5 Strategies to Eat Vegetarian (and Eat Well) in Istanbul

Being a vegetarian on the road can be challenging especially in certain countries, and thank to its reputation as a kebab motherland Turkey may seem frightening to many vegetarian travelers. However, all those frightened could not be more mistaken. The abundance of fresh produce in any season makes Turkish cuisine one of the richest depositories of the vegetable-based dishes. And here is the guide that can help you discover and enjoy the vegetarian side of Istanbul food.

Don’t miss the obvious: meze

Probably, the most obvious way to eat vegetarian in Istanbul is to focus on meze, appetizers that typically feature seasonal vegetables simply cooked with little seasoning, which brings the taste of the staring ingredient forward. These little plates showcase such a variety of flavors that as a vegetarian you only wish you could be reborn in Turkey in your next life. What comes as a starter can easily become a light lunch or dinner or, when paired with a few glasses of wine, gets elevated to a memorable feast. Smoky eggplant pure (patlıcan ezmesi), spicy tomato paste (acılı ezme), beans stewed in the sauce of tomato, onions and olive oil (barbunya pilaki) and artichokes braised in olive oil (zeytinyağlı enginar) are only a few examples to mention.

Good meze are not difficult to found in Istanbul. Fish restaurants are just one of those options: it is not uncommon to skip the fish and spend the evening savoring just meze over drinks and conversation. Good delicacy shops pride themselves on selling high-quality meze by weight to take away or sometimes enjoy at the premises; be sure to check out Namlı in Karaköy or Gözde at the Kadıköy Market. Restaurants focusing on the cuisines of various Turkish regions are also worth a visit: keen an eye on the eateries featuring the flavors of the Aegean coast (e.g. Giritli) and South-Eastern Turkey (e.g. Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası) and you will be rewarded with many vegetarian flavors you may come as a revelation to you.

Invade kebab houses without fear

Counter-intuitive strategies work best at times. The places you’d think you must stay clear from may hide the most wonderful discoveries as long as you know the trick. At a good kebab house so much of meatless compliments would arrive to your table with the order of the main dish that as a vegetarian you would have to pinch yourself. Have a look at the photo of the feast at Canım Ciğerim, a small backstreet eatery in Beyoğlu where a Turkish friend of mine Tutku brought during my first trip to Istanbul 5 years ago. Yes, they are famous for liver that I very much enjoyed back then, but who cares for liver with such a spread! No vegetarian would leave hungry after sampling the selection of fresh herbs, pickles, sumac-coated onion, grilled vegetables and ground fresh tomato generously seasoned with pomegranate molasses. All these delights can be turned into wraps with the flat breads accompanying the meal. Going to a place like this is it’s a perfect strategy for a couple or a group of friends when some eat meat and some don’t.

And you can be even more strategic when picking the kebab house to invade as the readers of this blog already know: even such a stronghold of the carnivore traditions as Kebabçi Iskender serves a fantastically delicious vegetarian kebab (no, we are not talking about grilled vegetables). So-much-fussed-about Ciya also offers a decent vegetarian kebab made of fine bulgur.

Discover Turkish home cooking

If you had a chance to join a regular meal of a Turkish family you’d be surprised about how little meat you’d see on the table. Sparing use of meat and abundance of meatless dishes in the Turkish home cooking is a little dirty secret that no one hurries to reveal. If an invitation to a Turkish home does not happen don’t despair: all a vegetarian traveler to Istanbul needs to do is to find a small eatery run by a woman – she is likely to be turning wonderful Turkish home cooked-style meals. If you don’t want to risk it, just head out to my favorite Açik Mutfak in Galata for dinner that would make you feel adopted – even if for one evening – by a Turkish mother who put all her love and dedication into the food that arrives to your plate. Or, if feeling adventurous, get on a bus to Sapanca to taste the heavenly food of my mother-in-law: she might be pulling my leg about not eating meat but more often than not these days she eats just like I do and turns a record number of vegetarian Turkish dishes.

A decent vegetarian meal is also awaiting you at any canteen (esnaf lokantası) catering to the shopkeepers and other self-employed individuals at any commercial area of Istanbul: the food is presented in a buffet-style where you can point to a dish and ask for a full portion or just a half if you prefer to try a few dishes at a single meal. While most treats will have a piece or two of meat you are guaranteed to find vegetarian treats such as bean stewed in tomato paste garnished with rice and pickle. Don’t miss the beautiful lentil soups such as mercimek çorbası or ezogelin çorbası and don’t worry so much whether they contain any meat or meat stock - these humble soups are not so lavish.

Sample new Istanbul cuisine

Another strategy for a vegetarian in Istanbul would be to look for the dining opportunities created by the new generation of chefs, often well-traveled or educated abroad. Besides some bold ideas you will see another common trend on their menus – larger variety of the vegetarian dishes.

While Didem Şenol ‘s Lokanta Maya menu may feature only a few, her other establishment, Gram in Pera is a delight for any vegetarian: the lunch buffet is full the tasty vegetarian treats made with the intriguing seasonal ingredients. Şemsa Denizsel of Kantin surely understands that as a lunch establishment she has to focus on comfort food, which means meat for most Turks, but she’s not shy to include very solid vegetarian dishes in her menu and her salads are world-class. Hande Bozdoğan of Istanbul Culinary Institute envisioned that her students will be learning modern Turkish cooking as they use the fresh produce the school sources from their own farm in Saros, Aegean coast of Turkey. The dishes cooked by the students are offered to the guests of the school’s restaurant Enstitü in Tepebaşi.

DIY

DIY usually sounds like a worst-case-scenario because you do it yourself if everything else fails. Not in this case though: if you are a vegetarian plus an enthusiastic cook you will hava gala time in Istanbul! All you need to do is to rent an apartment with a good kitchen and then lose yourself at the Istanbul food markets.

Be strategic about the location of the apartment and the dates of your stay. If you are in Galata or Beyoğlu area it puts you close to the three bombastic weekend markets: hectic Saturday Beşiktaş market, Sunday Tarlabaşi market and the gem you will feel so privileged to discover – Sunday Inebolu market in Kasımpaşa, where farmers from the Black Sea bring dairy, produce and preserves grown or made by them and their neighbors. If you choose to stay in Kadıköy you will have easy access to the huge Tuesday Kadıköy market and the regular market at the heart of Kadikoy, best place to shop for food in Istanbul as far as I am concerned. Another option to consider is a flat in the up and coming area of Balat: staying there means shopping in Fatih - every day at Kadınlar Pazarı or on Wednesday at Carşamba Pazari, the wildest market in town; Balat is also fairly close to the daily open market of Eminönü (not to be confused with the Spice Market where you should put away your shopping bag and pull out your camera).

All these markets will have abundant seasonal produce, local spices and cooking condiments to take to your very own Istanbul kitchen and cook a vegetarian feast to your liking. For the inspiration have a look at my Turkish recipes collection strongly dominated by the vegetarian dishes or consider joining one of my cooking classes where I am always happy to show vegetarian and very delicious side of the Istanbul food and Turkish cooking.