Black Sea Cuisine: Hamsi, Muhlama and Rize Tea Culture - Turkey travel guide, tips and tour insights | My Turkey Adventure

Black Sea Cuisine: Food & Tea Tasting Guide | My Turkey Adve

✓ Last reviewed: 29 September 2026 — Verified and updated by İlyas Bayrak, licensed Turkish guide (licence 070867), with the My Turkey Adventure editorial team. Prices, opening hours, transport fares and visa rules reflect the latest 2026 guidance. Quick answer: Turkey's Black Sea cuisine is a distinctive culinary journey defined by fresh seafood, especially hamsi (anchovies), hearty corn-based dishes like muhlama (fondue) and kuymak , and the ubiquitous culture of Rize tea. This region’s mountainous terrain and abundant rainfall create a unique microclimate that lends itself to rich dairy products, robust tea, and flavorful agricultural produce, offering a truly authentic taste of Turkish provincial life. For travellers with a high budget, I find that harvesting organic tea with tea shears in private family tea gardens in Camlihemsin or Surmene offers genuine, authentic value rather than a visit to a tourist tea factory. In Black Sea cooking, I encounter local ingredients such as maize flour, kolot cheese and Anzer honey. For authentic Vakfikebir bread and special mihlama experiences, I choose small, family-run restaurants in the highlands rather than tourist establishments. On crossings to Giresun Island (Aretias), the Black Sea's only habitable island, I find that wave heights can rise suddenly. I check private-boat berthing permissions with the coastguard and harbour authority at the time of arrival. Black Sea Cuisine: A Culinary Voyage Through Türkiye's Northern Coast Merhaba, food adventurers! As your trusted guide, İlyas Bayrak , I'm thrilled to take you on a flavorful expedition to one of Türkiye's most unique gastronomic regions: the Black Sea coast. Often overshadowed by the more famous Mediterranean or Aegean cuisines, the Black Sea offers a robust, earthy, and unequivocally delicious culinary identity that reflects its verdant landscape, powerful sea, and independent spirit. From the bustling port city of Trabzon to the tea-covered hills of Rize, this re

Moments from our tours

Guests and their guide enjoying a meal together.
Guests and their guide enjoying a meal together.
A tour group enjoying a colourful village café terrace.
A tour group enjoying a colourful village café terrace.
Travellers exploring the decorated vaulted passage of an Istanbul bazaar.
Travellers exploring the decorated vaulted passage of an Istanbul bazaar.
Two travellers enjoying tea beside a stone-lined street.
Two travellers enjoying tea beside a stone-lined street.
A tour group sharing a meal at an outdoor table on a village street.
A tour group sharing a meal at an outdoor table on a village street.
A traveller holding freshly prepared dough in a local kitchen.
A traveller holding freshly prepared dough in a local kitchen.