After the World Cup final, everyone talked about him: Who is Nusret (Salt Bae)?

Who is Nusret Gökçe, who started to be known not only in Turkey but also in the world with the videos he uploaded on social media?

Born in Erzurum, the city with the highest altitude in Turkey, in 1983, Nusret Gökçe is one of the 5 children of a mining worker father. When he was only two years old, he had to immigrate with his family from Erzurum to Istanbul. There has been a migration from small settlements to Istanbul for the last 70 years in Turkey. Low-income people move to Istanbul in the hope of earning more. According to them, both the stone and the soil of Istanbul are gold. There is such an idiom in Turkish.

Nusret, who started his career in the butchers' bazaar in Bostancı, one of the middle-upper class settlements of Istanbul, worked as a butcher's apprentice for a long time. Working simultaneously with 10 masters in a large butcher shop, Nusret worked actively for 18 hours a day. Nusret, who owes his professionalism in meat chopping to doing a lot of work in a short time, first started working on the concept of a butcher restaurant opened in Istinye Park, one of Istanbul's famous shopping malls, in 2007. After this experience, the young entrepreneur, who wanted to see other restaurant concepts around the world, set out for Argentina.

Nusret, who visited the butchers and restaurants in Argentina, where he went with the last money in his pocket and the 7 thousand TL he took from his credit card, managed to get an idea about the sector.

Nusret, who continued to work at the same workplace when he returned to Turkey, succeeded in transferring these experiences to his work. The world-famous restaurant owner, who claims to have made cooked meats such as 'Turkish Delight', 'Walnut' and 'Cage' for the first time, has decided to go to America for new experiences this time. After receiving a three-month US visa under difficult conditions, he worked in four of the most well-known restaurants in New York without paying, and his menu was published in the New York Times.

Nusret, who was unemployed when he returned to Turkey, started his efforts to open his own business. Choosing his old friend Mithat Erdem as an angel investor, the young entrepreneur laid the foundation of the first restaurant with his friend. Nusret, who paid back the money he received from his friend within 5-6 months, continued on his way alone for a while after paying his debt.

Doğuş Group, one of Turkey's largest capital groups, became a partner in his business, which he continued as a sole proprietorship until 2009. Stating that he used to work with a salary of 1800 TL and now employs hundreds of employees, Nusret states that his customers come from abroad by private jets to eat the meat he makes, and this is a great happiness for him.

Why do they call him Salt Bae?

The Turkish chef, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, rose to stardom as a mime in 2017 when a video of him pouring salt onto a steak over his forearm exploded. Today, he still uses the distinctive pose that made him famous, both as part of his client performance in restaurants and when photographed in public.

What does Nusr-et mean?

Nusr-et; is a pun on its own name and the Turkish word "et". The Turkish word for meat is "et."

Still, it's a miracle that Salt Bae managed to open restaurant after restaurant in some of the world's most sought-after places (Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, and London) despite consistently negative reviews. When his New York restaurant opened in 2018, critics described its huge steaks and diced meats as "blank and boring."

Writing in the New York Post, food critic Steve Cuozzo called the restaurant a "rudder," calling it rather ruthlessly that his steak was "a shoe-skin-tough bony entrecote stuffed with creepy chunks of fat for extra pleasure." GQ's Joshua David Stein added that the menu was "absurdly expensive, even by New York steakhouse standards."

All of London's Twitter this year has spewed outrage about the overpriced menu that features everything clad in gold. From the £100 hamburgers to the £850 tomahawk steak (much more expensive than what this author paid for his monthly rent), Salt Bae has been widely criticized for sprinkling lots of salt and overpriced items on its menu.

But still, the London restaurant is packed to the brim, an achievement that has earned Salt Bae's admiration from Manchester restaurant magnate Nikolas Opacic. Opacic described the celebrity chef as a "genius" despite "unbelievable prices".

What happened in the final match?

After Argentina won the championship by beating France in the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, the echoes of the event footage of Nusret Gökçe, who went down to the field at the trophy ceremony and took pictures with the football players, especially Lionel Messi, and the World Cup, continue.

FIFA launched an investigation against Nusret Gökçe, who reacted because of Lionel Messi's insistence on taking a photo by following him, Angel di Maria's trying to take the World Cup from him, and Nicolas Tagliafico's photo with the World Cup.

PROHIBITED TO TOUCH THE CUP

The current World Cup design dates back to 1974. As one of the world's most recognizable Sports symbols and an invaluable icon, the original FIFA World Cup can only be touched and held by winners, former winners, and heads of state.

NUSRET PROHIBITION IN AMERICA

Nusret, who was alleged to have even given a bribe to enter the field, received a reaction from the United States. The oldest football tournament in the USA, the U.S. Open Cup banned Gökçe from participating in the finals.