The book of recipes highlights Turkey’s biodiversity.
After nearly two decades in fashion retail, Zeynep Pekün Ekşioğlu has a new passion for cooking. She attended culinary school at the age of 40 and obtained her chef certificate. She soon discovered that she gravitated towards plant-based cuisine. This journey culminated in publishing a book of recipes that she put together over the course of six years under her brand Lokal Plants. The name of the book is İçi Güzel (Beautiful on the Inside, Ofset Yapımevi) and it is mostly comprised of drinks: healthy beverages, plant mylks, smoothies, mylkshakes, green juices, and soups.
Ekşioğlu elaborates: “My book was shaped by my passion for local and clean produce. Unlike a traditional cookbook, it focuses not only on recipes, but also on the source of ingredients, the farmers who plant and harvest them, and the value of clean soil. All the ingredients in this book are from Turkey without exception. My reason for doing so was to show the biodiversity of our fertile land and how it is possible to source clean plants and fruits from small growers. Weaving the stories of these farmers who toil with an undeniable optimism together with my own fascination with plants, I hoped to bring the reader a modern look at what we put on the table, where it comes from and how we all can integrate into nature as a whole, philosophically.”
