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The Sinop Table and Its Geographically Registered Flavours

The Sinop table looks in two directions. On one side is the sea, with its large bonito, bonito and anchovy.

Radar TürkiyeRadar Türkiye4 Kasım 2026
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The Sinop Table and Its Geographically Registered Flavours

The Sinop table looks in two directions. On one side is the sea, with its large bonito, bonito and anchovy. On the other stand the mountain villages, the chestnut forests, and the gardens and pastures of the Gökırmak valley. The province's cuisine was built where the two meet. Today part of this cuisine is officially registered: in the geographical indication database of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Sinop has registered dishes, a sweet, a tomato, a honey and a fish product. Using those registration documents and the description of local cuisine by the Sinop Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism as a guide, this article introduces the Sinop table and tells you what to look for where as you travel.

What a geographical indication means

The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office defines a geographical indication as a quality mark that shows and guarantees a product's origin, its characteristic features and the link between those features and the geographical area. Registration comes in two types. With a designation of origin, all or the essential qualities of the product derive from the natural and human factors of that geographical area, and every stage of production takes place within that boundary. With a geographical sign, at least one of production, processing or other operations is carried out in the defined area. Most of Sinop's food registrations are geographical signs, while the tomato and the honey are registered as designations of origin.

Besides food, the products registered for Sinop province in the Office's database include textiles and crafts such as Ayancık linen cloth, Boyabat çemberi and the Sinop kotra. This article focuses only on the products that make it to the table.

Sinop mantı, half with walnuts and half with yoghurt

The best known name on the Sinop table is mantı. According to the registration document, the geographical indication for Sinop Mantısı was registered as a geographical sign on 20.12.2021, and the registrant is the Sinop Chamber of Tradesmen and Craftsmen. The document describes the mantı as follows: lean, sinew free minced beef is placed on dough rolled out to a thickness of 1 to 2 millimetres, the dough is folded into an ear shape and boiled. Because of this fold, the dough pieces are also known locally as ear dough.

What sets Sinop mantı apart from other mantı is the way it is served. The boiled dumplings are placed on a plate and drizzled with melted butter; garlic yoghurt is poured over one half of the plate and finely crushed walnuts over the other. According to the document, this presentation, together with the thinly rolled dough and the shape of the fold, is a production method that demands skill and is particular to the geographical area. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism also writes that what makes the mantı special is that it can be served in two ways, with walnuts and with yoghurt. When it comes to the table, taste the two halves separately, then try them mixed together.

Sinop nokul, the sailors' provision

Nokul is the pastry of Sinop's tea time and breakfast. According to the registration document, Sinop Nokulu was registered as a geographical sign on 15.12.2017, and the registrant is the Sinop Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The document defines nokul as a type of börek that has been baked in Sinop and its districts for about 200 years, that comes in two varieties, with minced meat and with raisins and walnuts, and whose hand rolled pastry is 1.5 to 2 millimetres thick. This thickness of the pastry distinguishes it from börek types with thinner sheets.

A detail recorded in the document shows nokul's link with Sinop's maritime past. According to the sources it cites, workers on ships calling at the Sinop shipyard used to take nokul with them as provisions. Being quick to make and keeping for a long time without going stale had made it a food favoured by sailors. Nokul used to belong mostly to holiday tables, while today, according to the document, it is prepared daily in many bakeries and patisseries in the area. A yeasted dough is rolled out and oiled, the filling is scattered over it, it is rolled up and then turned around its own axis and placed in a circle on the tray. It is brushed with egg yolk and baked until golden. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism writes that nokul can be found in patisseries and börek shops in the city centre.

Sinop lakerda, fish cooked in salt

One of the products of the sea is also officially registered. Sinop Lakerdası was registered as a geographical sign on 05.05.2023, and the registrant is again the Sinop Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to the document, lakerda is a brined fish made by cleaning large bonito or Atlantic bonito caught off Sinop, slicing them 6 to 8 centimetres thick and dry salting them. The slices are packed into a container in alternating layers of salt and fish, bay leaves may be placed between them, and a weight is set on top. Maturing takes three to four weeks in the refrigerator. The document notes that this process is popularly called cooking in salt.

Lakerda is usually eaten as a meze. The registration document says it can be eaten with olive oil and lemon juice poured over it. It also notes that lakerda sold in its salting container is soaked in water before eating to remove some of its salt. According to the document, lakerda keeps for six months in the refrigerator. If you take some home, keep it cool and, as the document describes, soak out some of its salt in water before eating.

Two flavours from Boyabat, sırık kebab and ezme

Head down from the coast into the Gökırmak valley and the table changes. Boyabat Sırık Kebabı was registered as a geographical sign on 28.09.2020, and the registrant is the Boyabat Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to the document, this kebab has long been made in the area, mostly by shepherds, and is also known as bandit kebab. A Karayaka breed lamb at least six months old is threaded onto a pole about 2.5 metres long and cooked in a hearth fired with resinous pine wood, not in or above the fire but facing it. For a medium sized lamb, the turning time is four hours. The document says the kebab can be eaten hot but is traditionally also eaten cold.

Boyabat's sweet is now registered too. Boyabat Ezmesi was registered as a geographical sign on 19.06.2026, and the registrant is the District Governorship of Boyabat. According to the document, ezme is a dense sweet made of hazelnuts, walnuts, sugar and water and is also known locally as the Boyabat atom. Roasted hazelnuts are pounded in stone mortars until their oil is released, kneaded with sugar syrup, rolled by hand, and topped and bottomed with half a walnut each. The document advises keeping the ezme not in the refrigerator but in a cool, dry place, because the hazelnut oil solidifies.

The Boyabat Gazidere tomato and Sinop chestnut honey

Two registrations are Sinop products that carry a designation of origin. Boyabat Gazidere Domatesi was registered on 12.04.2019, and the registrant is the Boyabat District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry. According to the document, this tomato has been grown from the same seed for more than 150 years in the villages of Gazideresi and Gazideretabaklı in Boyabat and is popularly called the ugly tomato. The fruits weigh between 600 and 800 grams and are thin skinned and many lobed. When broken into two or three pieces by hand, a seedless, fleshy, conical core known locally as cücük appears in the middle. According to the document its shelf life after harvest is short and it is not suited to long distance transport, so you will find it best in season, where it grows.

Sinop Kestane Balı was registered as a designation of origin on 13.01.2021, and the registrant is Sinop University. The geographical boundary covers the villages of Erfelek, Ayancık and Türkeli districts listed in the document. According to the document, the honey comes from this area, where there are chestnut forests of natural, ungrafted trees whose history goes back to the 14th century, and it is produced by non migratory beekeepers who spend the whole year in the area. Its colour ranges from light reddish brown to dark reddish brown, its taste is sharp and bitter, and its aroma is woody and herbal. According to the document, honey kept in a dark, dim place may take more than two years to crystallise.

The table beyond the registrations

Sinop cuisine is not limited to registered products. The page of the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism titled what to eat in Sinop describes several more home dishes. Katlama is made by oiling a dough of flour, salt and water, folding it like a bundle and cooking it on a griddle. Islama is made by placing walnuts, melted butter and boiled chicken on square cut sheets of pastry and pouring chicken stock over them. Corn soup is simmered for a long time with cracked corn, borlotti beans and onion. İçli tava is a dish built by lining a tray with boned anchovies, filling it with rice, covering the top again with anchovies and baking it in the oven.

How to taste it as you travel

The best way to get to know the Sinop table is to taste it on the spot and in season. In the city centre, mantı and nokul can be found in every season. Look for lakerda in the fishing season, the Gazidere tomato in Boyabat in its season, and sırık kebab whenever your road takes you to Boyabat. To tell whether a product really is the registered one, look for the geographical indication emblem and the registered name of the product on the packaging or in the establishment, because the registration documents clearly regulate how this emblem is used. For products you take home, such as honey, ezme or lakerda, follow the storage conditions given in the registration documents.

This table brings together the two faces of Sinop. The city of the fortress and the harbour offers lakerda from the sea, nokul from the shipyard and mantı from the market. Inland Boyabat and the villages covered with chestnut forests offer the kebab, the ezme, the tomato and the honey. Sitting at this table after walking the walls and bays of the peninsula means getting to know the province through taste as well.

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