The vegan lifestyle, in which people refrain from consuming and purchasing animal-sourced products, is rising worldwide. Revered for being a healthier way to eat, due especially to the emphasis on consuming vegetables and grains instead of meat, as well as being beneficial for the planet because of the carbon footprint the animal products industries create, going vegan is definitely on an upward trend worldwide, and Türkiye is no exception. Not only does Turkish cuisine make it easy to adopt this way of eating, as there are many vegan dishes inherent in the country’s culinary tradition, but a new wave of vegan-adapted faux meat products is also now widely available.

That’s right! These days döner kebabs, sucuk sausages, köfte meatballs and hamburgers are all available in vegan variations for those in the know. This means that, once again, Turks have excelled in creatively adapting their cuisine’s traditional meat-based dishes into plant-based vegan options. As a result, more and more restaurants and brands are jumping on the vegan bandwagon and many of them were on show at last weekend’s Vegfest, which took place for the fifth time in Aydın’s Didim.

A quaint town on the Aegean and with an expat community to boot, Didim is most well-known for its ancient historical and UNESCO World Heritage site of Didyma, which dates back to the sixth century B.C. and houses the Temple of Apollo, which quite literally came to life as the festival, based in Yenihisar, took place in its proximity. The three-day festival celebrated and promoted plant-based diets, veganism, and related lifestyles and included stands, food tastings ad cooking demonstrations, all geared toward fostering veganism and creating the opportunity for those interested in plant-based diets to connect, learn and discover new products and ideas. In addition, there was a 17-kilometer (10.5-mile) hike. Nightly concerts were also performed by several prominent and popular vegan performers, including Zeynep Casalini and Ceylan Ertem.

As per tradition, last year, a similar attempt was made with a durum wrap; a record-breaking effort was made at constructing the tallest vegan lokma tree, which stood 5 meters in height and consisted of the fried doughy treat that resembles a donut hole, that was doused with 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of a vegan chocolate sauce by Didim’s Mayor A. Deniz Atabey.

Brands and shops buying vegan

One of the best aspects of the now annual VegFest in Didim is having the opportunity to learn about new plant-friendly brands and products, many of which can easily be purchased online. As for some of the top picks, Veggy is a brand that produces various tofu-based vegan faux meat products such as kebabs, burgers, nuggets and köfte. Eat Vappy is a brand that has vegan roast beef and sucuk. Newer Foods does a vegan schnitzel, and Quorn is a company that makes fishless fish filets and plant-based versions of chicken nuggets. "What are they made of?" you ask, mostly tofu and wheat gluten with an artisanal array of seasonings and spices.

For vegan cheese, Cheezmir, Itz Nutz, Bi Nevi Deli, and even Trakya Çiftliği produce different plant-based cheeses, including cheddar and mozzarella-flavored varieties. Furora is a brand that has vegan red cheddar and creamy peppercorn, and herbs cheese. Orfa, The Standard Vegan, is another brand with plant-based cheeses made in cheddar and a new peppercorn and herb variety. While most vegan cheeses are predominantly made from nuts such as cashews, others utilize potato starch and pea protein.

Vegan Dükkan is an online vegan shopping website with the widest variety of these food brands and personal and household products, cleaning and skin care products. In Cihangir, Vegan Dükkan is also Türkiye’s first all-encompassing vegan store.

Vegan Pazar Yeri is another online vegan shop with a wide array of food, personal and household products per this "be kind" lifestyle. Some standout products available here are Vealthy’s vegan lahmacun and the beloved stuffed Içli Köfte, straight from Hatay yet in vegan form. Vegan Pazar Yeri also has an "Akşam Pazarı," which translates into "evening market" and refers to the custom of farmers’ markets offering products at a discounted price when evening comes. Thus, after 6 p.m., a selection of items is offered at up to a 30% discount. In addition to hosting the full range of products and their brands, Vegan Bakkal offers discounted multi-packages of anything from chocolates to supplemental powders, aromatic tofus, and even a 12-pack of Veggy’s Vegan Parmesan cheese, an item I have yet to see elsewhere.

Just Vegan Store also has a wide array and several seemingly exclusive products. For example, the Trakya brand’s vegan cheese variations, including white cheese, village cheese and even smoked cheese options, can be sourced here, as can various yogurts and cream cheese. One of the benefits of this particular online shop is that it is also listed on Yemeksepeti.com, making for another easy way to order products to your door.

While I have listed several tantalizing vegan food items, these websites offer much more than vegan foods. Most of them have a large array of house cleaning and self-care products, pet products, clothes and well, you name it, so long as their focus is on sustainability and being of better benefit to the planet than conventional goods. Therefore, vegetarian, vegan or not, I believe almost everyone will be inspired to check out what is available and ways to live that are kinder to the animals we share the world with and to leave a smaller carbon footprint on this planet.