In Turkey’s third-largest city, food is a fierce marker of identity, one where calling a gevrek a "simit" is a minor social offense and keeping tomatoes out of your kokoreç is a local mandate. While its glam big sister, Istanbul, tends to hog the international spotlight (and the mistakenly placed lion's share of culinary acclaim), Izmir is home to its own Sephardic legacies, Balkan influences, and a certain coastal defiance.