Writer: Yavuz İşçen
April 2007

The festive cooking contest organized every year by the Göreme Council takes place on the last week of September every. The delicious food been prepared by the participant housewives for the 6th year of the contest in 2006, easily outshone the expert chefs’ cuisine.

Cultural tourism and our local cuisine
Cultural tourism is indispensable to Cappadocia. The region is attracting the attention of both domestic and foreign tourists with its magnificent nature and rich history as well as folkloric characteristics and cultural structure. Local food is among the most popular subjects of visitors. As well as the history of the local cuisine, tourists are interested to find out which dish is best eaten where. In recent years, thanks to the TV series called “Asmalı Konak”, interest in local cuisine increased rapidly. Certainly, the effect of the delicious dishes eaten during the series is great. However is exaggerating the influence of the series unjust to Cappadocian cuisine with its centuries of food culture and tradition.

The aim is bringing back the local cuisine
We can’t deny the importance of highlighting our traditions and cuisine to the local people. The Göreme Cooking Contest aims to bring back the forgotten local dishes that are hardly prepared today. As well as this purpose, Göreme Municipality Chairman Fevzi Günal emphasizes the importance of encouraging new generations to economize.
In fact, like all Anatolian cuisine, the basis for Cappadocian cuisine is formed by the geographic structure of the area and the life style it brings. Having a continental climate, the economy of the region stands on agriculture and animal farming. Therefore, grain and meat products, different fruit and vegetables are essential to Cappadocian cuisine.

The Göreme Cooking Contest
Every year, the cooks from the region’s famous restaurants judge different dishes. In 2006, 40 housewives entered the contest, competing in categories such as ‘öveleme çorbası’ (type of soup), ‘papaz yahnisi’ (type of stew), ‘yalancı köfte’ (meatballs) and plate baklava (very sweet dessert made with pastry). At the end, Fatma Kahveci became the winner for öveleme çorbası, Sıdıka Mızrak was the winner of yalancı köfte, Aynur Eren was the winner for papaz yahnisi and Ayse Tokmak was the winner of plate baklava. The program of the contest continued with different activities and the distribution of the dishes to the locals, and ended with a concert from Musa Eroğlu.

Note: This article has been published in Peribacası Cappadocia Culture and Publicity Magazine, April 2007 issue. It is under protection of the copyrights of the magazine. No part of this article may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by electronic, mechanical or other means without prior permission from the owner. www.cappadociaexplorer.com