Traditional dishes of Tarsus are being carried into the future

Tarsus Value Adding Committee (TADEKA), which operates under the Culture and Social Affairs Department of Mersin Metropolitan Municipality and works on preserving cultural riches and local flavors for the future, has initiated the project ‘Tarsus Regional Food Stories’.

As part of the project, the traditional ‘mother-daughter’ dish specific to the region was cooked at the Tarsus Municipality Gastronomy Center located in Siptilli Market. The dish, cooked under the culinary expertise of Ayşe Aydın, a vendor at Yeryüzü Pazarı, received support from TADEKA Tourism and Gastronomy members as well as women from Mersin.

In the first phase of the project that aims to recreate the dishes with their original recipes as in the past, colorful scenes were witnessed. The ‘mother-daughter’ dish, prepared using bulgur, meat, chickpeas, and various spices, received top marks from TADEKA board members and other participants.

“Our goal is to pass down Tarsus’ traditional dishes to future generations”

Esin Erkoç, a member of TADEKA Tourism and Gastronomy Board and President of the Tarsus Regional Food Culture Research and Development Association, expressed her happiness about the realization of such a project by stating, “We thought about passing down Tarsus’ regional dishes to future generations. We wanted to start this by conducting a survey and inventory work. Our friends are doing the first phase of this inventory work. Our goal is to be able to pass down the dishes made in Tarsus in the past to future generations. We are documenting this visually and aiming to compile it into a booklet.”

“I am very happy to introduce regional dishes”

Chef Ayşe Aydın, a member of the Regional Food Association, stated that they are making efforts to promote regional dishes by saying, “Today, we are making the mother-daughter dish as our first project. The mother-daughter dish is not a snack but a main meal in Tarsus. This dish is usually prepared at gatherings. We have a wide variety of dishes that reflect the Arab culture, the culture of the plains, and the culture of the mountains. Since I grew up in a mountain village, I know mountain dishes but I also researched plain dishes. Some ingredients we use are not used in the plains or they have different names. For example, what we call ‘yüzük çorbası’ is called ‘börek çorbası’ by plain villagers. Yüzük çorbası is prepared as a wedding meal in our mountain villages.” She expressed her joy in introducing regional dishes.

“It is impossible to separate tourism and gastronomy nowadays”

Murat Topçuoğlu, the spokesperson for TADEKA Tourism and Gastronomy Board and a veterinarian, pointed out that gastronomy and tourism are intertwined nowadays by saying, “We have been working on gastronomy and tourism for a long time. We have had activities related to tourism before. We reevaluated tourism routes, tried and tested them personally. Our other focus was gastronomy. We believe that there is a significant gastronomic accumulation in Tarsus and we want to bring this accumulation to light.”

Topçuoğlu mentioned that the project has various branches, saying, “We aim to extract the recipes of Tarsus’ rooted dishes, present them, and announce them to the public. Our work on this will continue. It is impossible to separate tourism and gastronomy nowadays. Because tourism and gastronomy are intertwined today. Therefore, we want to bring both Tarsus’ touristic places and gastronomic accumulation to light.”