Turkey = food + beaches
Turkey’s getting fresh buzz as a dual food‑and‑beach destination — Gaziantep, Hatay, Adana and Urfa for regional cuisine, plus Muğla and Antalya for beaches; signature bites to seek are menemen, lahmacun and baklava. The brief also flags Michelin names to watch: Turk Fatih Tutak in Istanbul and Maçakızı in Muğla for elevated local cooking. (x.com)
The MICHELIN Guide’s online Turkey selection lists 170 restaurants — a rapid expansion of the guide from its 2023 Istanbul launch into coastal areas like Bodrum, İzmir and Muğla. (guide.michelin.com) Chef Fatih Tutak’s Istanbul project earned two MICHELIN stars and has also featured on La Liste as Turkey’s top restaurant and in the World’s 50 Best at No.66 in 2023. (turkft.com) Maçakızı in Bodrum holds a MICHELIN star under executive chef Aret Sahakyan and highlights an on‑site “Maçakızı Culinary Gardens” program that supplies seasonal produce to the menu. (macakizi.com) Gaziantep joined UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network for gastronomy in 2015, and UNESCO documents list the metropolitan area at about 1.89 million people with roughly 60% of the active workforce tied to the food sector and 49% of local firms in food-related trades. (unesco.org) Antep Baklavası was entered in the EU register as a Protected Geographical Indication in December 2013, a move the Gaziantep Chamber of Industry and EU documents describe as the first EU GI recognition for a Turkish product. (eur-lex.europa.eu) Antalya recorded about 17.28 million visitors in 2024, including transfer passengers at Antalya Airport, while Muğla reported approximately 2.62 million foreign tourists in the first eight months of 2024 — figures used by provincial authorities to quantify the coastal draw. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
