Pastries, anyone?

Pastries, anyone?

A couple of weeks ago, I was deep in conversation with a friend about our passion for plant-based whole foods and their role in transitioning towards sustainable and healthy food systems, brainstorming ways to make them more appealing and enjoyable. As a health-conscious vegan foodie, I swear by whole foods.

A week ago, however, I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night, reading about viennoiseries and researching vegan pastry shops worldwide, and considering taking courses in this area. Interestingly, I discovered that the German term for viennoiseries, feine Backwaren, is defined by the Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch (German Food Code) as baked goods where fat and/or sugar content exceeds 10 parts per 90 parts of cereals and/or cereal products and/or starches. Nowhere else have I found such precise specification as to what constitutes a viennoiserie (perhaps they exist somewhere, but I haven't come across them online.)

My mind became consumed with thoughts of plant-based pastries, even fantasizing becoming a pastry chef and owning my own business someday.

What happened?

Initially, when I searched for vegan restaurants in Istanbul on HappyCow, Ethique Plant-Based caught my eye as one of the top three options. But I quickly dismissed it for two reasons. First, they are a partner of HappyCow, which means they pay HappyCow to gain enhanced visibility on the platform (nothing wrong with that, but I prefer places that are popular even without extra promotion.) Secondly, their listing's cover photos (shown below) featured a club sandwich with potato chips, puff pastry strawberry tart, and tiramisu croissant. They look fine, but where were the vegetables?

I brushed off Ethique Plant-Based as just another vegan "junk food" joint. Even after two vegan friends highly recommended it to me, I remained disinterested. But when I heard another friend raving about their extensive dessert options, I became curious. I read their Google reviews more carefully and was convinced a trip there would be worthwhile, despite the three-hour round trip.

It did not disappoint. I was impressed by their countless offerings and beautiful presentation. The café itself is bright, spacious, and delightfully decorated. I tried their pain au chocolate and took a classic marble cake to go, while planning to try their black sesame earl grey marble cake, hazelnut yuzu flan in puff pastry, and classic croissant on future visits.

Pain au Chocolate (Photo source: Ethique)
Cross-section of Ethique's Pain au Chocolate (Photo source: Ethique)
Black sesame earl grey marble cake. Ask me how good it was! (Photo source: Ethique)
Le Flan Hazelnut Yuzu (Photo source: Ethique)

A place like Ethique can seem somewhat out of place in Istanbul. Many cities have far more vegan restaurants than Istanbul but do not have a plant-based patisserie with offerings as extensive and high-quality as Ethique's. What surprised me even more was their rapid growth from a team of three to thirty-five in just two years since their founding.

Their growth intrigued me. I had to ask if I could shadow their chefs and/or chat with their management team. A couple of days later, I was welcomed into their production house. Observing fifteen chefs and many kitchen equipments work simultaneously across several kitchen islands, producing cakes, macaroons, tarts, chocolates, breads, pastries in the well-lit production house, I felt like I was part of a cooking show.

Production needs are updated daily. Freezer-friendly items such as cakes are batch-prepared so that they are always in stock in the freezer.
The woman on the left was rolling butter blocks for croissants while Derviş on the right was making fougasse.
Big tub of sour dough!
Ethique's Cofounder and Head Chef Aslı proudly presenting a mini croissant
Happily chopping pistachio as Aslı offered me an opportunity to make pistachio chocolate
Making wet caramel for the pistachio chocolate
A few steps later, here are the candied pistachio covered in chocolate.

I got to know Ethique's co-founders, a married couple who previously ran an ice cream shop before they went vegan a few years ago. A little over a decade ago, Aslı studied civil aviation to be a flight attendant, while Engin used to be a professional poker player. Today, she's the head chef overseeing all production while Engin manages other aspects of the business.

Watching Aslı's dedication to her work was inspiring for the wanna-be food entrepreneur in me. She's on her feet from 8am to 3:30pm every day, planning, monitoring production, training chefs, and overseeing procurement. She also engages with customers directly. During my visit, she generously spent hours showing me around, explaining their operations, and sharing insights in response to my many questions. Her response to a question about risk-taking struck a chord with me: "I have to be happy to dare."

A few days later, I came to Ethique with the co-founder of UniVeg after we visited a local flea market together. As we each ordered a croissant and sat down at a table, he commented, "This is very luxurious for me. Why do we need four types of cookies in different colors?"

In the moment, I couldn't really respond to him other than agreeing. After all, nobody needs elaborate pastries to survive. The origin of French pastries is indeed rooted in royal patronage, characterized by opulence that starkly contrasted with the poverty experienced by many common people. Moreover, there are far simpler and healthier foods available.

So what's the point then? I don't have a definitive answer. But maybe it’s about losing oneself in pleasure. The same could be said about fictional books, films, and paintings. Seeing pastries as edible art, makes it easier, at least for me, to embrace my appreciation for them.

But this kind of pleasure does come with a cost. As patisseries strive for precision and presentation in the creation of fine pastries and baked goods, food waste seems inevitable. Cake tops and edges are often trimmed to create a surface suitable for layering and decorating, and if not repurposed, they are discarded. Excess dough from cutting out shapes for pastries like croissants may also go to waste unless transformed into new products. Trimmings from fruits and items that don't meet visual standards are usually also wasted.

Of course, to be cost-effective, food businesses have an incentive to reduce avoidable waste. As far as I could tell, Ethique makes an effort to minimize production waste. Any unsold items by the end of day are taken by their staff.

At the beginning of this month, during Ethique's two-year anniversary, they shared clips with the following caption on Instagram: "Protecting our nature, our planet, the living beings on it, and our future is actually simple. As we celebrate our second anniversary, we are here to create a collective spirit. Would you like to join us on this journey?"

The ES (environmental studies, environment & society) student in me wanted to dissect every part of this message. Setting aside the usage of the word "nature," the ambiguity that comes with it, and the nature/culture divide it may signal, calling complex and multifaceted challenges that people spend years or entire lives working on "simple" seems inadequate to say the least. Despite understanding the marketing angle of businesses, I think the vague language and simplification of complex issues in their message could be improved or avoided.

That being said, I acknowledge that plant-based patisseries are overall better than those using animal-derived ingredients in terms of environmental impact and animal lives. Ethique's success can inspire other businesses to explore plant-based foods and thereby drive a broader shift towards a more plant-based food system. Dare I say, it's a step in the right direction.

Now, what will I do with my new interest in pastries?

I'm not entirely sure yet, but I want to learn to make them and, from time to time, lose myself in the pleasure of doing so.