Finding a different taste in every dish shouldn’t surprise you.
The gastronomy culture varies from the rest of Anatolia in the western part. The Western Anatolian cuisine is under the heavy influence of the Mediterranean culture where fresh greens, aromatic herbs, and golden olive oil are the stars. The unique western Anatolia cuisine has merged with the immigrant culture in Selçuk Ephesus forming an Ephesus Cuisine in its own right. These lands have blended centuries of Crete, Macedonian, Albanian and Greek civilizations, religions and culture, thus, the Ephesus Cuisine reflects this richness.
The fertile land provides fresh sprouts, herbs, vegetables and fruits throughout the year, with the addition of a vast range of fish and seafood, divine olives and olive oil, Ephesus cuisine offers the healthiest and most wonderful meals prepared with love and skill by the people of happy and contented land.
THE LAND WHERE ÇÖP ŞİŞ (skewers) WAS BORN
Çöp şiş, meat skewers is a prominent meal of the Aegean cuisine. The first railroad in Anatolia was built between Aydın and İzmir and the railroad workers cooked the meat they were given on pieces of withe sticks, this is how the tradition for Çöp Şiş started. Until very recent years, the çöp şiş restaurants used to send their waiters with trays of çöp şiş sandwiches to the train stations where travellers would buy them for the road. This system also provided that the çöp şiş culture penetrated to the other parts of Ansatolia, by travellers.
İZMİR, THE MEMBER OF DELICE (WORLD GOURME CITIES NETWORK)
İzmir is a memberof the Delice, a global network of cities with strong heritage and gastronomic culture. İzmir is the 23rd member of the organization which is the most significant professional network linking food and gastronomy to city development, promotion and overall well being of the citizens. It brings together city representatives involved in implementing food related projects and intitatives, educating them (includinhg chefs) on healthy diets, local foods, marketing and training.
İzmir, with its thousands of years of multi cultural heritage has been chosen to be a part of this organization.
Other cities of this network are: Arrhus (Denmark), Barcelona (Spain), Birmingham (England), Bordeaux (France), Brussels (Belgium), Cape Winelands (South Africa), Göteburg (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), İzmir (Turkey), Lausanne (Switzerland), Leipzig (Germany), Lisbon (Portugal), Lyon (France), Madrid (Spain), Montreal (Canada), Osaka (Japan), Puebla (Mexico), Rabat (Morocco), Riga (Letonia), Saint Louis (USA), Stavanger (Norway), Chicago (USA) and Torino (Italy)
