Alaca Cuisine: Flavours Awaiting Geographical Indication
Alaca district, with eight geographical indication registrations, is one of Çorum’s most productive districts in this field (see Geographical Indication Products of Çorum). But a number of the products Alaca Municipality applied for with TÜRKPATENT as a batch in February-March 2023 have not yet been registered. This page introduces, together, those flavours that have adequate sourcing and remain at the application stage.
Bread and Pastries
Alaca Gagala Ekmeği is a bread made from leavened dough baked in a tandır (clay oven); according to local accounts, it is eaten warm with butter and cheese, especially at breakfast. Alaca Pidesi and Alaca Pancarlı Pide are a type of leavened flatbread made with greens such as chard or spinach (“pancar”); in Çorum this greens-filled pide is locally called “pancarlı pide.” Alaca Ketesi is a thin, layered, buttery pastry — the Alaca rendering of the kete tradition found in various parts of Anatolia (Erzurum, Kars, Şavşat, among others).
Mantı and Boiled Dough Dishes
Alaca Metezi is a boiled dough dish of Circassian culinary origin, generally prepared with a cheese or potato filling, reflecting the culinary heritage of the Circassian-descended villages around Alaca. Alaca Sini Mantısı is a type of mantı (dumpling) baked in a large tray (sini) — Alaca’s version of the sini mantısı tradition found in various parts of Turkey.
Dishes
Alaca Mıklama Yemeği shares its name with the muhlama/kuymak dishes of the Black Sea region, but a detailed, verifiable source on its regional preparation has not yet been compiled. Alaca Güveci is a casserole dish of meat and vegetables slow-cooked in a clay or metal güveç pot. Alaca Keşkeği is Alaca’s rendering of keşkek, the pounded-wheat-and-meat dish indispensable at weddings and feast tables across Anatolia; a separate keşkek variety prepared in the district’s Sarısüleyman village is also under separate consideration for geographical indication.
Desserts and Other Applications
Other products from the same application round include lentil-and-bulgur dishes such as mercimekli bulgur pilavı and mercimekli kesme aşı; prepared dishes such as ovmaç yemeği and sulu kızartma; sütlü aşı (milk soup); pastries such as sarığı burma/sini bağlama tatlısı, sini sarma/bağlama böreği, sütlü un helvası and sıkma baklava/kocakarı gerdanı tatlısı; and tirit yemeği (bread soaked in broth). Detailed, verifiable recipe information on these products has not yet been compiled.
Academic corroboration
A 2025 academic study of Alaca’s culinary culture, based on interviews with local residents and cooks, independently corroborates that some items on this list still live on in local culinary memory: among the participants, several named Mercimekli Kesme Aşı and Mercimekli Bulgur Pilavı, as well as Alaca Sütlü Aş (milk soup), as local flavours they knew and prepared. The same study emphasises that beyond the limited number of generally known local dishes, Alaca’s cuisine holds many traditional products and flavours specific to the district.
Geographical Indication Application Process
All of the products above were submitted by Alaca Municipality as a batch application to TÜRKPATENT for mark-of-origin status in February-March 2023 (per the Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism’s registry). Other products from the same application round — Alaca Yarma Aşı, Alaca Yanıç Böreği, Alaca Borana Yemeği, Alaca Cızlağı, Alaca Çılbır Yemeği and Alaca Hingali — were registered between 2023 and 2024, bringing the district’s total to eight registered products. The products listed on this page, however, had not yet reached registration as of when this page was prepared; current status can be checked on the Geographical Indication Products of Çorum page.
Sources
- Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism — Geographical Indication Studies (corum.ktb.gov.tr)
- Yaylahaber — “Alaca’s rich culinary culture introduced” (26.05.2023)
- Türkiye Gazetesi — “Keşkek from Alaca’s Sarısüleyman village awaits registration!” (25.08.2024)
- Dergipark — “An Examination of the Gastronomic Product Potential of Alaca District, Çorum Province, in Terms of Geographical Indications”
- Esra Özata Şahin — “A Research on Çorum-Alaca Cuisine Culture”, Eskişehir Osmangazi University Journal of Social Sciences, March 2025