• Chef Necati Yilmaz pays tribute to the ancient Hittite civilization, which thrived in Anatolia over 3,000 years ago, with an 11-course menu inspired by archaeological research
• ‘Some diners even told me they felt reincarnated because of our presentations and storytelling,’ says Yilmaz
• Elements of Hittite culture still echo through daily life in Türkiye, from traditional recipes to local expressions

ISTANBUL

In the heart of Anatolia, long before the Ottoman sultans rose and fell, a different civilization ruled the kitchen. Thousands of years later, the echoes of Hittite cuisine are still simmering in Turkish pots.

In a restaurant in Istanbul far from the ruins of Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital, a clay tablet sits on the table. Its surface is covered in the wedge-shaped script of a language spoken more than three millennia ago.

Guests can scan the QR code on the back to read the menu in Turkish or English. But for a moment, the cuneiform alone is enough to pull them into another time.

“I’m not an investor or a businessman. I’m a chef,” Necati Yilmaz told Anadolu. “So I thought, the way I can promote this culture is through food. And that’s how I set out on this path.”

Yilmaz has been cooking Hittite dishes and serving them to his customers for around eight months.

The chef, who has spent two decades searching for ancient and unique recipes from Ottoman palace cuisine, found himself drawn into an even older culinary world after a visit to the Turkish province of Corum two years ago.

Corum was once the capital of the Hittite Empire, which ruled much of Anatolia from the 17th to 12th centuries BCE. Yilmaz said it captivated him instantly.

Necati Yilmaz

“I couldn’t remain indifferent to the Hittites, one of the two great empires of their time,” Yilmaz recalled. “After seeing the architecture, the culture, the history and the legacy they left behind, I couldn’t stay indifferent.”

Over the next 18 months, Yilmaz traveled to Corum 41 times. Guided by local officials, he began recovering ancient recipes and techniques.

“Wheat was incredibly important to the Hittites. They had 200 to 300 varieties of bread,” Yilmaz said. “Wheat, honey and onions held great importance in Hittite cuisine.”

“We got some recipes from that era,” he said. “Most were seasonal, so it was a challenge to create a fixed menu. But with guidance and trial and error, we prepared an 11-course menu that can be served year-round.”  

Diners ‘felt reincarnated’

Served on plates modeled after Hittite-era pottery crafted from clay from Corum, the dishes are presented with historical fidelity. Ingredients such as wheat, cherry leaves and plums are also sourced from the same soil that fed the Hittite heartland.

Service follows a ritual: on Thursdays and Fridays, all diners are seated together at 7.30 pm, and the courses unfold in unison until 10 pm.

Voicing his happiness, Yilmaz said, “Some even told me they felt reincarnated because of our presentations and storytelling.”

Inspired by these meals, some foreign visitors like those from the US, Canada, and the UK have made special visits to the region, he added.

“One of the main reasons I prepared this Hittite menu is my admiration for the civilization,” he said. “I wanted that culture, that architecture and those historical artifacts, which are still standing there, to be visited more by people.”

Even in modern Türkiye, traces of Hittite influence persist in everyday life, Yilmaz said.

“We’ve inherited cooking methods, recipes and even everyday expressions from the Hittites,” he said.

Munevver Kaya, a gastronomy lecturer at Istanbul Kent University, told Anadolu that the civilization’s influence goes far beyond ingredients.

“It also left deep marks on cooking techniques, the way people view meals and the social meaning of food,” she said.

“Information about Hittite cuisine has come down to us through both written sources and archaeological findings,” Kaya explained. “More than 23,000 cuneiform tablets excavated from ancient sites offer multilayered insights into their social, religious and daily lives.”

The Hittites imagined their gods in human form and believed they needed to eat just like people.

“So, they offered them a variety of foods, similar to what they ate themselves. These offerings were carefully documented in religious texts, giving us important information about the types of dishes, cooking methods and ingredients used in that time,” she explained.

Living far from the sea, the Hittites favored freshwater fish, grains like barley and wheat and a remarkable variety of breads.

“Cuneiform tablets contain more than 146 different terms for bread and refer to over 180 types of bread in total,” Kaya said.

A telling example is the first Hittite sentence ever translated into modern languages: “Nu NINDA-an ezzateni watar-ma ekuteni” – meaning “You will eat bread and drink water.”

“This shows how fundamental bread was for the Hittites, and (also) acts as a historical bridge to understanding the role of bread in Anatolian culture today,” she said.  

‘Food culture carries a people’s history’

Cuneiform texts also show that the Hittites practiced beekeeping and honey production, while meat also played a sacred role.

“It was believed that the smell of roasted meat would bring the gods closer to humans,” Kaya said. “That’s why the meat was roasted thoroughly – even burned.”

Some of the oldest recipes still made in Turkish homes today trace directly back to the Hittites. Take “mahluta” soup – a lentil-based dish.

“In provinces like Malatya, Kahramanmaras, and Kilis, mahluta is still made using the same method,” Kaya said, adding that the British Museum even included it in their cookbook featuring 100 of the oldest recipes from around the world.

Traces of Hittite culinary culture remain particularly visible in central Anatolia, the region long regarded as the heart of the Hittite civilization, she said. But the influence stretches south, too, especially in the Kilis, Malatya and Kahramanmaras provinces.

Kaya stressed the importance of this heritage being preserved beyond local practices, saying it should be protected and promoted through research, cultural events and food tourism, supported by local governments.

“Food culture carries a people’s history not just through flavors, but through meaning, memory and identity. Culinary traditions reflect not only what we eat, but how we live, how we share, and who we are,” she said.

“In this way, Hittite cuisine is more than archaeological data – it is an ancient note inscribed on the collective table of Anatolia.”