21.12.2025 17:41
The 8th Anchovy Festival, held this year in Rize, attracted significant attention with its extraordinary dishes prepared with anchovies. The most notable flavors of the festival were the anchovy börek and anchovy döner.
The 8th Hamsi Festival, traditionally organized by the Rize Municipality, was held this year. The cleaned anchovies were started to be grilled just hours before the program.
The grilled anchovies were then served to the citizens between slices of bread along with tahini halva. A total of 2 tons of cleaned anchovies were distributed at the festival. Citizens waiting in line to get anchovies enjoyed both the sun and the entertainment.
EVERYTHING WAS MADE WITH ANCHOVIES
What caught attention at the festival was not just the distributed anchovies, but also the stands set up by businesses and institutions. The dishes made with anchovies were popular at the stands. While anchovy-based regional delicacies called "anchovy boxes" could be found at almost every stall, the standout items included anchovy Caesar salad, anchovy stuffed grape leaves, anchovy döner, anchovy gözleme, and the most striking of all, anchovy water börek. The döner stall with anchovy döner was captured in everyone's photos, while anchovy water börek and anchovy rolls filled their stomachs. The festival continued with inflatable play parks for children and local concerts.
"THIS YEAR WE DECIDED TO TRY DÖNER, IT TURNED OUT BEAUTIFULLY"
Mahmut Baş, the döner master, stated that they wanted to try a different product special for this year's festival, and that the anchovy döner emerged this way. "Anchovy is already famous in our region. We were making it grilled and fried. Now we made it as döner. People are not used to such things, but we created this image. A beautiful product came out. Its appearance and taste are nice. Everyone likes it," he said.
THE STAR OF THE FESTIVAL: ANCHOVY WATER BÖREK
Nilda Dilay Dalkılıç, a student at Ekrem Orhon Tourism Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, explained the preparation stages of anchovy water börek: "We have anchovy water börek and anchovy spinach börek. When making anchovy water börek, we first roll out our dough. We prepare our anchovy filling with our spices. We add it and then fry it," she stated.
"PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED AT FIRST, BUT WE THINK THEY LIKE IT ONCE THEY TRY IT"
Another student from the same school, Ecrin Eylül Baş, listed the products at their stalls filled with dishes adorned with anchovies: "Our desserts are nice, we prepared our rolls with love, and we have water börek. We made all of them with care. Anchovy water börek is not something that has been tried much. We kind of created it in our own minds. But we hope it will be well received. People are surprised at first, but when we look at their expressions after they try it, we think they like it. The new product will also be nice for Rize," she said.