We Met Agriculture in the City

Imagine a huge field on the terrace of a shopping mall in the heart of the city. A field where many different plants, vegetables and fruits grow. An area with the same ecosystem and the same diversity as in nature has been created there. Everything here is grown according to the principles of permaculture. We are talking about the Akmerkez Terrace Field, which spans 750 square meters.

The field at Akmerkez is looked after by the Ek Biç Ye İç team. Ek Biç Ye İç is a group of nature and natural living enthusiasts who own a restaurant in Taksim where they grow their own produce and serve dishes made with it. They maintain this field together. Two days a week, together with volunteers who look after the field, they carry out activities such as planting seedlings, transplanting seedlings, producing compost and cleaning the field.

As the chefs of the future studying Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at BAU, we take part in trips to learn where and how the products we use in kitchens come from, and to see under what conditions they are produced and grown. We made our latest trip to the Akmerkez terrace to see how fruits and vegetables are grown in a terrace field in the middle of the city.

We first toured the field with the Ek Biç Ye İç team. We learned their methods of compost production. We received information about rainwater storage, hydroponic wall gardens and aquaponic systems. We tasted the dishes the team prepared for us with produce from the field. Afterwards, we gained hands-on experience by transplanting and planting seedlings.

We saw once again how much effort agriculture requires and how important our farmers and producers are. We became aware of the contribution to nature of using every possible space in this way and turning it into farmland.

As the BAU Culinary Arts Center, let us also share the good news here that very soon we too will have an area on our terrace where we will do farming.