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Jewish Bakery, Izmir, Turkey

Description

Hasan Basri Erözbek Simitçi ve Pişirici Fırını

Simit, locally called gevrek, are a staple of the street food scene in İzmir. The classic taurus-shaped breads are prepared in a regionally-specific way by pre-cooking the dough in molasses instead of applying the molasses cold, as it is done in Istanbul.¹ 

Turkish food reviewer Murat Çelik shared a video of Hasan Basri Erözbek Simitçi ve Pişirici Fırını on Facebook in July of 2022 (linked below). Before entering the small bakery, Çelik shows a large black pot outside of the building, full of oven-baked eggs that are sold as a complement to the simit. Inside, he films the simit-making process. First, a baker shapes wheat dough into rings, then another boils them in batches of eight for about ten seconds in molasses that is kept hot over a wood-fired stove. The boiled simit are drained, then rolled in a seed mixture. A third baker lays five simit at a time onto a wooden plank and slides them into the wood-fired oven. When they are done, he pulls them out with the plank and stacks them up with bare hands.²

As Çelik films, one baker shouts to another “don’t leave the boy without tea;” perhaps it is a gesture of hospitality on the bakers’ part, or a sign that simit are typically eaten with tea. By the end of the video, Çelik sits for the camera with three simit, the pot of eggs, a paper cup of tea, and some slices of İzmir tulum (goat cheese) which he eats on top of the simit. In the comments section, viewers express nostalgia for the bakery, curiosity about the exact ingredients, and concern about sanitation in regards to the bakers’ bare hands.³

Traces of Sephardic Heritage in İzmir’s Street Food

The first Sephardic Jews to migrate to İzmir arrived in 1510.⁴ According to Erşan Yıldız, a researcher of food and tourism, the prominence of Sephardic Jewish cuisine has faded in İzmir. For instance, roska, a Jewish ring-shaped bread without seeds, disappeared from İzmir’s culinary scene, but its cousin simit is a Turkish staple.⁵ There are also still popular foods in İzmir that were directly introduced by Sephardic Jews. The most famous is boyoz, a type of flaky bread that was traditionally eaten for breakfast on shabbat. The food has recently become a symbol of İzmir, but there are no longer any Jewish-owned boyoz stores in the city.⁶ Other examples include Mumlu Balık Yumurtası (fish roe dipped in wax), roasted melon and watermelon seeds, sübye (a drink made with melon seeds that is similar to Horchata), and Jewish aşuresi (sweet porridge).⁷

Izmir, Turkey

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