In Anatolia, hospitality works less as a virtue than as a rule that organizes everyday life. Amasya has not merely kept this custom alive; it has given it a form drawn from its own kitchen and its own ceremonies. Local studies of the city's food culture note that aesthetics come first in every ceremony in Amasya, and that hospitality is offered with a smiling face, often to the accompaniment of music, and in an ordered manner of presentation. The table here is more than a place where food is eaten: it is a common ground where the household, the neighbors and the guest meet within the same bond. The welcome at the door, the order of the floor table, the unwritten rules, the exchange of plates between neighbors and the dishes tied to ceremonies are different faces of that bond.

Hospitality Begins at the Door

When a guest knocks at an Amasya house, he is often not asked, "Are you hungry?" The question pushes the guest toward a hesitant answer, and it is already certain that the house will feed him. Instead the table is laid at once and whatever there is gets set out. As elsewhere in Anatolia, the visitor is regarded as a "guest of God" and is received not as a burden on the host but as a trust. That a stranded traveler can knock on a door in confidence, and that the family feeds him, gives him drink and shows him where to sleep, is the oldest form of this outlook. The saying "Az olsun, öz olsun" (let it be little, but let it be sincere) likewise reminds the host to offer whatever is in the house wholeheartedly and without stint; even the plainest table, once laid for a guest, is made as fine as it can be.

In Turkish culture it is said that a guest enters the house with ten blessings, eats one of them and leaves nine behind. The saying expresses the belief that every opened door and every shared table returns to the house not diminished but increased. The notion that a house no guest enters is barren and dry springs from the same thought. For this reason the family welcomes the guest at the door all together. If there is someone in the house older than the visitor, he or she may not come to the door but still rises to greet the guest, and the guest, as good manners require, first kisses that elder's hand. In old houses, turning the guest's shoes around, that is, setting the shoes he has taken off so that they point toward the exit, was also a small but constant part of this attention. Elders preferred to do it themselves rather than leave it to the young, because "one must not tire a guest."

The Table for the Honored Guest

Local records that compile Amasya's food culture show that hospitality lives in the city almost as a rule of the table. The people of Amasya want to see a guest at their table at every meal. If there is no visitor in the house that day, they call a poor man, even a madman, to the table and share the meal with him. According to the same records, in Amasya being a guest is counted as a greater merit than being a host. A visitor who comes from outside, and who usually stays the night, is called an "ağır misafir" (an honored, or literally "heavy," guest). The table laid for an honored guest carries six dishes, and this arrangement hardly ever changes.

In order of serving the dishes are toyka soup, a whole cut of meat, rice pilaf, sini pastry (sini suböreği), okra and a dessert. In the summer months the whole meat gives way to eggplant pehli. The dessert is one of tırtıl baklava, kuymak or gömlek kadayıfı. That the soup comes first agrees with the old Turkish table's order of "soup first, then the heavy dishes." Toyka soup is cooked with yogurt, eggs, flour, cracked wheat and soaked chickpeas, and butter in which dried mint has been heated is poured over it. A table that both feeds a guest who has come a long way and relieves his fatigue is regarded as the measure of honored hospitality.

The Order of the Floor Table

In the traditional Amasya house, meals were most often eaten on a cloth spread on the floor, around a round tray (sini). The early Turkish communities likewise ate on large felt spreads and sometimes on round copper trays set upon them. Large napkins called yağlık or peşkir were laid across the knees for wiping the hands, and hot dishes were brought in covered sahan pans. Everyone sat cross-legged or knelt, and the bread was placed in the middle of the table. Bread was held sacred at early Turkish tables as well: no one sat down to a meal without it, and it was broken by hand, never cut with a knife.

The first rule of the table is that no one reaches for a spoon before the eldest of the house has begun. This respect shown to the elder forms the basis of table etiquette. The meal begins with "Bismillah," and at its end thanks are given with "Elhamdülillah," and one rises from the table with this prayer. The root of this order lies in the word "ocak" (hearth). The early Turks held the fire burning in the middle of the tent sacred, and regarded it as the first rule of table etiquette that the members of the family gather around that fire and eat together. "Ocak," used today to mean home and homeland, still bears the trace of that sanctity. To stuff oneself was considered shameful, and to eat in moderation was considered sensible.

The table at a village wedding is laid on an entirely different scale. Cauldrons of keşkek, pilaf, meat and halvah are boiled at the wedding house, and tables are spread on rooftops and in courtyards. Because spoons were once hard to find and distribute, guests came with a wooden spoon tucked into their belts, and the meal was eaten together to the sound of drum and zurna. Amasya keşkek holds the place of honor at these tables. The local account names it as one of the staple dishes of the Central Asian Turks and says, "All the keşkeks on one side, Amasya keşkek on the other." Cooked with mutton and çemen and with cracked wheat, this dish is indispensable at weddings and on special days.

The Unwritten Rules

Most of the subtleties of the Amasya table that everyone knows but nobody has written down are rules inherited from the old Turkish table custom. One does not speak with food in the mouth, and one does not reach with hand or spoon toward the food in front of another. If one must cough or sneeze, the face is turned away from the table. Calling to the table anyone who entered the tent or the house during the meal was also among the first of these rules. The spoon is taken from the part of the dish that falls to one's own side, and one behaves with moderation at the table. The host does not withdraw his hand before the guest has eaten his fill, and the guest does not rise from the table without a prayer, without saying "Allah bereket versin" (may God give abundance). When the host says "have a little more," it is a word required for the hospitality to be complete.

Among the early Turks, not falling short in hospitality toward a guest was a custom. The host who gave a feast fed his guest the first morsels with his own hand, and if there was a guest at the table, the food was served to him before the elders and those of higher rank. The sheep's brain was counted the most valued portion and was given only to the honored guest. Meat was divided among everyone according to age and social standing, and this share was called "ülüş." The custom of offering cold ayran to passersby also continued from Central Asia through the Seljuks and the Ottomans. Hollow wheat stalks were placed in the ayran cups so that the cold drink would not be gulped down at once and upset the stomach.

The rules of visiting did not apply only at the table. One did not go to a house empty-handed. A cake, a plate of sarma, or a small sweet bought from a nearby shopkeeper, brought so that the host would not be burdened, meant that abundance would reach not only that house but the neighborhood as well. To come "for tea" meant to eat and then stay the night through. To come "for coffee" described a short visit, and the saying "a cup of coffee has forty years of memory" made the brevity of the visit legitimate. Whichever it was, no one was left without a treat. Even if nothing could be found in the house, a piece of lokum or a chocolate was always offered.

The old guest rooms were part of this order as well. The most carefully kept and cleanest room of the house, with its display cabinets, lace and silver trays, was kept ready for a guest at all times, and separate sheets, pillows and oya-edged towels were set aside for visitors staying overnight. As soon as a guest arrived, cologne and sugar were offered: cologne for freshness and cleanliness, sugar as a quick strength against fatigue. The little girls of the house came with a plate on which lay two small hand cloths with lace edges, one soaped and one merely damp, and waited while the guest wiped his hands with them. Out of respect for the privacy of the host, the guest did not enter the kitchen, and even if he offered to help he was usually politely turned down. The most a guest could do was to carry the trays to the kitchen and back.

The Order of Serving

The order of receiving guests was observed not only in the food itself but in the sequence of serving. In the Ottoman period, the order of the table in the palace kitchen, the sequence of presentation and the grace of those who served were part of how statesmen and envoys were entertained. This sequence continued in simplified form in ordinary houses. The main dish came first, then fresh fruits and sherbets that ease digestion were offered, and coffee was served last. The tea or bitter coffee served after the meal was read as a sign that the conversation would go on. Coffee is a ritual in itself: it is cooked until foamy, and a glass of water and lokum are brought with it. At tea time, along with the sweet and börek ready in the house, whatever the guests had brought and fruit and nuts in season also found their way to the table.

Good manners continue when the visit ends. Since the household has already tired itself with preparations, the guest, unless there is a special program or an overnight stay, rises without staying too long. The family again sees him off to the door, the next meeting is discussed as farewells are said, and if the hour is late he is taken home. A wave from behind him is the last link of this sending-off.

Plates Sent to the Neighbors

In Amasya the culture of the table spills beyond the limits of the house. A newly cooked dish, a sweet or a holiday börek is always taken to the neighbors too. The plate that goes does not return empty; the neighbor puts something of her own making on it and sends it back. This exchange of plates is like an invisible web that binds the neighborhood together. The condolence meal found in the local records shows that this custom continues even in the heaviest days. When a death occurs in a household, neighbors and relatives cook food in their own homes and send it to the house of mourning on trays, and there is no limit on what the food may contain. When the vessels are returned they are only rinsed in clear water, not washed.

Table customs connected with funerals do not end there. The funeral meal is not a tradition native to Amasya but was adopted later. Those who come to the funeral are usually given pide, tea and cold drinks at the house of the deceased. At the rosary ceremony held within the week after the burial, relatives, neighbors and the neighborhood congregation gather at the house of mourning, and led by the imam they recite the kalima of unity seventy thousand times. When the ceremony ends, the guests are offered Amasya çörek, buns and tea. Among the early Turks, giving great feasts at births and deaths was a custom. The distribution of hedik aşı, made of boiled wheat, to neighbors and relatives when a baby's first tooth comes in is also mentioned as a custom that came from Central Asia.

Dishes Tied to Ceremonies

In Amasya the turning points of life are marked by their own dishes. The velime dish prepared for a couple about to enter the bridal chamber took its name from a corruption of "güvey önü" (before the groom). It consists, on one tray, of whole meat, pilaf and tırtıl baklava. Its kind may vary, but the manner of presentation is the same, and it is handed over at the door of the bridal chamber before the groom goes in. The bride's bath (gelin hamamı) is a ceremony in which the bride is introduced to the relatives of the family and is seen to have no bodily defect. A woman reader invites the guests to the bath, and the bride kisses the hands of the elder guests. In the changing area of the bath a women's saz ensemble plays. The meal consists of bakla dolması, walnut puaça, bat and lokma, and is eaten with dancing and singing on the bath's central stone.

The bride's mirror is another ritual of the marriage preparations. The groom's side sends the bride-to-be, in a phaeton and in the care of someone from the household, a decorated large candle and a full-length mirror. The girl who carries them is received at the door, the mirror and candle are accepted with prayers, and the messenger is sent off with a sugar börek. When the bride's belongings are carried to the groom's house, the first things to enter are this mirror and candle, accompanied by verses from the Quran. The circumcision bath was held in a similar way. The child or children to be circumcised were taken around in a phaeton, washed and dressed at the bath, and offered simit, çörek, eli böğründe and sweets to the sound of saz.

The pilgrimage to Mecca also gave rise to its own food customs. Because the journey used to be very long and made in hard conditions, nothing that would spoil was prepared. A muska kneaded with butter, rusks cut like two joined matchboxes, and cylinder-shaped lokum fried twice in the oven were given to the prospective pilgrims as provisions for the road. When the pilgrim returned, a meal of thanks was given for those who had seen him off. At this table there are toyka soup, pehli or whole meat, pilaf, dates and zamzam water.

Amasya also had a table tied to the silkworm tradition. Behind this table, known as the barama meal, lies the silkworm rearing that was once carried on in seventeen villages of the city. When the time came to gather the cocoons, the neighbors were called, and the cocoons, called barama, were placed on large trays called heğ and sent to auction. The host gave supper to the neighbors who took part in gathering the cocoons, and the meal was eaten to music. The table was laid according to the host's means, and bakla dolması and bat were usually served. When only one main dish was to be served, a large domed griddle was set on the hearth, and the yağlı, yanuç, kete and gömbe cooked on this griddle were served with tea.

The Dishes of the Table

Amasya cuisine carries a rich variety in view of its history and its ecology. The list compiled by the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism includes, among the soups, çatal çorba, sakala çarpan, toyga çorbası, cilbir, helle çorbası, kesme ibik çorbası and yarma çorbası. Among the meat dishes are counted bakla dolması, meat-and-okra stew, keşkek, liver wrap, göbek dolması, madımak, mıhlama, mumbar, tripe, beets with pastırma, eggplant pehli, pastırma pağallemesi, pirpirim, liver in vinegar and sulu köfte. The sweets are dene hasudası, kuymak, yuka tatlısı, ayva gailesi, apple dessert, baked rice pudding, gelin parmağı, gömlek kadayıfı, kalbur tatlısı, höşmerim, peluza, şeker böreği, unutma beni, vişneli ekmek and zerdali gailesi.

The list of pastries is long too: Amasya çörek, yağlı and katmer, pumpkin-crowned pilaf, bişi, cırıtka, döndürme, ekmek aşı, eli böğründe, poppy-seed and walnut çörek, hengel, meatless mantı, kaypak, mayalı, eggplant pilaf, sini suböreği, tray börek, yakasal böreği and yanuç. Among these dishes bakla dolması is the city's own signature. A filling prepared from dried broad beans, onion, cracked wheat, bulgur, minced meat and tomato paste is wrapped in leaves and served with raw onion beside it. The local account says that the dried broad bean, hard and not especially handsome, turns into a work of art in delicate fingers. The same account also relates that the fresh cream cake eaten in the prince's palace became vişneli ekmek (sour-cherry bread) through the skill of a poor family, and that stale bread was not thrown away but turned into a new sweet called "unutma beni" (forget-me-not).

Çatal çorba is made from green lentils, cracked wheat and minced meat, and helle çorbası from rice or lentils with butter. Mumbar is a laborious offal dish made by stuffing sheep's tripe with a bulgur filling. Ayva gailesi is cooked with quince, chickpeas and neck of mutton and eaten cold; there are also versions made with plums and apricots. Bat, which passed into Amasya from Tokat cuisine, is made with walnuts, bulgur, lentils, tomato paste and onion and is usually eaten with brined leaves. Hasuda is made from starch, sugar, butter and water and served with walnuts sprinkled over it. Dene hasudası is sweetened with pekmez (grape molasses) and served warm. Amasya çörek is prepared with walnuts and poppy seeds, and in the apple dessert the city's famed apples meet walnuts and cinnamon.

Sources

Official sources

  • Amasya Mutfağı. T.C. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Culture Portal e-book (local cuisine study prepared for the Amasya Governorship; sections on honored guest, wedding, velime, bride's bath, barama and condolence meals).

Other sources

  • Yöre Mutfağı. T.C. Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.
  • Ceren Sungur, "Şimdilerde Kurulan Her Masada İzi Olan Eski Türklerde Sofra Adabı", 11 February 2016.
  • İlknur Boztaş Karabıyık, "Türk Kültüründe Misafirlik Adabı: Kapıdan Sofraya Yazılmamış Kurallar", 14 March 2026.
  • "Türk Sofra Kültürü: Binlerce Yıllık Gelenek ve Sofralardaki İhtişam", Decorium blog.
  • "Amasya'nın Eşsiz Lezzetleri: Tarih ve Damak Zevkinin Buluştuğu Şehir", Merzifon Bilgi Gazetesi, 19 February 2025. merzifonbilgigazetesi.com

Online sources