An Evaluation of Local Tastes of Rize within the Scope of Gastronomic Tourism

Abstract

Turkey has an important potential for gastronomy tourism with its rich culinary culture. A part of this rich culture undoubtedly includes local dishes. Rize is a destination that is surrounded by the sea and comes to prominence thanks to its natural beauties. The aim of this study is to record the local dishes of Rize, evaluate them within the scope of gastronomic tourism and hand down them to the next generations. For this purpose, the information about the local dishes which are still prepared or about to be forgotten in Rize and its districts was collected by interviewing people who can be regarded as sources and reviewing literature and menu cards of the local restaurants and then the data were evaluated with descriptive analyzes. According to the results of the study, 64 local dishes unique to Rize have been recorded. The most known and consumed local dishes in the region are “karalahana sarması”, “karalahana haşlaması”, “fasulye turşusu tavalisi”, “hamsi tavalisi”, “hamsikoli”, “hamsili pilav”, “mısır unu ekmeği”, “muhlama”, “Rize sütlacı”, “laz böreği”, “pepeçura”, “Rize simidi”, “Rize kavurması”, “koleti peyniri”, “minci”, “enişte lokumu” and “koliva”. It is considered that Rize has an important potential for gastronomic tourism. All stakeholders should act within a common action plan so that Rize can use this potential and hand down its local dishes to the next generations.