Big Has on barbecue, vulnerability and the joy of honest food: "My two favourite things on holiday are crisps and ketchup."

If you know Big Has you know he’s not your typical chef. Hasan Semay, the north Londoner with Turkish Cypriot roots, has become one of the most compelling voices in British food. Whether he’s cooking over an open fire, sharing stories on his YouTube series Sunday Sessions, or topping the Sunday Times bestseller list with his cookbook, Big Has Home, he brings an unapologetic honesty to everything he does.

Now, with his latest book, Smoke and Seasoned Bread: Recipes from Türkiye, Hasan takes readers on a journey that’s as much about soul-searching as it is about smoky kebabs and sun-ripened tomatoes.

To hear more about Big Has’s journey, his new book and the stories behind his signature dishes, listen to the full episode now. For more inspiring conversations and delicious insights, visit our podcast page to explore all our episodes.

A book born by accident – and adventure

Surprisingly, Hasan admits that his new book was “actually a mistake”. After the success of his first, publishers were eager for a follow-up. “I wanted to go to Mexico, I wanted to go to Jamaica, I wanted to go to Japan,” he says, recalling ambitious pitches that fell through when airline sponsors didn’t materialise. The fallback? A deep dive into Turkish food and culture.

At first, he hesitated. “I didn’t want to be the Turkish kid sent to Turkey. It almost feels token,” he confesses. But, driven by curiosity and a need for self-discovery, he booked a flight and spent two months travelling across Turkey, living like a local and letting conversations with strangers shape the book.

“The book was slowly written by small conversations with locals. I landed there and I was like, I have no idea what I’m doing here. It wrote itself, basically.”

Food, family and finding yourself

What sets Smoke and Seasoned Bread apart is its vulnerability. This isn’t just a collection of recipes, it’s a memoir, a love letter to Hasan's father and a raw account of personal growth.

“There’s definitely a vulnerability in it,” he says. “Looking like me, talking the way I talk, representing cultures attached to London, to then have this book where I’m talking about my relationship with my dad and my identity crisis as a kid – it’s more than just food.”

Writing the book coincided with a period of therapy and self-reflection. Hasan describes moments of anxiety and the fear of letting people “read my diary”. But he’s proud of the result: “I want it to be received well. I want it to do as well as it can. But there’s this whole fear of the unknown.”

The joy of travel – and the power of ketchup

Hasan's passion for discovery extends beyond the kitchen. He lights up when talking about the sensory joys of travelling – especially the small pleasures, like crisps and ketchup in foreign countries.

“My two favourite things on holiday are crisps and ketchup. Ketchup tastes different wherever you go. One of my favourite ketchups is from Sri Lanka – it’s got cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, a little spice edge to it.”

He waxes lyrical about “super crunchy” Spanish crisps and the thrill of finding new flavours abroad, even if they cost a small fortune back home in the UK.

Unexpected flavours: soy sauce in a Turkish kebab?

Travelling through Turkey, Hasan's eyes were opened by the diversity of regional food. One surprise? The use of soy sauce in Turkish dishes.

“There’s a squid dish, marinated in flowering oregano, Turkish chilli flakes and garlic, served with a soy sauce chaser as if it’s sushi. I dipped it in the soy sauce and I was like, this makes sense.”

He also encountered a kebab called “dirty chicken” marinated in soy and milk, proving that Turkish food is far more varied than the classic doner and mixed grills most Brits know.

Honest food, honest living

For Hasan the best meals are about more than technique, they’re about love, community and memories.

“If you said to me you’re going to eat with anyone and you’re going to eat anything, it’ll be with my family and be eating kebab,” he says. “And when I say family, it doesn’t necessarily mean bloodline for me. We were brought up in a home where the door was always open.”

He’s quick to dismiss the notion that great food must be fancy. “If I said to you now, what’s your favourite thing? There’s no way you’re going to be like, oh, I had the best bisque in a bistro. No way. It’s pure nostalgia.”

Growth, grit and a bit of chicken

Hasan's journey hasn’t been straightforward. He left school with few qualifications, worked security jobs he hated and only found his calling after joining Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. Kitchens gave him purpose but it’s his willingness to be open about anxiety, identity and failure that sets him apart.

“I want to inspire someone to be like, I could write a book if I wanted to write a book. Or I could drop my tools now and run off to India if I wanted to. There’s just a bigger purpose to putting nice things on plates.”

His culinary confessions? He cooks a mean chicken, thanks to lessons in precision and patience. But he also admits to kitchen disasters, like serving dangerously undercooked birds to family – “dangerously moist” – and once outsourcing dessert to a Turkish restaurant after a supper club catastrophe.

The Big Has philosophy

So what does good food mean to Big Has?

“I think it might just be love. I think good food to me isn’t necessarily about what’s on the plate. It’s the shared experience. It’s the people around you. It’s the way you feel on that day.”

With every smoky kebab, every honest conversation and every page of his new book, Big Has proves that the best food is, above all, food with heart.

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