The Mersin Cuisine The Richness of Nature and Culture

Mersin possesses the fish and other products of the sea that Mediterranean provides. On the other hand, it has a wide variety of agricultural produce grown in different environmental and climatic conditions offered by the plains, plateaus and mountains. This rich variety of flora and fauna naturally has led to a remarkable kitchen tradition.

Here too, like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, people moving place to place throughout the history, ships transporting different cultures from port to port have contributed to the culinary richness in addition to the variety of foodstuffs coming from land and sea. Food tradition also shows differences at human settlements as you go up to the heights of Taurus Mountains from the seashore.

In Mersin and surrounding tourism centers the specialties of the local kitchen can be found. The basis of the local kitchen consists of a great variety of kebabs. Some of these are even eaten during the breakfast or just as snacks between meals. The most widespread one is the tantuni that could be bought from street vendors. It is made of small pieces of steak.

It is not possible to list all kinds different kebabs that you can savor in the region. But there are characteristics special to Mersin of the kebab tradition that is common to the Çukurova region and southeast Turkey.

A special kind of meatballs called içli köfte which is baked in oven or fried elsewhere is cooked by boiling here which makes it easier to digest.

When it comes to seafood, giant prawns called “jumbos,” and grouper, the most favored fish of eastern Mediterranean, porgy, leerfish, brown meager, octopus and calamari are highly recommended.

There are also tastes exclusively special to Mersin. “Zahter” is one of them. It consists of roasted and powdered chickpeas, watermelon and sesame seeds with the addition of the local spice “zahter” which is belongs to the family of thyme. Bread freshly out of the oven is opened and soaked with virgin olive oil, then this mixture is spread in it. People who like to try new tastes should definitely try this. Locals eat this at breakfast.

The most popular soft drink is called şalgam suyu, and it is extracted from turnips. In the summer licorice sherbet is refreshing drink. After the meals people drink what they call Tarsusi coffee. It is really what we call Turkish coffee but it the difference is that it is served in tea glasses.

There are also a wide variety of local sweet desserts. But the one that is special to this area is cezeriye, which is made of sweet carrots. It is found everywhere. Künefe, a local version of kadayif, made with unripened cheese somewhat similar to mozzarella is also very famous.

Recently, local chefs concocted a new dessert that is served at the end of raki meals. It is made of avocados, a newcomer among Mersin’s fruit produce, crushed sesame seeds, powdered chestnuts and honey. This sweet is a candidate for becoming the most popular dessert on Mersin’s dinner tables.

The tastiest dishes of the local cuisine are generally hot and spicy. As the tourism industry developed, the waiters have learned to warn the patrons before serving these dishes. But we decided to draw your attention anyway.

A Source of Energy: Cezeriye

It seems that there is a neck-to-neck competition in Mersin between the cezeriye and tantuni vendors. It is hard to decide which of the two beats the other in numbers. At every step there is a shop selling either of the two delicacies.

The recipe for cezeriye, which is rich in A, and B vitamins goes like this:

Carrots are cleaned and cooked in big boilers. (For selling purposes the usual measure is 50 kilos of sugar to 100 kilos of carrots. Then 250 grams of citric acid crystals are added. Walnuts, chestnuts or pistachios are mixed with the cooked carrots. Then the thick paste is cut either by hand or by the machines. Pieces of cezeriye are sprinkled with coconut powder so that they don’t stick to each other. If you want to make cezeriye at home, cut half a kilo of carrots in small cubes, add 2 glasses of sugar and water just to wet the sugar and cook it until the mixture gets soft. Mash the mixture with a wooden spoon and make it into a puree. When it becomes a thick paste take it from the fire. If the paste sticks to your finger then it is done. Separate 1.5 of five full glasses of very coarsely ground chestnuts. Add 3.5 glasses to the mixture and squeeze it firmly in a deep glass vessel. Sprinkle the rest of the chestnuts on the mixture and leave it to cool off. When it cools off, cut it into half a centimeter thick pieces with a wet knife and sprinkle coconut powder on them.

Bon Appetite!