From Highland Pastures to the Table: Antalya's Şiş Köfte and Hibeş Tradition

Where the Taurus Mountains Meet the Coast

The Taurus range behind Antalya drops toward the Mediterranean at a steep angle, so a coastal orchard and a highland pasture can sit only a few hours apart. That closeness has shaped the region's table: Antalya cuisine draws on both a Yörük highland heritage and the broader food culture of the Mediterranean coast, rather than a single tradition.

The Yörük Legacy: Herds Coming Down from the Highlands

Nomadic life has largely disappeared across Turkey, but the Taurus range is one of the regions where it persisted longest; Yörük communities still practice seasonal transhumance there today, and Antalya's Kumluca district re-enacts the seasonal highland migration at local agricultural festivals. Yörük clan names are often built around sheep and goats — Karakeçili, Sarıkeçili — because small livestock travels more easily than cattle.

A field study of Yörük table culture among Taurus communities in the neighboring Mersin area found that the cuisine developed in step with nomadic life, built around dairy staples like yogurt, cheese, and butter, and winter preservation methods such as tarhana and pickles. That highland dairy-and-meat heritage still shows up on Antalya's tables today, in dishes like lamb keşkek and kebabs finished with a yogurt sauce.

Skewered Meat and Its Plain-Grown Companions

Şiş köfte is ground meat threaded onto a skewer and grilled over fire, typically made from lamb or beef, tail fat, red pepper flakes, and salt. Regional versions carry their own names across Turkey, from Adana kebab to Urfa kebab, Burdur şiş to Tire köfte — a sign of how locally this dish has been adapted.

In Antalya, şiş köfte is usually served with onion salad and ayran, alongside dishes built from the plain's own produce. Local tarhana soups — made with wild thyme, wild mint, or cracked wheat depending on the version — are among the traditional dishes that share the table with grilled meat, bringing highland herbs and lowland wheat into the same bowl.

Hibeş: A Tahini Meze That Balances the Table

Hibeş is a meze associated specifically with Antalya, made from tahini, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and spices — typically red pepper, cumin, black pepper, and hot pepper flakes, which cut through the tahini's fatty, neutral base. Tahini is placed in a bowl, the spices are added, lemon juice is worked in gradually, and warm water is stirred in until the mixture reaches a mustard-like consistency; a well-made hibeş shouldn't show a separate layer of oil floating on top.

Local sources also record the dish under the spelling "hilbeş," sometimes made with the addition of pastırma, alongside tarator as another tahini-based meze on the same regional list. Tahini's role as the common thread across several mezes, not just one dish, is what lets it balance the coast's sesame-based tradition against the highlands' meat-heavy legacy.

Antalya Piyazı: The Bean Salad That Broke From Tradition

Turkish piyaz is usually built around dried beans, boiled and tossed with onion, sumac, and parsley, then finished with lemon, vinegar, and oil. Antalya's version departs from that template: it uses small white beans, is topped with a tahini sauce called tarator, and is typically served as a main course rather than a side dish alongside kebabs.

That tahini-based preparation was formally registered by Turkey's Patent and Trademark Office as a geographical indication (a mahreç işareti, or protected designation of source) on December 29, 2017, under registration number 315, following an application from the Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The registration covers specifically the small-bean, tarator-topped version — not the generic Turkish piyaz recipe found elsewhere in the country.

Mountains and Sea, a Short Drive Apart

Antalya's farmland splits sharply between coast and interior. The coastal strip supports citrus, bananas, and avocados along with greenhouse farming, while further inland the climate favors cold-hardy fruit such as apples, pears, and quince. That citrus tradition extends beyond fresh fruit into preserves like bergamot jam. Having a tropical coastal orchard and a high mountain pasture only a few hours apart is what keeps Antalya's table from depending on a single growing zone — the highland's meat, the plain's tahini, and the coast's citrus all end up on the same table because they grow within a short drive of each other.