When you think of Adana, kebab likely comes to mind. But Adana’s culinary offerings go far beyond that—from mezes to desserts, it boasts a complete cuisine. And when it comes to street food... the flavor is on another level. All of this and more is explored in our documentary The Taste of Adana, which premiered at the Adana Orange Blossom Festival.
We believe you can only truly understand a country's culture by walking its streets. That’s the spirit behind our project The Taste of Turkey’s Streets, and The Taste of Adana is the very first film in this series. We wrote it ourselves, produced it ourselves, and captured the stories that define the soul of Adana.
We set out to bring together all of Adana’s flavors, carrying our equipment into the streets without any pre-production. Using guerrilla-style filmmaking, we captured the authentic taste of the city. Timur Savcı opened the film, joined by fellow Adana natives like Menderes Samancılar, Nebil Özgentürk, Emre Karayel, and many more. Together, we discovered dozens of local spots—each with its own story, each leading us to even more.
Legends like Yılmaz Güney and Yaşar Kemal made their mark on the film, adding flavor and depth to the narrative. And of course, no journey through Adana would be complete without Fatih Hoca—his stories added warmth to our conversations. Along the way, we celebrated bici bici, şırdan, şalgam, roaming vendors, and mobile carts. We realized that Adana, often reduced to just its kebab, is actually home to a complete culinary tradition—with desserts, regional specialties, and drinks that define the local table.
There’s a saying in Adana: There are only three complete cuisines in Turkey—Adana, Antep, and Antakya. We’ll leave the debate to you, while we return to our kebab.
