The international community may believe that Turkish food has a unique national “character”. And the always courteous local Turk might even give in to that judgment, in public. But in private, he/she recognizes at least thirty-eight distinctive regional varieties of native food, referring to them as mutfaklar (kitchen). These distinctive “kitchens” represent the Turkish mainland provinces of Adana, Agri, Amasya, Antakya (Hatay), Antep, Artvin, Bingöl, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Çorum, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Hakkari, Istanbul, Izmir, Kars, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Konya, Malatya, Maras, Mersin (Içel), Mugla, Mus, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Sivas, Sinop, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Urfa, Usak and Yozgat.

Let’s take a brief look at them one at a time, shall we…?

Adana’s Turkish ‘food kitchen’

This southern Mediterranean coastal province is not only famous for its ‘food kitchen’, of course. It is also notable as one of the most prosperous regions in Turkey, whose wealth derives naturally from the agricultural products of the Çukurova Plain. And, its namesake capital is the fourth largest city in Turkey, with just over a million inhabitants.

Situated perfectly on the banks of the Seyhan River, Adana is surrounded by gardens and citrus groves, giving it a relaxed ‘country in the city’ feel. An ancient legend says that Adanos, son of the god Uranus, originally founded it. But another (more ‘historically verifiable’) source identifies him with the Hittite king Asitawadda, sometime around 1000 BC. And if you doubt such an early origin, there is always the stone bridge to the south of the main boulevard that was built over the Seyhan River during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138), which is still in use.

Much more recently, the province of Adana has been home to the NATO air base at İncirlik, which began to appear so frequently in the news during the first and second Iraq wars.

Adrian, a true stoic, once advised: “control impulses, suppress your appetite.” But that idea gets little attention in today’s Adana ‘food kitchen’, which feeds its population lavishly on meat, grains and dairy products. For one, that means plenty of beef, chicken, and bulgur wheat dishes. On the other, it means a lot of yogurt, ayran, cheese and the milk itself.

The people of this region have a passion for spicy food. By far, his best-known dish is the namesake Adana Kebab — a spicy grilled meat specialty. And when the cooking begins, the guests gather around the mangal (barbecue) grill to start a pleasant conversation.

[Click following to access an illustrated HTML-version of The Regional ‘Food Kitchens’ of Turkey — which contains a scrumptious recipe for Adana Kebab.]

Next: Izmir’s Turkish ‘food kitchen’