There are a number of leading female chefs in Türkiye who have been pioneering unique restaurants and cuisines, highlighting sustainability practices and sharing their methods for viewers online and on television. From Türkiye’s first female Michelin-star winner to Zero Waste Project practices being filmed for an HBO documentary, the successes of Türkiye’s leading women chefs are multifold.

Check out the following five most popular female chefs in Türkiye.

Zeynep Pınar Taşdemir

In all the hoopla of Michelin-star announcements, such as the famous restaurant ratings publishing their first Istanbul guide and awarding chef Fatih Tutak two Michelin stars for his Turk Fatih Tutak restaurant, Zeynep Pınar Taşdemir’s Araka was also among the five stars awarded in October’s Michelin guide winner announcements. This makes Zeynep Pınar Taşdemir the first woman in Türkiye to be given a Michelin star. If you are wondering which other restaurants made it to the list... Mikla and Neolokal received stars as well.

But coming back to Zeynep Pınar Taşdemir, who was also named GQ’s Chef of the Year, and her Araka Restaurant in Istanbul’s Yeniköy – which is famous for serving dishes centered on seasonal produce and wild greens and herbs – opened in 2017. Araka offers a tranquil respite from the hustle and bustle of the grander city and is one of those venues that is elegant in its simplicity. Pınar Taşdemir also has a cooking program called "Sakin," which airs on the digital platform GAIN, where she improvises dishes in natural surroundings in different villages she visits. She doesn’t talk in the show, making it a meditative visual ASMR-like feast.

Ebru Baybara Demir

Known as a Social Gastronomy chef, Ebru Baybara Demir has long been revered as one of Türkiye’s culinary finest. Her Cercis Murat Konağı in Mardin is legendary. Not only was it opened in 2001 with 21 women and based at a historical residence, but it also served as the first touristic objective of its kind. Demir was the first Turk to make it to the top 10 for the Nobel Prize of the culinary world, the Basque Culinary Prize, which she did for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018. But, even before that in 2012, her success story was showcased in a documentary by the Japanese channel NHK. Her efforts with cooperatives, and reviving an ancient wheat variety with refugees, are just some of Demir’s practices, which were filmed for the HBO Max documentary "Zero Waste Chef" last year. Her newest venture Zamarot 1890 continues her cooperative and sustainability spirit into what she refers to as a "sixth sense" experimental fine-dining housed restaurant in a 130-year-old former soap factory in Mardin.

Refika Birgül

Refika Birgül is one of, if not the nation’s most, well-known and loved television chef personality with her trademark Refika’nın Mutfağı, which doubles as her kitchen in Istanbul’s beloved quaint seaside neighborhood of Kuzguncuk. Sometimes accompanied by famous guests, Birgül demonstrates practical ways to prepare Türkish classics that can come with a twist. "Refika’nın Yemek Okulu" is the chef’s YouTube channel where she posts two cooking demonstrations a week.

Şemsa Denizsel

Türkiye’s "The Taste" judge Şemsa Denizsel is another legend in the Turkish culinary scene. She is credited with opening Kantin, which marked the way for nouveau Istanbul Turkish cuisine being ranked amongst the city's top restaurants for its entire duration of 18 years. Leaving the metropolis restaurant business, Denizsel moved to the Aegean town of Ayvalık where she lives on an olive farm and films YouTube cooking demonstrations including her "Artan Mutfağı" series focusing on repurposing leftovers.

Aylin Yazıcıoğlu

While Aylin Yazıcıoğlu is most well-known for her stint at Nicole Restaurant, located in Beyoğlu's Tom Tom neighborhood, she actually left a few years ago due to a dispute with the property owner, said to be her uncle. The restaurant continued to operate with a young chef Yazıcıoğlu had brought on board and surprisingly to many, Nicole garnered a Michelin star in October. Although Yazıcıoğlu is no longer on board, it is hard to conceive of Nicole without recognizing her contributions and innovative Turkish-French cuisine. Yazıcıoğlu’s culinary training was undertaken at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris nevertheless. Alas, Yazıcıoğlu moved on a few years ago during which she also paid a stint at Alancha, which was Alaçatı’s most esteemed gourmet restaurant that ended up moving to Istanbul. Yazıcıoğlu has also served as a judge in the Türkish cooking competition "Lezzet Akademisi" ("Flavor Academy"), and she regularly features as a guest chef on television, in seminars and at food festivals. A recent social media post by the chef has left the impression that she may be returning to Istanbul’s culinary scene with a new venture in Beyoğlu.

Leading chefs in quake relief

One of the many heroic efforts to have surfaced from the devastating earthquakes that struck a month ago in southeastern Türkiye, is that many – if not all – of the country’s famous chefs went out to the affected regions to prepare and distribute food among survivors. One of the first to do so was Mardin native Ebru Baybara Demir, who was joined by chef Türev Uludağ in setting up kitchens in at least four different provinces affected by the earthquakes. Michelin-star winner Zeynep Pınar Taşdemir was also on the ground in the epicenter of Elbistan. Two-Michelin star winner Fatih Tutak and his team went to Iskenderun, while well-known chefs and television personalities Mehmet Yalçınkaya, Somer Sivrioğlu, Danilo Zanna, Arda Türkmen and Civan Er are also said to have been on the ground; while Eataly’s Italian chef Claudio Chinali is another personality who went to the affected region to set up a kitchen to feed survivors.