Traditional Food Competition Excitement at Çorum Hittite Festival

In the "Çorum Dishes Competition" held within the scope of the 38th Çorum International Hittite Fair and Festival, contestants showcased their skills to rank among the winners.

20 contestants participated in the competition, which was organized by Çorum Municipality at Bedesten to promote the city's rich culinary culture. Contestants prepared Çorum's geographically indicated delicacies: su böreği, baklava, kuru mantı, and şekerleme.

The contestants' products were evaluated based on criteria such as adherence to traditional recipes, taste, consistency, presentation, use of local ingredients, and originality. The evaluation was carried out by İsmet Çıtak, President of the Çorum Chamber of Cooks and Restaurateurs, along with Erkan Bacak, Nuran Köse Özkurşunlu, and Ülkü Menşure Solak.

Additionally, the city's gastronomic values were also exhibited at the event. Throughout the program, citizens had the opportunity to both taste local delicacies and get to know the city's culinary culture up close.

In the su böreği category of the competition, Perihan Koç came in first, Ayfer Temur second, and Emine Keşlek third.

In the Çorum şekerlemesi category, Emine Keşlek took first place, Perihan Koç second, and Seda Tekkeli third.

In the baklava category, Nazmiye Berberoğlu was chosen first, Nilgün Gülkeskin second, and Perihan Koç third.

In the kuru mantı category, due to low participation, Nazmiye Berberoğlu was awarded an honorable mention.

The awards to the winners were presented by Çorum Deputy Mayor İsmail Yağbat and Feyza Aşgın, wife of Mayor Halil İbrahim Aşgın.

In the competition, category first-place winners received 10,000 lira each, second-place winners 7,500 lira each, and third-place winners 5,000 lira each.

Çorum Deputy Mayor İsmail Yağbat pointed out that Çorum has a rich culinary culture. Yağbat stated, "The food recipes found on Hittite tablets are still kept alive today. Çorum baklava was found in endowments dating back centuries. Local delicacies must be preserved and passed on to future generations. We organized this competition with this goal in mind."

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