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Inspiring change towards a more vegan supply

July 12, 2024

In October 2022, the small Turkish town of Didim endorsed the Plant Based Treaty. Nilgün Engin introduced the Plant Based Treaty to the Mayor and led the work at the vegan festival in Didim last year. She is active on many levels in her work towards a vegan world, and is seeing in real time vegan options becoming more and more popular and available in Turkey.

For a few years now, Didim, a small town in Turkey, has been organizing a three-day, springtime Vegan Festival. During the festival, Didim becomes a hot spot for vegans. There are concerts and events, and vegan food is offered, with people visiting from across the whole country. Animal Save Movement Turkey has attended the festival every year since it began. Two years ago, Nilgün Engin asked the mayor for a meeting to introduce him to the newly launched Plant Based Treaty. 

“In Turkey things works differently. Everything is based on relationships and everything, even animal vigils, needs some personal approach. We didn’t know the mayor at the time, but I asked for a ten-minute meeting. Even if they have councillors in every city, the mayor makes the decisions about almost everything, so it was important for me to meet with him”.

The mayor was interested. Nilgün and her daughter, Doǧa, explained how Didim could benefit from an endorsement of the Plant Based Treaty, as well as how they could go a step further and implement vegan solutions. They also offered to help the mayor with the public announcement of the endorsement. Five months later, Didim endorsed the Plant Based Treaty. 

The 2023 vegan festival was organized by the municipality, together with the Plant Based Treaty Turkey team, and had 200,000 visitors; Plant Based Treaty signs were everywhere! A vegan food kiosk was opened by the council at the popular beach promenade and Nilgün provided all the plant-based recipes to the staff. The concept was well-received and the tasty and cheap vegan food became a success.

“An activist living in Didim was hired to work in the kiosk all summer. It was brilliant. He could both sell food and do vegan activism, talking about the Plant Based Treaty with the customers, inspiring them to sign the treaty.” 

The vegan food kiosk is on one of the busiest streets of Didim and has quickly become a popular spot for people to visit.

“The collaboration with the Didim council is marvellous and a wonderful example of how we can reach out to a broader population,” she says.

When Nilgün Engin first met with the mayor in 2022, she emphasized that it would be wonderful if vegan food was offered not only during the festival, but also became part of city establishments’ permanent menus. She suggested holding workshops with staff and management of selected cafes and restaurants in Didim to show how cheap, easy, practical, and tasty vegan food can be. 

“I asked the mayor to introduce me to business owners. I knew that being officially introduced by the municipality, would make them respect my opinion and be more willing to listen to me. He agreed and an officer took me around. We implemented nine changes in the city where vegan options were added to menus.”

One of the establishments was the largest hotel in Didim, Maxeria Hotel, who decided to introduce vegan options at their restaurant. Nilgün had a day-long workshop with their kitchen staff and advised them what to buy and how to source vegan products.

“The management was progressive and collaborative, and their vegan menu changes continued. Another hotel offered vegan options for the three days during the festival.”

Working on different platforms

Nilgün usually plays the chef when showing others how to prepare the food. Her years of experience veganizing traditional recipes have paid off. She is active on many levels simultaneously and has also represented Plant Based Treaty at UNFCCC Climate conferences since 2022, lobbying for a global Plant Based Treaty. 

Nilgün and the Plant Based Treaty team in Turkey are reaching out to different cafes and restaurants in  cities across the country, to see how they can inspire change towards more plant-based offerings. A project she has worked on for some time is veganizing a significant part of the menu of Café Hypatia in Ankara. 

“We met Nilgün Engin and Ankara Animal Save in 2021”, the owner of Café Hypatia, Kaan Atagün said. “They told us that adding vegan options to our menu would have positive results both in terms of our sales as well as customer satisfaction, and we agreed. We were already aware of the negative impact of animal agriculture and the climate crisis, so over the past three years we have gradually enriched our menu with vegan food.” 

Nilgün has organized three separate workshops in their kitchen and shared her recipes with their chefs, inspiring them to try new recipes. 

“We are also happy to host their various meetings where they organize workshops and documentary screenings, [it’s great] seeing the number of participants increasing,” Atagün says. 

PBT-friendly business flags

The ‘Plant Based Treaty-friendly business’ flags are used in several shops and cafes around Didim and Ankara, showing a big support for the initiative.  

“Any business willing to make menu changes or other changes to their business after endorsing the Plant Based Treaty, can hang the Plant Based Treaty flags at their entrance to show their support. It sends a message to their customers that they are in favor of a plant-based future,” Nilgün says. 

The Plant Based Treaty team also organizes opening day parties for new vegan businesses and helps to advertise the events. They in return promote the Plant Based Treaty, and inspire customers to sign.    

Earlier this year, a new company began importing vegan pet food for both cats and dogs, to Turkey. The Plant Based Treaty team organized a veterinary presentation in collaboration with the owner of the company, to educate people about the positive effects that vegan food can have on pets. Later, the collaboration expanded; the Plant Based Treaty team and the company invested in cat houses to promote vegan pet food as well as the Plant Based Treaty campaign. 

“The cat houses were distributed free of charge and we built good relationships through these giveaways. The “Cat-friendly Cafes” in Ankara and İstanbul are now supporting the Plant Based Treaty and at the same time taking care of stray cats in their area,” she says. 

Recently, the Siyez Evi Café started offering a vegan breakfast menu after a meeting with one of the activists from İstanbul Animal Save inspired them. The cafe has now increased their vegan options and can see a growing trend among its customers wanting food that doesn’t harm the animals and the climate. Nilgün explains how their work has had a ripple effect and influenced more cafes to follow. Plant Based Treaty Turkey is also working on a university campaign, encouraging them to add plant-based options to their menus.

“We will start a new campaign sending emails to every university management, encouraging them to have vegan options on their menus. The Turkish constitution protects the right of every person to be fed adequately. And if someone requires vegan food, they must have it.” 

The team is also collaborating with Univeg, an independent organization working on menu change. Their aim is to make a positive shift towards a plant-based future, and to work with the TED University as a start.

So far, the work with Café Hypatia is one of the biggest rewards for Nilgün; it has been a joy and success on many levels and the owners are always positive and wanting to improve, trusting her judgment. 

“But the vegan food kiosk in Didim will always be the star for me. The effectiveness and the number of people reached. It has been amazing.” 

Anne Casparsson is a writer and ethicist, who has worked with communication and journalism in different capacities, for more than twenty years. She writes about animal rights, veganism, sustainability, justice, and peace related issues. Anne is based in Stockholm where she lives with her family. She is a dedicated voice for the animals.

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