Dishes you should try in Karatay: Etli Ekmek (meat flatbread), Fırın Kebabı (oven-baked lamb), Bamya Çorbası (okra soup) and Höşmerim (cheese and flour dessert). This guide also covers the local products to buy and what Karatay is famous for.
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Konya's etli ekmek, a thin dough spread with a mixture of minced meat, onion and pepper and baked in a stone oven, is famous for its length of nearly one metre. It is a protected geographical indication of Konya.
Prepared by slow-cooking lamb in a clay oven, fırın kebabı is one of Konya's most famous dishes. The meat is cooked until it falls apart in the mouth.
A traditional soup made with dried okra and meat stock, bamya çorbası is an essential part of Konya's cuisine.
A traditional dessert made with cheese, flour and sugar, roasted in butter and served warm. It is one of Konya's best-known desserts.
These dishes are known throughout Konya province; see the provincial food guide for details.
An etliekmek with a registered geographical indication, baked with minced meat on thin, long dough.
A kebab with a registered geographical indication, in which lamb is cooked in large ovens.
A soup with a registered geographical indication, made with dried okra and meat.
A syrupy dessert with a registered geographical indication.
A tirit (bread-based meat dish) with a registered geographical indication.
A wedding pilaf with a registered geographical indication.
Karatay is where Mevlâna Celâleddin Rûmî lived and where the Mevlevi order was founded. Sema ceremonies and the Şeb-i Arus commemorations, held every December, keep the tradition alive.
Konya was the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk State and, in the 12th and 13th centuries, one of the most important cultural and scientific centres of the Islamic world. Karatay is the district where the architectural legacy of this period is most concentrated.
Karatay is known for 4 local dishes, above all Etli Ekmek (meat flatbread), Fırın Kebabı (oven-baked lamb), Bamya Çorbası (okra soup) and Höşmerim (cheese and flour dessert). Konya's etli ekmek, a thin dough spread with a mixture of minced meat, onion and pepper and baked in a stone oven, is famous for its length of nearly one metre. It is a protected geographical indication of Konya.
Karatay is known for Etli Ekmek (meat flatbread), Konya Etli Ekmeği (meat flatbread) and Mevlâna and the Mevlevi Order. Its best-known sights include Mevlâna Museum and Tomb and Karatay Madrasa (Museum of Tile Works).
Local products and souvenirs to buy in Karatay include Konya Etli Ekmeği (meat flatbread) and Mevlâna Şekeri (Mevlâna sugar candy).