Dishes you should try in İmamoğlu: Adana Kebabı, Analı Kızlı (meatball and dough stew), Şalgam Suyu (fermented purple carrot and turnip drink) and Çiğ Köfte. This guide also covers the local products to buy and what İmamoğlu is famous for.
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Adana kebabı, the signature flavour of Çukurova, is also prepared with the traditional recipe at İmamoğlu's local restaurants. Lamb minced by hand with a cleaver is mixed with hot pepper and tail fat and grilled over embers.
Prepared by cooking meatballs and pieces of dough in meat broth, this traditional Çukurova dish is an essential part of İmamoğlu's winter tables.
This traditional drink, made by fermenting purple carrot and turnip, is an essential part of İmamoğlu's kebab tables. It is served spicy and non-spicy.
Prepared by kneading fine bulgur with isot pepper and spices, çiğ köfte is a popular snack sold in the streets of İmamoğlu in the evening.
These dishes are known throughout Adana province; see the provincial food guide for details.
A summer dessert made of shaved ice, starch pudding, icing sugar and rose syrup. Adana bici bici is registered with a geographical indication; it is found at street vendors and cafés.
Skewers of lamb liver cooked over embers, the classic breakfast of Adana mornings; they are found at the liver restaurants (ciğerci) that open early.
Lamb tripe filled with spiced rice stuffing and boiled, served with cumin at street stalls in the evening.
A Çukurova dish in which large stuffed bulgur dumplings (the mother) and small unfilled ones (the daughter) meet in a sour soup with chickpeas.
Adana-style içli köfte, in which a thin bulgur dough is filled with a minced-meat stuffing and baked or fried.
A street food prepared by boiling and then frying intestines filled with a rice stuffing.
İmamoğlu is a living representative of Çukurova's farming tradition. Festivals held during the harvest season and neighbourly solidarity form the basis of the district's social life.
Yörük culture, whose traces can still be seen on the hills to the north of the district, reflects the tradition of nomadic animal husbandry. Felt-making and traditional handicrafts are important elements of this culture.
Hıdırellez, celebrated every year on 6 May, is marked in İmamoğlu with traditional festivities that symbolise the arrival of spring. Rituals of jumping over fire and making wishes are performed.
İmamoğlu is known for 4 local dishes, above all Adana Kebabı, Analı Kızlı (meatball and dough stew), Şalgam Suyu (fermented purple carrot and turnip drink) and Çiğ Köfte. Adana kebabı, the signature flavour of Çukurova, is also prepared with the traditional recipe at İmamoğlu's local restaurants. Lamb minced by hand with a cleaver is mixed with hot pepper and tail fat and grilled over embers.
İmamoğlu is known for Adana Kebabı, Citrus Fruit and Çukurova Farming Culture. Its best-known sights include Altınini Cave and Waterfall and İmamoğlu Underground City.
Local products and souvenirs to buy in İmamoğlu include Citrus Fruit, Cotton and Wheat.