Ancient greek roots. When i found this, i said, i have to make wine. Im travelling along izmir� s coast in search of the freshest produce. Straight from the sea. And finding out why the artichoke is at the heart of this local turkish cuisine. So we have more food coming. I cant believe how many there are. This is discovering the worlds table. Turkey, the aegean coast. Turkey is nestled in the middle of europe and asia, and its food scene is as diverse as its rich history. Turkish culture has evolved through the rule of successive empires, each leaving its mark on whats eaten here now. Im on its western coast. Izmir is a port city and turkeys Third Largest metropolis, a Cultural Capital in its own right. In its history, this peninsula has been home to greeks and romans and, under the ottomans, became a vibrant mix of religions and cultures. And im told that, even till this day, you can really see how this has had a huge influence on the areas cuisine. To guide me around, im meeting local fellow foodie gokcen coskun, a Globetrotting Influencer whos on a mission to find the worlds best eats. Marhaba. Hi, im nick. Welcome to izmir. 0h, thanks for having me. Gokcen says, despite her extensive gastronomic travels, izmir is still her undeniable foodie paradise. Have you always lived here . I born here, actually. Oh, yeah . Lots of people, lots of geographically different identities come here and bring their own food. Uhhuh. Turkish cuisine, ottoman cuisine, greek cuisine, crimea cuisine. All. Everything is included. To get a flavour, gokcen takes me to one of izmir� s oldest bakeries. We are going to zeynel ergin bakery. Which serves some of izmir� s best loved breakfasts, popular with locals and now food influencers, too. So, what do we have here . Boyoz and gevrek . Tell me a little bit about these things. Boyoz, its traditional to izmir, but sephardicjews brought this to us 500 years ago. Cheers. They speak turkish oh, thats really nice. And gevrek bread was brought to izmir by the crimeans in the 18th century. But the most influential have been the greeks, who lived here for thousands of years, until, at least, a more recent historical event had a huge impact. As modern turkey was formed and the ottoman rule ended, the two governments of greece and turkey agreed on a compulsory Population Exchange. The Greek Orthodox Community Living in izmir were forced to move to the greek island of crete and the muslim turks from crete had to move to this aegean turkish coastal region. This bakery was, in fact, once run by a greek family. Its hard to imagine that nearly two Million People were displaced and had to leave everything they knew behind. Im leaving izmirand, just a short drive away. The city unexpectedly gives way to expansive vineyards. To find out more, im meeting ceylan ertorer diaz, part of a new generation of turkish winemakers. Ceylan, im nick. Hi, nick. Welcome. Lovely to meet you. Hey, this is beautiful. Thank you. Great to see you at hus wines. When the Greek Orthodox community left, their centuries old practice of winemaking vanished with them. Ceylan� s Great Grandparents came here during the mass enforced resettlement in the early 1920s. They were forced to leave the land. It was not something that they chose. They didnt know how to work the vineyards. They didnt have the know how, so they put out the vineyards and they planted olive oils, and they planted tobacco instead. And, just like that, winemaking in this region was all but lost. However, 80 years on, wine grapes are finally gracing these vines once more. Our little babies. Oh, these are tiny. Yes, that tiny. Cant believe how small they are. Yes. This is our syrah grape. Uhhuh. And this will become a rose. Oh, rose. Soon, yes. Oh, lovely. Hus wines recentlyjoined the budding urla wine route. Over the past 20 years, nine wineries have signed up to the route, mostly serving wines made from local grape varieties. You know, nick, the best way to see around here is to ride a bike. Safety first. Lead the way. What a beautiful bike ride. Out in the countryside. Were on our way to urla winery. Oh, look at this. Well, its quite a grand entrance, isnt it . The largest here. Its founder, can ortabas, kick started this community and wine route. He speaks turkish how you doing . Welcome. Hi. Great to meet you, can. How are you doing . Nice to meet you, too. Welcome. Cans passion for winemaking was sparked by an accidental discovery. He originally bought this land to cultivate a botanical garden. But, when the landscapers started to dig, they unearthed relics of a bygone craft. Look what we found. Er. So its in the ground . In the ground, as you see, about 1. 5 metre down, and we found this one first. Whoa. And it was smelling wine for maybe two months, which is about 2,300 years old. No. Yes. These vessels date back to the era of the ancient greeks, who were the first empire to produce wine in this region. Amphora sealed with limestone discs were used to store the wine. These have laid untouched for centuries. I never thought about producing wine. But when i found this and read about the history, i said, i have to make wine. Have to do it. Yes, i was sent here to make wine. As can dug deeper into the rich tapestry of winemaking here, he found another lost relic, An Ancient Grape indigenous to urla, the urla black, locally known as urla karasi. I visited every single village on the peninsula. Finally, we found three more than 100 years old. These old vines were his only hope to bring back the urla black grape. Normally it is 80 , 90 success when you graft them. Yeah. But, with them, because they were too old, the success was 10 . But can wasnt one for giving up. He spent the next decade painstakingly propagating the vines. Finally, turkeys urla karasi is growing strong. Now, lam giving it to the other producers in urla region. It was here for thousands of years, so its going to be spread again and many people will produce wine with urla karasi. For now, can is still blending the urla karasi with other varieties. His Signature Bottle is mixed with another black grape, nero davola of italy. Wow. It looks really deep in colour, eh . It is. These three wines can be aged easily 30 years. Should we give it a try . Sure, why not . Oh, thats lovely. So why is it a blend . We didnt have enough at the beginning. We are still propagating. Starting from next year, i hope we will have pure urla karasi. Congratulations in bringing this ancient wine back. Thank you very much. Cheers. Turkish wine is now on the rise. As its reputation increases on the world stage, so does the number of wineries, more than tripling in the last decade. The Aegean Region is at the heart of its success. I have one last winery to visit, where i get to see first hand why urla is well suited to vine growing. This is the cellar of our oak barrels. And some bottled wine stays here. This is amazing. Reha ogunlu is the founder of urlice. He was the first to restart winemaking in the area. This looks so, like, rustic. It feels, like, very moist in the air. Yeah, its moist. Well, you can see our earth here. The. Each layer represents maybe a million years. Wow. You can touch it if you like. Ooh, its so slimy. Yes, its slimy. This sponge like soil is remarkable at retaining moisture. And although izmir, like many parts of the world, is battling with severe drought, the vines here have an extra layer of protection. From the ground level, it looks like it could be quite dry, but this is really wet. Whole year round its like this. If it doesnt rain, it doesnt matter. Its like this. Right. Yeah. And we dont do irrigation. As i finish my tour, ive discovered how the harmony between urlas soil and climate has created the Ideal Environment for vine growing. But, like everywhere else, all this hangs in the balance, this time not due to the lack of skills, but the lack of rain. But for now, anyway, urlas vineyards are prospering with a new breed of Award Winning producers. And wherever there is good wine. Oh, wow, that looks lovely. Good food is sure to follow. Look at that presentation. Hmm. Coming up, im exploring izmir� s finest foods, where fresh local ingredients. This one . In the next part of myjourney, im trying The Very Best produce the region of urla in the aegean has to offer. This area is full of fresh ingredients. Sea on one side, Sprawling Farmlands on the other, a chefs dream. Im on my way to meet ozan kumbasar, a cook renowned for using only local produce. Hi. Hello. Lovely to meet you. Nice to meet you. You all right . Im all right. Thank you. Where are we . This is gorgeous, isnt it . Yes, its a very, very old harbour. Uhhuh. Like 4000bc. Today we are going to. See lots of seafood. Sounds delicious. Yes, it will be. It will be. This region is famed for its fresh shellfish, so it features heavily on ozan� s menus. About to go fishing. How long do you spend when you come out here . 7am. We turn back at 12. Joining us is emre, a fisherman and fellow restaurateur. Today, hes free diving in search of urla oysters, a native speciality. Oh, hes gone. Hes in. Free diving like this is highly skilled. You need to know the seabed like you know the land. But emre� s so at home here that after only 15 minutes of foraging. Oh, my goodness me hes got a bag of stuff . A full catch of urla oysters and sea urchins, a famous snack amongst the fishermen here. Youre going to prepare it for us . Hmm. Of course. Oh, thank you very much, sir. So fresh. Straight from the sea. Next is the urla oyster, which has a distinct mix of characteristics. It seems like scallop, isnt it . Yes. But everybody calls it oyster in urla. Its kind of. Its kind of like an oyster there, though. Mmm. Its very meaty. Very meaty. Its firmer. Yeah. And it is, like you say, its kind of like half scallop, half oyster. Oh, youve slurped it straight down. Youre a pro. Chef ozan really appreciates his time at sea, but tells me he fears for the future. Urla oysters are one of many unique species in these waters and rising Sea Temperatures are putting their precious marine habitat under pressure. While ozan feels powerless to protect urlas sea life, he is striving to save another local delicacy urlas Mastic Artichoke. For foodies like myself, this region is full of flavours to explore, but artichokes are its most celebrated culinary gem. In spring, their preparation is everywhere. This artichoke even has its own festival and restaurants dedicated to it. But chef ozan fears this insatiable appetite is endangering the traditional local Mastic Artichoke, which is losing out to cheaper, easier to grow, imported hybrid varieties. Wow. My garden. Look at this. Theres hybrids, hybrid artichokes, its come from the foreign country. This one has two. The hybrid ones has 20. Really . Yes, artichoke. So you want to preserve the Mastic Artichoke . Yes, exactly. This one is the special type of artichoke and the most delicious one, and we have to save it. Chef ozan says the future of the species can only be secured if the farmers are paid a premium for their hard work. This one is the perfect one. The medium size is the perfect one to cook. We want to use the stamp. We want to use the leaves. Sustainability is very important for us. Every ingredients in my restaurants coming from this peninsula and we cooked only the seasonal vegetables. And, in april, the Mastic Artichokes are in full bloom. But theres an art to selecting the right ones for cooking. Is this too big or too small . Which one . Its too big. Its not firm. Like the other one. We will see lots of fur in it, like that. This one . I think thats firm. Yeah. So. Yeah. 70 to go. Oh, look theres a ladybug here. It means there is no chemical on the field. No pesticides. Too big . No, its good. Its. Yeah. Lets get it. Surely thats enough artichokes now . With our basket full, were off to cook at ozan� s nearby restaurant. Oh, look at this place. Welcome to vino locale. Which means local wine, a name inspired by both the local produce and of the fine wine on offer, carefully selected by co founder seray kumbasar. Oh, hi. How you doing . Seray. Very happy to meet you. Nick, seray. Seray, nick. Oh, wow. Look at this. This is stunning. Are you ready to cook . Yes. Im excited to be back in the kitchen my favourite place to be. Chef ozan is showing me his tricks. Were cooking a traditional Artichoke Dish with a modern twist. Stem off. We will be use it. First, its stripping off the leaves, which is not as easy as youd think. Looks a bit worse forwear, but. So weve got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. We have nine. Now, on to the sauce. Were adding garlic, onion and the artichoke stems to olive oil. Look at that. Look all that flavour infusing itself into the oil. A fresh juice mix adds a citrusy kick. Sweet from the orange, sourfrom the lemon. And ozan tells me this is his secret. Were frying the artichokes twice. Look how theyre slowly opening. Yes, like a flower. Yes. Theyre blossoming in the pan. The first gentle fry softens them. The second, a quick hot fry, adds crispiness. Now, back to the sauce. 0k. Ooh, now come the peas. Potatoes. Going to have a wee taste now. Hmm. The final steps involve a smattering of dill, and ozanne creates a foam made from a traditional yoghurt drink called ayran. With the food almost ready, time for a tipple with seray. Hi. Hello, nick. How was the Kitchen Experience with ozan . It was great. It was terrific. Perfect. But we are going to much more fun because we are. We will drinking lots of beautiful urla wines. Like chef ozan� s ingredients, all the wines poured here are local. So we are just starting with the local muscat, which is known by the rest of the world as a muscat, moscato, but its originally from urla, izmir. And heres the Artichoke Dish now. Yes. What do you smell . Its like a roses, honeysuckles. Like spring in a glass. Yes. Seray chose this wine to match with my Artichoke Dish because its fresh, light taste balances well with strong flavours. So ill have a little taste now. It really does bring out the flavours going on in the Artichoke Dish cos thats really tangy and sweet and sour. Yeah. And the wine actually stands up against it. This is a very good combination of soil of urla, both wine, the grape, and then the artichoke. Another dish for tonight is capricorn tandoori, a goat dish slow cooked in local herbs. Seray is pairing it with the revived urla karasi. When you are tasting, you can feel the mediterranean fresh herbs. Mm. So good. I can really see how the wine route is influencing the food scene in the region. The Flavour Combination of this plate is exquisite. Youre actually getting, like, two mouthfuls of food. Youre getting the first one with the goat, then you drink the wine, then the second mouthful of flavour comes through. As we enjoy the urla karasi, seray reminds me of the difficult history of the forced Population Exchange and the marks it left on her own family. Are you seeing, nick, The Olive Tree . Oh, yeah. Yes. The greek people always misses their land here, and my grandparents also misses their olive trees from islands of crete, and every day im looking of it to rememberthem. As the evening beckons, some of my new turkish friends arrive to enjoy an aegean feast. Oh, look, theres our pals there now. Great to see you, guys. Thanks so much for coming. It was lovely to meet you all. Thank you so much for showing me round turkey. Cheers. Not only has chef ozan been cooking, but i too have had a hand in the kitchen today. Its a taste sensation. I completely get why chef ozan and his team are the rising stars of this food scene. Wine is having a revival here, but whats striking is how its reviving the region, benefiting the whole community. In my adventure across izmir, its been amazing to meet so many passionate people. Those breathing new life into traditional crafts. Wahey . Celebrating the natural bounty, and protecting the local treasures right on their doorstep. Weve been going through a time where fusion has been dominating the worlds tables. Perhaps now local cuisine is making a bit of a comeback, reinvigorating entire communities the world over. Now, that is exciting. For more on the worlds table, go to bbc. Com. Voiceover bbc, voice over bbc, bringing you different stories from across the uk. Making Research Notes in his cabin on the south down, davids lopez and International Wildlife will make an offer seems heavenly. But shaking hands with the devil, his latest documentary, tells a different story. David has had parkinsons disease for 15 years. Earlierthis parkinsons disease for 15 years. Earlier this year he filmed then can you with people in rural areas there who also have the condition but are often left untreated and its not unknown for them to be branded as possessed or a witch. ,. ,. , witch. There are people who come and witch. There are people who come and kill witch. There are people who come and kill you witch. There are people who come and kill you if witch. There are people who come and kill you if they witch. There are people who come and kill you if they are sure you are doing witchcraft. David made the film with the researcher who recently completed a study on parkinsons disease in kenya and the documentary they revisited the case studies. The film has been released freely online. David describes it as the most important who has ever made. Voice over for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. Hello there. Lets take a look at the weather for the week ahead. Now, it was another day of contrasts again on friday with a band of heavy rain across the central belt of scotland, also for eastern areas of northern ireland. Towards the north of that band of rain, some brightness. Towards the south, a lot of sunshine, such as here in bedfordshire. Now, towards the south, it is going to feel quite humid this weekend. Fresher conditions further north and some rain wherever you are, courtesy, on sunday, of this deep area of low pressure thats going to be pushing its way further northwards and eastwards, and thats going to help to spark off some heavy, thundery downpours. On saturday, a bit of wet weather around as well. Possibly a rumble or two of thunder in some of these showers towards the south west of england. Our band of rain further north is gradually fragmenting, its weakening, but still some showers, i think, for the north west of england. Some brightness across scotland. The best of the sunshine again towards the South East Of England and east anglia with that South Easterly Wind just drawing in humid air from the near continent. In the best of the brightness and sunshine, temperatures could get as high as 26 or even 27 degrees celsius. On saturday night, again, a range of temperatures out there. Its going to feel really quite cool, i think, towards the north of scotland. Lows here of around 3 degrees celsius underneath clear skies. But towards the South East Of England, again, in that humid feeling air, temperatures may not drop much below 16 or 17 degrees, so an uncomfortable night asleep here. And it stays humid in the south on sunday. The humidity, that deep area of low pressure will help to spark off the heavy, thundery downpours that will gradually push further northwards and eastwards throughout the day. Mostly dry in eastern scotland, the wind turning more south easterly as we head throughout the day. Again, a range of temperatures. Were hanging on to that humid feeling air. Watch out for some frequent Lightning Strikes perhaps towards the south as we head through sunday night and into monday. But were all going to be seeing fresher feeling conditions into next week. Its a very active week weather wise with cold fronts pushing eastwards throughout the day on monday. Behind the cold fronts, of course, fresher feeling conditions. But some sunshine ahead of that main rain band and some sunshine behind it as well but also, a rash of showers, so plenty of wet weather around on monday. Well stay in that humid feeling air until we get to the afternoon. Towards the south and the east, 21 or 22 degrees celsius. Still fresher feeling conditions digging in behind. And theres plenty of activity out in the atlantic as we head through the rest of the week, some of these systems tied up with the remnants of hurricane lee. Lets take a look at tuesday. So, at the moment, we think its probably going to be quite a showery day. The winds will be strengthening as the second deep area of low pressure starts to approach. Temperatures will be a lot closer to the seasonal average really, the mid to the high teens so already feeling cooler by the time we get to tuesday but, curiously, on wednesday, it could turn milderagain, particularly in the south thats because we have got that tropical feeling air coming through. A deep of low pressure out towards northern ireland, Western Scotland some strong, gusty winds here and plenty of showers. These will be the days highs on wednesday. Fresher again towards the north but warmer in the south. And more showers expected on thursday. Again, some very strong, gusty winds. The details of all of this are likely to change as we head through the week but what we do know is that well see a return to those fresher feeling conditions and it will be very wet and very windy at times, particularly out towards the north and the west. So, a very active week. Westerly winds. Fresher feeling air. Heres the outlook for our Capital Cities as we head through the week. Do keep an eye on the forecast. Bye for now. Live from washington, this is a Bbc News Special look at workers, Labour Unions and strikes. 13,000 us auto workers walked off the job on friday to demand better working conditions. The automakers have made counter offers, and say they have to consider the long term viability of their companies. The strike harkens back to decades of conflict between worker and management in a nation where the car is king. Hello, im caitriona perry. Youre very welcome to this Bbc News Special focussing on the american labour movement, how its changing and specifically the current strike by thousands of us auto workers. Their walkout is steeped in economic history and present day frustrations. Its part of a long running battle between titans of industry and those on factory floors. For the next half hour, were going to look at whats happening at these three plants, owned by the big three general motors, ford and stellantis and what it means for American Workers and the economy
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