Kocaeli

The forest breakfast served at the wooden garden cafes of Maşukiye has become its own phenomenon: a generous spread of local cheeses, fresh honey, clotted cream, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, soft-boiled eggs, warm bread and pastries, set up beside running water under the trees. It is designed for unhurried consumption, ideally on a weekend morning when you have nowhere specific to be afterward. The cafes along the stream serve it from early morning, and the best ones use produce sourced directly from the surrounding villages.

Kocaeli's version of keşkek: wheat and lamb pounded together over hours into a thick savoury porridge, finished with butter and chilli. The 'dartılı' refers to the particular method of pounding with wooden mallets used in the region's village weddings. Cooked in large copper cauldrons for festivals and family gatherings; rarer in restaurant settings but available at some of the village-style lokantas around Kandıra and Karamürsel.

İzmit has its own simit tradition - typically denser than the İstanbul version, with a heavier sesame coating and a slightly sweeter dough. The bakeries in the old town and along the waterfront supply the local market through the morning. Eaten with a glass of tea or split for breakfast with cheese and olives. The street vendors with their red carts are a constant fixture of the city's morning rhythm.

Cow's milk yoghurt produced in the Kandıra district north of İzmit, where the small herds graze on natural pasture along the Black Sea coastal plain. The yoghurt is set thick - thick enough that a knife can cut clean slices from it. Sold at the Kandıra weekly market and at speciality shops in İzmit. Served traditionally with grape molasses or honey for breakfast, or used as the base for the regional yoghurt-based dishes.

Hair-thin strands of sugar and toasted flour pulled and folded repeatedly until the mixture transforms into a soft, cloud-like floss. A speciality of the Kocaeli and broader Marmara region - the workshops in İzmit and the surrounding small towns have been producing it by hand for generations. Sold in small blocks, eaten in small pieces. The texture is the entire point; the flavour is mild, slightly buttery and nutty. The Kocaeli pişmaniye is the reference for the genre.

A simple, ancient soup of flour toasted in butter until it develops a nutty colour and aroma, then cooked with milk or stock into a smooth, slightly thick broth. Finished with mint and red pepper butter. A winter staple in Kocaeli and the surrounding Marmara villages, often served as a starter at family meals. Found at the village-style restaurants and at some of the traditional Friday lunch places in İzmit.