By: Olivia Ren, ‘26
The Global Table program welcomes Turkish social gastronomy entrepreneur Chef Ebru Baybara Demir as the program’s second Fellow-in-Residence. She will be in New Haven through February 11, 2025.
In 2000, Chef Demir founded Cercis Murat Konağı in Mardin, Turkey, a restaurant committed to celebrating traditional Mardin cuisine and empowering women in the culinary world. Chef Demir is also a champion for sustainability, spearheading the From Soil to Plate Cooperative in advocating for heritage ingredients and supporting the creation of an e-commerce platform for local farmers.
Launched in 2024 as a collaboration between the Yale MacMillan Center, Yale Schwarzman Center, and Yale Hospitality, the Global Table program invites culinary thought-leaders from around the world to campus as in-residence fellows. Last fall, inaugural Fellow Chef Selassie Atadika visited Yale, sharing her insights on the intersection between cuisine, culture, and sustainability. In December, the Rooted dining station in Commons featured Chef Atadika’s curated menu inspired by Africa’s culinary and cultural traditions.
In 2023, Chef Demir founded Gönül Mutfağı, a soup kitchen that provided over 20 million hot meals to victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes, supported by 4,000 volunteers and both private and public institutions. For her work in culinary and social spheres, Chef Demir has been recognized by over twenty awards, including the “Aenne Burda Creative Leadership Award” (2023) and the World Book Best of the Year Award “Culture of Gastronomy Endeavour Award” (2022).
There will be multiple opportunities to engage with Chef Demir throughout her residence at Yale. On February 10, Chef Demir will lead student cooking classes at 1:00 PM in the Peck Room at Commons (registration not required; space is limited). Later that evening, Chef Demir will deliver a lecture from 4:00 - 5:00 PM at Luce Hall Auditorium, followed by a reception from 5:15 - 7:00 PM at The Well (21+) at the Schwarzman Center.
Following her departure, Chef Demir’s curated menu will be featured at Rooted beginning the week of March 24.
Chef Demir’s lecture and reception will take place on February 10. For more information on the Global Table program, please visit the MacMillan Center website.