes
that too often get overlooked. And let me tell you, Türkiye
might just be more vegan-friendly
than you ever imagined. So let’s see what
that’s all about. I’m excited to try some traditional food
from the Aegean coast, and for my first stop,
I’m in Urla. This part of Türkiye is known
for wild herb dishes, so let’s try it Ege Otlari. This is Turkish food
like you’ve never seen before. A colorful mix of herbs,
vegetables, flowers and much, much more is turned
into vibrant dishes that represent the way
locals along the coast have been eating
for hundreds of years. At Beğendik Abi Chef Handan
keeps these traditions alive, offering
a huge range of dishes that just happen
to be plant-based. But before we head
into the kitchen, it’s time to do some shopping. We’re kicking things off here
at a local market in Urla, and I’m about to meet
our first chef. This is Handan, chef and owner of Urla’s poster
child restaurant, Beğendik Abi. This morning she’s taking me
to her local market. A culinary wonderland
that is a dream come true for chefs and home
cooks alike. Here, vegetables like celeriac with a crown of dark
leaves, gherkins that beg to be pickled
and cauliflowers the size of my head are sold
next to walnuts, beans in all the different colors, baskets of citrus fruits
and okra like you’ve never seen before. With Handan taking the lead, we filled the basket with our ingredients
for an Aegean feast. Green tomatoes, red
peppers, bunches of spinach, beetroots with its leaves,
courgettes with their flowers, vibrant green chard,
and a pumpkin so big that it needed
to be cut with a chainsaw all enter the basket,
one after each other. But where were the wild herbs? So she explained that
unfortunately, wild herbs are not yet in season, so she was hoping that we would find a stall selling
wild herbs. Usually they would go out into the fields
or into the forests to actually pick the herbs, but at the moment
all the herbs here are farmed. So she just bought a few other
things, including the leaves
of peppers. Incredible. So she’s going to use
all those in the dishes she’s going to cook for us now
at the restaurant. Let’s go. Once we arrived
at the restaurant, Handan wasted no time
and kicked things off with a local classic:
Sinkonta. First,
the pumpkin from the market is peeled, cored and sliced. A tray coated
with olive oil seems to be the perfect vessel
of choice for the pumpkin, plenty of sliced onions
and whole garlic cloves, but a larger boat is needed for this batch
to allow for even roasting. Season with salt, sugar
and more olive oil and give it the finishing
touches. A thickly sliced red pepper,
a bit more seasoning and the tray is ready to hit
the wood fired oven, where the magic of heat
caramelizes the sweetness
of the onions, pumpkin and peppers
until everything looks gnarly like this. Time for dish number two. Çipohorta. Of course, it starts
with plenty of olive oil. Add to that onions
and some sliced tomatoes. Then let the layering begin. This dish is a concoction
of a dozen different ingredients like garlic
and sliced courgettes, red peppers, purslane, courgette
flowers and chard leaves. After a few more garlic
cloves, it’s seasoned with salt before more courgette flowers,
red peppers and olive oil join the mix. Sliced artichoke hearts
are the final addition before it’s time to hit the stove and steam the veg
into a rich stew. Onto another classic and the third dish of the day
Çalkama. Here’s where the greens
and herbs come to play. It starts with a simple batter
of flour, salt and water. Pour it into the tray
with some olive oil and it’s already time
for a mountain worth of greens,
usually mostly wild herbs
from the local region. Add to that some onions, more of the batter,
a glug of olive oil and some salt,
and this too is destined for the oven to transform the humble ingredients into
a feast of roasted aromas. I quickly
want to show you this. So we are here
in the lokanta now, which is a traditional
restaurant in Türkiye. And in a lokanta
like this, you can come in and you have this incredible
range of dishes. You can walk to the counter and
order from all of these. Also, we don’t have a
kind of menu we usually cook and sometimes,
depends on the season, we can add
some different things to the daily menu
and you can select from here With three dishes
already locked in, the table quickly filled up
to become a spread worthy of an Ottoman feast. Stuffed vine
leaves, stewed aubergines and artichokes, filled squash
blossoms, and slow cooked beans were all part of this
traditional lokanta lunch. Here we are. We’ve got an incredible
range of dishes on the table. Unbelievable. There’s a plate here
in front of me, but I actually won’t need that because I’m just going to go
through it dish by dish. But how fun is it that you can
go to the counter, and then you can choose
from all those dishes? And a lot of them happened
to be plant-based. I’m excited to try the dishes
that she cooked for us. Let’s start
with this Sinkonta. I can smell that beautiful
sweet onion flavor. As if the onions have
melted into the oil, that’s
what it already smells like. It’s always
the most simple dishes that are the most satisfying. You really have like 3
or 4 ingredients in here but because it’s cooked in
so much olive oil, you get these beautiful charred
flavours from that oven and these onions
just melt in your mouth together with that pumpkin,
and it just makes a creamy mouthful
of wonderfully cooked veg. Delicious. Let’s try the next one.
Over here we’ve got the Çalkama. So this was really greens
galore. An intense flavor of greens. Wow. That is
serious. From the peppers. The pepper of the chilies. She added the leaves
which I’ve never seen before. It adds a really almost
slightly medicinal pepperminty flavor to this whole dish. The batter doesn’t get crispy,
obviously. It just keeps together
all those greens and almost gives it
like a frittata kind of vibe. And because of the oven,
again, you get this really nice
char on top. Look at that. So you’ve got the onion
and those greens. Oh! Usually a dish like that
I know as like sautéed greens on the side, right? You get that plate of greens, cooked. Olive oil. Wonderful. But this is a different way
of cooking them. And I can imagine that
this changes with the seasons. So whatever herbs or greens they get.
And you always have a dish that tastes completely different
throughout the year. The more I eat that,
the better it becomes. And then we’ve got the third
dish she cooked, which is the Çipohorta. Again, loads of greens but also artichoke,
loads of onions and then peppers, of course.
Serious on the olive oil and the green tomatoes are in here
as well. Super excited to try this one. Intense.
Like the most intense version of stewed greens and veg. The artichoke add a really nice, almost tangy
flavour to the dish, but you’ve got the green tomato,
that little bit of a umami. But also, this sourness
of a green tomato. You can really taste that and it brings the whole dish
together. That is so refreshing. Delicious. Look at the bottom
of the plate here. When you
bite into that, it’s so juicy. And just
a heads up that a lot of these dishes
are actually served cold. So yeah,
you go to the counter, you choose them.
They’re not reheated. The only one here is the kuru
fasulye that’s reheated. And when it’s warm outside,
like now it’s 27°C. It’s actually
quite refreshing. You know when you leave a dish
in the fridge overnight, it actually brings out
the flavours more anyway. But it’s such a fun experience that you can walk into a place
like this, into a lokanta and really structure
your own dishes by choosing beans
and breads and loads of veg. What a fun culture! What a fun way to eat here
in Türkiye. It’s just getting light
outside. I’m on my way to the next stop and that can only mean
one thing. I’m visiting a bakery.
All over Türkiye you’ll find bagel-like breads
covered in sesame seeds. In Istanbul,
they’re called simit. And here in Izmir
they’re called gevrek. For some it’s baguettes, for others,
it’s a slice of sourdough. But for the people of Izmir, the morning
bread of choice is gevrek. It’s a cultural food
phenomenon. And here, at the Aegean coast,
there’s one place that does them like no other. This bakery is a local’s
favourite, with crowds lining the streets
the moment the sun hits the sky, ready to get their daily dose
of this Turkish staple. Today, I’m joining the bakers of this Izmir institution
to see how they knock out one of the city’s most beloved
foods. Long before dawn,
the stage is lit. It’s the bakers hour, a magical moment at night
when all else sleeps and when gevrek
begins to take shape. It all starts with the dough,
a mixture of flour, salt, yeast and water
that is churned by machine while
being turned by hand. Once it
comes together like this. The dough is transferred
and covered to let the yeast do its job. From here it’s given its iconic shape one by one,
the firm dough transforms into perfect circles
that are then dropped into a hot bath
of molasses, a crucial step that allows
the sesame seeds to stick while coating the dough
for optimal caramelization. A final bit of shaping,
and it’s time for the gevrek to hit what might be Türkiye’s
longest bread paddle. Their mode of transport into the mouth
of the blasting beast. Moments later, they reemerge.
The sight of the golden crust, the smell of toasted sesame
seeds, the aroma of fresh
yeasted bread and the buzzing
sound of the bakery. It’s an irresistible spell
on all the senses, and it has long worked its charm on the early
morning crowd that is now gathering out
front. Hungry, eager, ready, just like I am,
to finally tuck into Izmir’s famous gevrek. Here we go. And that is the gevrek ready. Oh, it’s pretty intense. First gevrek I ever try. That is crunchy and warm. Wow. So it’s
got the bagel chewiness and then that toasted sesame
flavour kicking in. I had one in Istanbul.
It wasn’t crunchy at all. It was just like a soft bagel.
Very chewy. The crunch
takes it to the next level. That is incredible. Really good, wow. We’ve seen them dunk them into the mixture of molasses
and water. You almost expect
there to be a bit of sweetness. But it’s just to have the sesame
seeds stick onto the gevrek. So no sweetness. Just really wonderful bagel
like sort of bread. When it’s warm this is the perfect snack
to just have by itself. You don’t need anything
with it, but loads of people have it
for breakfast. You can have jam with it, you can eat olives alongside
it. That is wonderful. So when you walk around town,
you’ll see a lot of people selling gevrek or in Istanbul,
simit on the street. But I think to
really experience the full flavour of them,
you have to get them warm. So I would recommend
find a bakery that makes them,
pick up a warm gevrek and tuck in,
because that is sensational. That is so good. Also quickly
wanted to show you this. So this is Boyoz, which is actually sold
just across the street and it’s made out
of filo pastry. So a really thin though
that’s layered and got a couple of these
completely naturally plant based. It’s almost like
a little surprise package. You don’t really know
what you’re going to get. Only here you can see a little bit
of spinach peeking out, but with the other ones…
Let’s find out. I’m going to
try the spinach one first. Okay. That is flaky. You can already see all those layers of thin
filo pastry dough Let’s tuck in. And crunchy
on the top as well. You could hear the crunch. That is stuffed. A lot of spinach in there. It’s very savoury. I didn’t expect that. But even the dough.
That is delicious, You’ve got this really well
stuffed center and then you’ve got
these flaky layers of dough. I expected
when you bite into this, it’s going to be mainly dough but because of the filling,
it actually is… It’s just really savoury
and fun to eat. Okay. And then we’ve got
the next one. Oh, this one is lighter.
Let’s see what’s inside here. Hardly weighs
anything. That is crunchy. So that’s a surprise
package. I think this is a plain one. I don’t think
there’s anything in here. Oh, I mean,
look at the flakes. That is
just thousands of layers. Oh. You can see that here. These golden layers
turning really, really crunchy on the bottom. You expect to just
chew on dough. But it’s so light because of those layers, so
well seasoned, it’s almost has a little bit
of a tangy flavor, as if it’s made with
sour dough. It’s not. But you get that savoury
tanginess. Wow. So this is the last one. This must be the tahini
one. Here we go. Oh yeah. That is heavier
again. Whoa. Okay. You can see the tahini
being sort of folded into those layers. So intense
tahini sesame smell. And if that’s sweetened
I think you can see a little bit of sugar in there. That is actually
quite incredible. So it is sweetened.
It’s sweetened with sugar. Look at that tahini.
It’s woven into those layers. Like when you have any sweet
nut butter. sort of, almost like that
nutella sort of vibe, but then in sesame form,
that is so much fun to eat. And because it’s in all these
layers, you still
have a bit of crunch. All these flakes, slightly greasy,
and then that sweet tahini turns it into a wonderful,
wonderful treat. Oh, so good. Hey, guys, let’s take a quick break to talk about
something really important. I’ve got a new haircut. Oh god!
Maybe we shouldn’t put that in. All jokes aside,
I’ve got a really important mission
to share with you. And it involves this. To most of us, this is just
an ordinary glass of water. We use it to brush our teeth. We drink it whenever we want,
and we use it to shower whenever
we feel like taking a shower. But one out of ten people
in the world don’t have access to clean water. With your help,
that’s about to change. I’ve joined Mr. Beast’s #TeamWater the biggest creator
crowdfunding campaign ever. From now on,
we’re raising $40 million to bring clean water
to 2 million people. Working directly
with local communities. And the best part is, you
can be part of #TeamWater too go to teamwater.org
right now and donate. $1 gives somebody clean
water for a year. $20 gives them clean water
for decades. Let’s make history together side by side with communities
across the world. Water connects us all. And everyone deserves
clean water. Now back
to the episode. Enjoy. It’s my last day in Türkiye, I now spent two weeks
in the country, and one thing
that continues to blow my mind is how many traditionally vegan dishes
you find here. And that’s because here
in the west of the country, you find a concept
called zeytinyağlıar, and that refers to dishes
that have been cooked with olive oil
quite often by default, those dishes are also
plant-based. So today here on my last day, I wanted to show you a bit
more of that diversity. So let’s try Zeytinyağlılar A visit to the Aegean coast
would be incomplete without trying the abundance
of the so-called olive oil dishes,
but the translation hardly does it justice. This is an entire category of Turkish cuisine
that turns seasonal produce into a vibrant
spread of delicious fare, with olive oil only being the cooking
fat of choice. Here at Türkiye’s Aegean coast, one woman has given
these dishes the prime spot they deserve and serves them home cooked style
at her idyllic restaurant just outside of the town
of Alacati. And today she’s
letting me in on her secrets. The star of the show,
are of course, green tomatoes. With a firmer
texture and tangy flavour, they are key ingredient
for this dish. Cut them into wedges. Then it’s time to sauté onions, garlic and a fiery
amount of two kinds of chilies in, you guessed it, olive oil. Now add the tomatoes
and follow with parsley, rice, salt, some water
and sugar before letting the ingredients
cook into a luscious stew. For this wild fennel
and julienned pumpkin are mixed together with black pepper
flour, pul biber and cumin. From here, they are shaped
into thick patties and fried in the satisfying
sizzle of olive oil until they are caramelized
and golden. The visual cue that kicks
the appetite into gear. Time for the third
dish, mercimek köftesi. This one starts
with sautéed onions that are combined
with plenty of tomato paste to give them a deep
umami kick. They are then mixed together
with cooked lentils and bulgur and flavoured
with olive oil, black pepper, cumin, salt,
parsley and spring onions. Mercimek köftesi translates to lentil balls and are known for their iconic
handmade shape. Then stack them up together
with seasonal greens, crunchy veg
and plenty of lemon wedges. But if you think three dishes makes a feast at Asma Yaprağı,
you’re in for a surprise. Around lunchtime,
the homely kitchen table transforms
into a showpiece of traditional
and seasonal dishes. There’s okra with sour cherries,
stuffed courgette flowers, potatoes with stewed greens
and hazelnuts, stuffed vine leaves and many, many more. Now we’ve got this incredibly colourful table
here in front of me, and this is actually how you
then choose your meal. This is incredible. So you walk in here and you have this huge
range of dishes to choose from, colourful, flavourful dishes
you can choose with your eyes. And then you go out into the garden
where it’s very peaceful and you have your lunch. So I’m going to make
my selection now, and then I’m going to head
into the garden to taste them. What a way to end the trip
here through West Türkiye. I’m going to load a little bit of everything onto this plate
and tuck in, starting with a green tomato and rice
dish. The pumpkin köfte, a few of the
mercimek köftesi, and then we’ve got
celeriac and chickpeas, sinkonta,
which is a charred squash and onion dish, aubergines
with rice and loads of herbs. A salad with cabbage
and sour cherries, stuffed croquette blossoms, stuffed
vine leaves with sour cherries and okra
with sour cherries as well. So we loaded up our plate. An incredible selection
of dishes. What a fun food culture. Let’s tuck in, starting with the
tomato dish she made first. Garlic, olive oil, chili combination.
That is incredibly delicious. They’re cold dishes
but they’re so refreshing. These tomatoes are really nice
and tangy together with the chili you have a really nice spice
and heat. That’s what I mean. That dish
alone you would just eat up an entire plate of that
and you wouldn’t complain. And then we’ve got the pumpkin
köfte here. With the wild nettle and that is
giving it so much flavour. It’s almost like the raki that they traditionally drink here in Türkiye,
you get that aniseed flavor has a little bit of freshness,
like a peppermint. A pumpkin can be by itself
quite heavy, but that herb brightens it up and then it’s
fried in olive oil. So you really have that nice
crust on top. So you get different textures,
different flavours. Wonderful. Another incredible
dish. This type of cooking is just so humble almost. You just use
seasonal ingredients, but you just combine them
in the way that you get
the best flavour out of them. And then we’ve
got the mercimek köftesi. This is a sorrel leaf,
so it adds even more flavour. And then loads of lemon juice
on top of that. Here we go. Yes. The freshness
of that lemon juice, the crunch of the leaf. And then you have this bulgur lentil spiced
goodness in there. That is one of my favourite
dishes. It was really hard to find. A lot of times it’s
actually only served at home. She sometimes
has it on the menu. Before I came to Türkiye,
I had no idea that you would find
this huge variety of dishes. But there’s a word for it,
zeytinyağlıar. So look out for that,
because these are dishes that are cooked with olive oil
and it’s the best, it’s such a fun way to explore
a lot of traditional flavours here in the west of Türkiye. That was
the end of my Türkiye trip, but I’m on a mission
to find traditional plant-based food
from all around the world. If you want to support me, hit thumbs up, subscribe and let me know
in the comments which country
I should visit next. Thanks for watching
and as always, wunderbar!