Organized by İzmir's Çeşme Municipality, the 10th Alaçatı Herb Festival will begin today. This year's theme herb is chard.

The Aegean cuisine is known for its elaborate use of numerous local herbs. This year, the festival exceeds the borders of Çeşme and stretches to Selçuk, Kuşadası and İzmir city center.

The festival begins with a number of workshops focusing on herb dishes. Renowned chef Gökçen Adar will join the festival at Alaçatı Square and show how to use chard in various dishes.

On the second day of the festival, there will be a parade, followed by panel sessions on health and the importance of different ingredients used in Aegean cuisine. On the third day of the festival, which is projected to be the most crowded day of the event, Turkish chefs will offer their performances and compete with their colleagues to do the best herb dish. When the sun goes down, the festivalgoers will enjoy a lovely performance by the Turkish band, Yeni Türkü.

On the last day of the festival, April 7, a number of competitions, like "cooking the best herb dish" and "collecting the most herbs," will be held.