Dishes you should try in Kastamonu: Taşköprü Kuyu Kebabı (pit-cooked lamb kebab), Kastamonu Tiridi (bread and broth dish), Daday Etli Ekmeği (meat-topped flatbread) and Kastamonu Çekme Helvası (pulled halva). This guide also covers the local products to buy and what Kastamonu is famous for.
Last updated:
A lamb kebab cooked in an earthen pit, with a registered geographical indication.
A tirit made with simit and meat broth, with a registered geographical indication.
Etli ekmek with a registered geographical indication.
Tel helva (thread halva) with a registered geographical indication.
Pastırma (cured beef) with a registered geographical indication.
A soup with a registered geographical indication.
Banduma, made by roasting stale bread in butter and molasses (pekmez), is Kastamonu's traditional breakfast dish.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven, Kastamonu's best-known dish.
Dried beans cooked with Kastamonu pastırma, one of the district's traditional flavours.
Fresh Black Sea anchovies, served fried in a pan or steamed.
Thin-dough pide with minced meat, baked in a stone oven. Prepared with recipes handed down from generation to generation, it is an important part of the local culinary culture.
Tasting kulaklı makarna and kaşık helvası is among the activities in the district.
Thin dough spread with minced meat and baked in a stone oven. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes.
Made by slow-cooking wheat and meat and then pounding them together. Passed down through generations, this dish is an important part of the region's culinary culture.
Araç Akdene Göce Çorbası was registered as a protected geographical indication on 22 June 2022 (TÜRKPATENT registration no. 1153). Product group: dishes and soups. Registered by: Araç Municipality.
Thin dough topped with minced meat and baked in a stone oven, a traditional flavour of Araç.
Made by cooking wheat and meat for a long time and then pounding them together, keşkek is the traditional dish of wedding feasts. Serving it with melted butter drizzled over it is part of the tradition.
Hard wheat flour, water, salt and a dough with baking soda are baked in oak ash, producing a thick-crusted, slightly soda-flavoured pastry. It takes its name from the ash-baking method.
Kastamonu's long minced-meat pide.
Kastamonu dish made with yufka (thin dough), chicken and walnuts.
Kastamonu's cotton-like pulled halva.
Fresh Black Sea anchovies, served fried in a pan. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes.
Pide with a thin dough and minced meat, baked in a stone oven. Prepared using recipes passed down through generations, this dish is an important part of the local food culture. Pide baked over a wood fire has crisp edges and a soft centre.
Cide Ceviz Helvası was registered as a protected geographical indication on 27 September 2020 (TÜRKPATENT registration no. 546). Product group: bakery and pastry products, dough products, sweets. Registered by: Cide Municipality.
Cide Tarhanası was registered as a protected geographical indication on 7 June 2023 (TÜRKPATENT registration no. 1380). Product group: dishes and soups. Registered by: Cide Municipality.
Fresh Black Sea anchovies, served fried in a pan. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes. Anchovies caught in the cold waters of the Black Sea reach their best flavour in the winter months.
Pide with a thin dough and minced meat, baked in a stone oven. Prepared using recipes passed down through generations, this dish is an important part of the local food culture. Pide prepared with regional cheeses reflects the region's wealth of dairy products.
A confection made by roasting grade 1 hazelnut kernels, then heating them in a copper cauldron with syrup, flour and starch to coat them. It has been produced in Çatalzeytin since 1918, and its production requires skill.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes. Locals make it on special occasions, and it is a symbol of hospitality.
Made by cooking wheat and meat for a long time and then pounding them together. Passed down through generations, this dish is part of the region's culinary culture. A must at wedding feasts, keşkek is prepared in a communal spirit.
Devrekani Cırık Tatlısı was registered as a protected geographical indication on 9 October 2020 (TÜRKPATENT registration no. 563). Product group: bakery and pastry products, dough products, desserts. Registered by: Devrekani Municipality.
Minced meat is spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven. An important part of local family tables, this dish is prepared using traditional recipes. Its preparation with fresh, natural ingredients makes it a healthy choice.
Small pieces of dough filled with minced meat are boiled and served with yoghurt and a sauce of melted butter.
Known as Banduma in Daday and Devrekani, this dish consists of rolled sheets of yufka dipped in chicken or turkey broth and served.
Fresh Black Sea anchovies, fried in a pan and served. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes. Coating them in cornmeal before frying in a pan is the most common method.
Thin-dough minced-meat pide baked in a stone oven. Passed down through generations, this dish is part of the region's culinary culture. An essential of iftar tables during Ramadan, it is prepared in special bakeries.
Chestnut honey, produced by the small-scale beekeeping of Doğanyurt. Chestnut honey is famous here.
Minced meat is spread over a thin dough and baked in a stone oven. This dish has an important place at the tables of local people and is prepared using traditional recipes. The recipe is passed down through generations and varies slightly in each family.
Prepared by slow-cooking wheat and meat and then pounding them together. This dish, made with recipes passed down through generations, is an important part of the region's food culture. Pounding the wheat and simmering it with meat for hours is a process that requires patience.
Listed by the municipality's culture and tourism page among the local dishes of Hanönü's cuisine.
Jams made from natural produce, butter and honey are well known in the district.
İhsangazi Ekşili Pilavı was registered as a protected geographical indication on 17 September 2021 (TÜRKPATENT registration no. 892). Product group: dishes and soups. Registered by: İhsangazi Municipality.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes. It can be tasted in its most authentic form at local markets and home restaurants.
Small pieces of dough filled with minced meat and boiled. Prepared using recipes passed down through generations, this dish is part of the region's culinary culture.
A siyez bulgur festival is held in İhsangazi every year at the end of August.
İnebolu pide, with thin dough and a minced meat filling, is baked in a stone oven. It holds an important place at local people's tables and is made using traditional recipes.
Fresh Black Sea anchovies, served fried in a pan or steamed. Coating them in cornmeal and frying them in a pan is the most common method of cooking.
According to one source, cornbread is mentioned among İnebolu's local flavours, along with hamsikoli and black cabbage soup.
Among the products grown in İnebolu and sold at the public market.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven, the traditional flavour of Küre.
Small pieces of dough filled with minced meat and boiled, served with yoghurt and a buttery sauce. Made with fresh, natural ingredients, it is a healthy option.
Minced meat is spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven. An important dish at local tables, it is prepared using traditional recipes. Because it is made with seasonal ingredients, it has a different flavour in each season.
Small pieces of dough filled with minced meat and boiled. Prepared from recipes passed down through generations, this dish is an important part of the region's culinary culture. Local people prepare it on special occasions, and it is a symbol of hospitality.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven. This dish holds an important place on local tables and is prepared using traditional recipes. Locals make it on special occasions, and it is a symbol of hospitality.
Made by cooking wheat and meat for a long time and then pounding them together. Passed down through generations, this dish is part of the region's culinary culture. Listed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, keşkek is a source of pride for Turkish cuisine.
Minced meat spread over thin dough is baked in a stone oven. This dish, which holds an important place at local tables, is prepared using traditional recipes. As an important part of the gastronomic identity of the district, it is a favourite of visitors.
Prepared by cooking wheat and meat for a long time and then pounding them. Prepared using recipes passed down from generation to generation, this dish is an important part of the region's culinary culture. Serving it with a drizzle of melted butter is part of the tradition.
A dish known locally in Şenpazar as ıslama; its main ingredients are yufka (sheet pastry) and turkey or chicken broth.
A dough dish known as cırık in Şenpazar; it is called sıkma around Daday and Kastamonu.
A dessert known as lokma in Şenpazar, made by dropping fried sıkma into thickened sugar syrup.
Meat dishes made with Taşköprü garlic form the basis of the district's culinary culture.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven, Taşköprü's traditional flavour.
Tosya rice, one of the finest rices in Türkiye, is prepared as a buttery pilaf. It is a geographically indicated product.
Minced meat spread over thin dough and baked in a stone oven, Tosya's traditional flavour.
Rice production, Tosya's largest source of economic income.
The struggle of the local people who carried ammunition during the War of Independence.
The dress reform that Atatürk launched in Kastamonu and İnebolu.
A harvest festival held in late August.
The Kastamonu and İnebolu mansions with timber bay windows.
Kastamonu is known for 6 local dishes, above all Taşköprü Kuyu Kebabı (pit-cooked lamb kebab), Kastamonu Tiridi (bread and broth dish), Daday Etli Ekmeği (meat-topped flatbread) and Kastamonu Çekme Helvası (pulled halva). A lamb kebab cooked in an earthen pit, with a registered geographical indication.
Kastamonu is known for Taşköprü Kuyu Kebabı (pit-cooked lamb kebab), Kastamonu Siyez Bulguru (Kastamonu siyez bulgur) and İstiklal Yolu and Şerife Bacı. Its best-known sights include Kastamonu Castle and Kasabaköy Mahmut Bey Mosque.
Local products and souvenirs to buy in Kastamonu include Kastamonu Siyez Bulguru (Kastamonu siyez bulgur), Taşköprü Sarımsağı (Taşköprü garlic), Tosya Pirinci (Tosya rice) and Kastamonu Kestane Balı (Kastamonu chestnut honey).