About
Hi, I’m Melis — welcome to my kitchen
I’m Melis, a recipe developer, food stylist and recipe video maker based in Istanbul, cooking for kitchens all over the world.
- Recipe development
- Food styling
- Recipe videos
- Recipe e-books
My story
For more than fifteen years, food has been both my work and my joy. I have developed recipes for international food brands, written and styled recipe e-books, and filmed recipe after recipe, from quick, Tasty-style videos to full shoots with professional cameras and lights in our home studio. Through all of it, my goal has stayed the same: a recipe that works the very first time, in a real home kitchen.
Behind the camera is my husband, director Hazar. We have spent years filming recipes side by side, and we make a pretty great team: I develop and cook, he shoots and directs.
Why I started Plated by Melis
I believe food is one of the simplest ways to make someone happy. A warm slice of cake, a tin of holiday cookies, a slow Sunday breakfast: those small moments around the table are what I love most.
After years of creating recipes for others, I wanted to share my own with you, wherever you are in the world. Here you’ll find cookies, cakes, holiday baking and the dishes my family asks for again and again, with US cups and metric grams side by side, and all the little tips I learned the hard way.
My family
My biggest supporters, in the kitchen and in life
My dear husband and our two children are behind every recipe on this site. Hazar is the calm one behind the camera; the kids are my little sous-chefs, scattering cheese, sneaking a mushroom or two and always asking for “just one more slice.”
They are also my toughest and most honest tasters. If a cookie disappears from the plate in minutes, it earns its place here. Everything I share has been loved around our own table first.
My kitchen rules
How I test every recipe
- 01
I cook every recipe myself
Before a recipe reaches you, I make it in my own kitchen, often more than once, until it works every single time. If I haven’t cooked it, it doesn’t go on the site.
- 02
Every detail, tested one by one
I weigh, taste and adjust: the bake time, the texture, the little things that can go wrong at home. Then I write those tips down for you, so your first try turns out just right.
- 03
Real photos, honest measurements
Every photo comes from our own shoots, never AI. You’ll find US cups next to grams and °F next to °C. AI helps with translation and editing, and every recipe is checked against my own notes, videos and photos before it goes live.
Let’s cook together
I would truly love to hear from you: a question about a recipe, a photo of your bake, or an idea for working together. Write to me, and let’s make the world a little sweeter and a little happier, for the people we love and for ourselves.