The name of Van, the taste of breakfast

Though İstanbul had only a tiny handful of Van breakfast salons a few years ago, these days the number of these regional breakfast fare spots is rising rapidly. Today, there are more than 20 Van breakfast joints spread throughout İstanbul, with some restaurants offering ingredients straight from Van on their menus and others using market-purchased ingredients to serve up typical Van breakfasts. At most of these breakfast spots, you can also find food items from places such as Diyarbakır, Kars and Çanakkale.

 Every region in Turkey has its own unique dishes, foods which have become synonymous with the region itself. And now Van's breakfasts are receiving the attention they deserve -- this after its lake, its cats and the monster some say lives in the lake have already received their fair share of attention. Those who head to Van know about the breakfast street there, which begins receiving a flow of visitors in the morning hours and tempts taste buds everywhere with its wide range of delicious foods. Those who visit Van without making their way to this breakfast street have truly missed out. But what about those who don't have a chance to go to Van? Luckily, as we mentioned above, İstanbul is now full of breakfast salons, some in Yeşilköy, some in Fatih and in Bakırköy and so on. We set out to find out more about this unique regional breakfast as it is served in İstanbul.

We stop first at a Van breakfast salon in Eyüp. The owner here is Hüsnü Aygün, and he is the one who tells us that there are now more than 20 of these spots in İstanbul. Perhaps not surprisingly, the owners of these breakfast salons are all from Van, and they all know each other. Aygün tells us there is actually more support than competition in his relations with the other salon owners and that they are really driven by the desire to share a piece of their regional culture with others. Aygün also talks about the importance of breakfast as a meal, noting that his goal is to see people start off their days with wonderful breakfasts that give them strength.

Van breakfasts: the result of thoughtful men?

As it turns out, the delicious tradition of Van breakfast salons has mostly arisen as a result of the thoughtfulness of men from Van. These men, heading off for work early in the morning and not wanting to wake up their wives and tire them out, have made it a tradition to eat most of their breakfasts out. This, in turn, has led to a proliferation of breakfast salons and a thriving breakfast culture in the city of Van. This has also had an impact on the breakfasts being served in homes, as Van men, when at home, now ask for the same dishes they have become accustomed to when eating out at breakfast salons.

So what is on this breakfast table?

Just a brief sampling of some of the foods found on a typical Van breakfast table would include murtuğa, cacık, butter, cheese with herbs, kavut, cream and honey, gencirük and of course pastries. Another item you would probably find most times would be salted small-headed mullet fish, the only kind of fish really found in Lake Van. But since most people in İstanbul don't really know this dish, it's usually not available in Istanbul's Van breakfast salons. What is really being offered up to customers at a Van breakfast spot is the luxury of a breakfast with so many dishes to choose from.

Cheese with herbs: This cheese is made when 25 different herbs collected in the spring and local to Van and the surrounding region are added to goat's milk as it is made into cheese. This same kind of cheese can actually be made into a dry sort of cacık instead by changing the amount

of culture and herbs used.

MURTUĞA: Village wheat flour is added to hot butter in a pan and cooked until it turns pink.

Later, an egg is added to this and

cooked until it is done.

KAVUT: This spread is made after wheat is roasted and ground up and then added to butter along with salt. Kavut flour can be used

when making murtuğa.

GENCİRÜK: This is the name given to murtuğa made with kavut flour, as mentioned above.