EBRU BAYBARA DEMIR

Social Gastronomy Chef, Social Entrepreneur, Mardin, Türkiye

Chef Ebru Baybara Demir, the winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize (BCWP) 2023, which is called the Nobel of the gastronomy world, became the first chef to bring this award to Türkiye. Demir was deemed worthy of this award for the solutions she has produced with gastronomy perspective for social needs in the projects she has been implementing for more than 20 years.

Ebru Baybara Demir, who moved to Mardin in 1999 after completing her bachelor’s degree in Tourism Guidance at Marmara University, founded Cercis Murat Konağı, the city’s first touristic business, with 21 women who believed in her, on her journey driven by her passion to introduce tourism to Mardin. In addition to the many projects she has implemented, Ebru Baybara Demir continues to work under the umbrella of Türkiye’s first social cooperative Topraktan Tabağa Agricultural Development Cooperative, of which she is one of the founders, with the propagation of Sorgül Wheat, one of the oldest wheat in Mesopotamia, Şemim Soaps, El Ele Elden Ele Store, online sales platform, and Zamarot1890, Türkiye’s first zero waste and 6th sense restaurant, to create a role model for the ideal cooperative model in the national and international arena.

Ebru Baybara Demir, who draws attention to the protection of the natural balance of seeds, soil and water, the creation of sustainable local economies, the creation of a livelihood for everyone who Works in the process of the product from soil to the consumer, aims to improve the soil, support farmers and contribute to healthy food production by converting biodegradable food waste consisting of vegetables and fruits generated in local bazaars into compost and using it in the “From Soil to Soil Biodegradable Waste Management Project” a regenerative agriculture project that has spread to many provinces of the country.

Ebru Baybara Demir, the only Turkish chef featured in the documentary “The World’s 12 Zero Waste Chefs”; by American online content platform HBO Max, was also awarded the Aenne Burda Creative Leadership Award at the DLD Munich Conference in January 2023.