Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — The process of preparing the most important meal of the day begins hours before sunrise in the Far Eastern city of Van, surrounded by hillsides and a magnificent lake.
By 5 a.m., the smell of hot flat bread and fresh Turkish tea permeates the famous “Kahvaltıcılar Çarşısı” in Van, where dozens of merchants open the doors of their shops to serve the traditional breakfast in the morning, which is a hallmark of this area.
During the morning, thousands of people flock to this cobbled pedestrian street, believed to be the starting point for the breakfast capital of the world.
“There’s nothing to do here but have breakfast during the day,” said Kenan Kochun, who and his brother run one of the city’s oldest breakfast restaurants, Sotsu Kenan, adding, “I mean, no bread, sandwiches, soup, pancakes, or kebabs.” Or lunch, or dinner, or live music, or shisha, or alcohol…just breakfast.”
While Turkey is famous for its breakfast, Van is the favorite breakfast capital. As many as 30 different dishes are served to these morning tables, often serving the creamy dairy products from the cattle grazing in the surrounding Anatolian plateaus.
Products from this region include kaymak, a thick roux made of butter and flour mixed with crunchy scrambled eggs (martuğa), a sweet porridge-like dough made of ground wheat roasted in butter and sugar (Kavut), and the famous white Otlu peynir cheese. It is in Van, and is mixed with local wild leek, mountain thyme, fennel, mint and green garlic known as sermo.
These breakfasts are often accompanied by more traditional Turkish dishes, such as tahini and grape molasses, “cacık” which is a thick sauce made of yogurt and cucumber, and a colorful fan of jams featuring sour cherry jam, walnuts, and apricots, in addition to local honey, And dishes of fresh vegetables.
“You have to get many small and varied local dishes,” said Aylin Unni Tan, one of Turkey’s leading food writers. “That’s what makes breakfast in Van. There won’t be room for anything else on the table.”
Home of Snacks on the Silk Road
The origins of the legendary breakfast culture in Van are the subject of controversy. Tan said the tradition began in the mid-20th century, when farmers from nearby villages would bring their produce to the city’s bus station, early in the morning, to sell it.
She noted that “they set up these breakfasts, which consisted of very small plates, which they share with fresh puffed bread, whipped butter, and cheese.”
Others trace this back to earlier periods related to Ottoman culinary culture, and the location of Van on the ancient Silk Road that linked the Western world to the Middle East and Asia, where it frequently received starving travelers.
Residents said the more recent history of breakfasts in Van could be linked specifically to the development of the so-called “milk mills”, which provided meals consisting of milk, cheese and bread to workers in the early morning, in the 1940s.
Sotsu Kenan was opened by the great-grandfather of Cochkun in 1946, and has been run by three generations of the family since then.
“Years ago, the breakfast hall was a dairy store,” Kochkun said, noting that “in the era of the great-grandfather, the villagers used to gather for coffee in the early morning before starting work in the fields or construction. One of them brought eggs from the house, another bread, and another Cheese, olives, and they share setting the table.”
Away from the busy breakfast street, Bak Hele BAk, founded in 1975, is another of the old traditional dairies. It is among the few establishments that continue to serve the traditional jam made from rose petals.
“Our restaurant is rooted in the culture of the dairy industry,” said Yusuf Konak, the 67-year-old owner of the restaurant. He continued, “We created this breakfast culture. Our restaurant is frequented by all types of customers, from 7 to 70 years old, including politicians, writers, teachers, and ordinary citizens.”
That may sound like an exaggerated claim, but the city of Van was included in the record books, as in 2014, more than 50,000 people gathered around tables set in front of the historic castle of Van built in the ninth century AD, to break the Guinness World Record for “largest participation In a full breakfast.
The region’s most exclusive breakfast was ordered by local authorities, with the aim of adding it to the UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which includes the world-famous Neapolitana pizza, Belgian beer, and Singapore’s hawker culture.
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Ozge Samanci, head of the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at Ozyegin University in Istanbul, Turkey, said that the breakfasts served in Van, which were boosted by the high consumption of tea in the 1940s, now play an important social function.
He explained that “the main role that breakfast occupies, and its importance for the Turkish community, has become greater because it represents a family moment, and is considered the most important meal of the day.”
He noted that this tradition has become so popular that Van-style breakfast restaurants have opened across the country, including Meşhur Van Kahvaltı Sarayı and Eylül Yöresel Kahvaltı Salonu in Ankara, and Van Kahvaltı Evi in Istanbul.