Menemen

// Ingredients

• Eggs
• Tomatoes
• Green pepper
• Yellow onion
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Ground red pepper

// Allergens

EggsLactose

// Historical background

The name of the dish is linked to the small town of Menemen in Izmir Province. According to one version, menemen took shape after Cretan Muslims settled in the area during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey: the settlers first cooked simple dishes of wild herbs with eggs and olive oil, and then adapted a local tomato stew, replacing meat with eggs during hard economic times. According to these accounts, sweet pepper was added later. The dish is reported to have spread beyond the region after the 1930s.

Debates about the dish's composition continue to this day, above all about onion. It is most often added when menemen is served as a main course rather than for breakfast. Some Turkish cooks insist that real menemen cannot be made without onion. In 2018, culinary critic Vedat Milor ran a poll on Twitter; 437,657 people took part, and the supporters of onion won only a narrow lead of about 51% of the votes, so the question remains open. Menemen is usually eaten for breakfast with bread, and in Turkish tradition the morning meal is an occasion for long conversations over tea. As a variation, sujuk, pastırma, white cheese or kashar may be added to the dish, and in some places a "chakalli" menemen is made, using only yolks and served with cheese.