Dishes you should try in Tufanbeyli: Sac Kavurma (griddle-cooked lamb), Keşkek (wheat and meat dish), Topalak Çorbası (dumpling soup) and Bazlama ve Gözleme (griddle bread and stuffed flatbread). This guide also covers the local products to buy and what Tufanbeyli is famous for.
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Lamb cooked on a griddle (sac) together with vegetables. This regional dish is the most loved flavour of Tufanbeyli's plateau tables. Cooking it with fresh butter gives the dish a distinctive aroma.
Keşkek, made by boiling and pounding wheat and meat for hours, is the traditional dish of wedding and festival tables in Tufanbeyli. It is served with heated butter poured over it.
This soup, made with small dough balls of flour, yoghurt and spices cooked in meat broth, is one of Tufanbeyli's traditional flavours that warm people on cold winter evenings.
Bazlama cooked on the griddle and gözleme filled with cheese, potato or herbs are the inseparable pair of Tufanbeyli's plateau breakfasts. Served with fresh butter and village cheese.
These dishes are known throughout Adana province; see the provincial food guide for details.
Made from hand-minced meat of a male sheep, tail fat, chilli flakes and salt; no other spice is added. It is cooked over embers and served with lavaş, sumac onions and greens. It is a product with a geographical indication registered by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.
A slightly sour drink made by fermenting black carrots and turnips in salted water; it comes in hot (acılı) and mild (acısız) versions. Adana şalgam has received a geographical indication not only in Türkiye but also from the European Union.
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.
Festivals held every summer on Tufanbeyli's plateaus, with folk dance performances, regional music concerts and local product stalls, are the district's liveliest cultural events.
The tradition of migrating to the plateaus in summer to escape the heat of the plains has been maintained in Tufanbeyli for centuries. This seasonal migration is an important reflection of livestock culture and social solidarity.
Hand-knitted items, woollen socks and traditional weaving made by women in Tufanbeyli's villages keep the region's craft culture alive.
Tufanbeyli is known for 4 local dishes, above all Sac Kavurma (griddle-cooked lamb), Keşkek (wheat and meat dish), Topalak Çorbası (dumpling soup) and Bazlama ve Gözleme (griddle bread and stuffed flatbread). Lamb cooked on a griddle (sac) together with vegetables. This regional dish is the most loved flavour of Tufanbeyli's plateau tables. Cooking it with fresh butter gives the dish a distinctive aroma.
Tufanbeyli is known for Sac Kavurma (griddle-cooked lamb), Tufanbeyli Kuru Fasulyesi (Tufanbeyli dried beans) and Plateau Festivals. Its best-known sights include Şar (Komana) Ancient City and Tufanbeyli Plateaus.
Local products and souvenirs to buy in Tufanbeyli include Tufanbeyli Kuru Fasulyesi (Tufanbeyli dried beans), Yayla Balı (plateau honey), Dut Pekmezi (mulberry molasses) and Ceviz (walnuts).