Vegan street food in Istanbul

Istanbul is easier for vegans than most people expect. The trouble is that butter and yogurt turn up where you do not expect them. Here is the honest list.

The quick answer

Street food	Vegan?	What to know
Simit, the sesame ring	Yes	Flour, water, yeast, grape molasses, sesame. No egg or dairy in the bread. Skip the cheese they offer with it.
Çiğ köfte	Yes	Bulgur, isot pepper, tomato paste, onion, spices. Meatless by law since 2008. See the full guide.
Şalgam, turnip juice	Yes	Fermented purple carrot and turnip. Order it spicy (acılı) or mild (az acılı).
Roasted chestnuts, corn on the cob	Usually	Chestnuts are plain. Corn is often brushed with butter, so ask for it dry.
Boza	Yes	Fermented millet drink, served with cinnamon and chickpeas. A winter thing.
Lentil soup	Ask	Often finished with butter, sometimes made with chicken stock. Ask for the one made with oil and water.
Kumpir, the loaded baked potato	No	The potato is mashed with butter and cheese before the toppings go on.
Balık ekmek, midye dolma	No	Fish and stuffed mussels. The Eminönü classics are not for you.
Tahini halva	Yes	Sesame paste, sugar, soapwort. Flour and semolina halva are made with butter.
Baklava, künefe	No	Butter in the pastry; künefe is cheese.
Turkish tea and coffee	Yes	Both are plant-based unless you ask for milk.
Ayran	No	Yogurt drink. Şalgam or soda instead.

Three words that save you

You do not need Turkish, but three words make ordering much easier:

• Etsiz — without meat.
• Sütsüz — without milk or dairy.
• Vegan — the word is understood in Istanbul, especially by younger staff.

The sentence that works almost everywhere: “Etsiz ve sütsüz var mı?” — is there something without meat and without dairy?

The traps

Four things catch travellers out more than anything else.

Butter in soups. A bowl of lentil soup looks safe and often is not. The same goes for rice dishes, which are frequently cooked in butter.

Yogurt as a default. Ayran arrives with nearly every meal, and many sauces are yogurt-based. Asking for şalgam or soda solves it.

Cheese hiding in a wrap. Some çiğ köfte shops sell a version with cheese-flavoured corn chips. Ask before you pick that one.

“Vegetarian” meaning “no meat only.” If dairy matters to you, say sütsüz as well, not just etsiz.

Where to eat in Eminönü

Eminönü is the hardest district for a vegan traveller, because its famous dishes are fish sandwiches and stuffed mussels. But the back streets behind the Spice Bazaar are full of plant-based food: simit carts on every corner, roasted chestnuts in winter, şalgam at the pickle stalls, tahini halva in the spice shops, and çiğ köfte in the little shops where the market traders eat at noon.

A full lunch for one person, plant-based, costs less than a single coffee in the tourist strip. That is the real discovery.