In the restaurant Tık Tık Kadın Emeği, women cook traditional dishes – and use them to finance young women’s studies in Istanbul.
Pieces of dough dry in the sun on the flat roof of a nondescript house in Ürgüp. In the background, a minaret rises into the Cappadocian sky. Sevil Halıcı Ayhan shows how the mantı noodles, which make a “tık-tık” sound when cut, dry up here – hence the name of the house. A sound that has been part of Cappadocian cuisine for generations.
Authenticity instead of tourist folklore
Ürgüp lies in the heart of Cappadocia, surrounded by the famous fairy chimneys – mushroom-shaped tufa rocks dominate the landscape. In the mornings, dozens of hot air balloons take to the sky and groups of tourists visit the underground refuge cities dating back to Byzantine times. The region thrives on tourism, which is also changing it. Many restaurants serve what travellers expect, not what is actually eaten here. Tık Tık takes the opposite approach: the women do not wait for change, they utilise the existing structures – with skill, cohesion and Anatolian composure.
Eighteen women, one kitchen
Eighteen women from Ürgüp take turns working here. In the restaurant’s cramped kitchen, they prepare the local meatballs Ürgüp Köftesi, roll yaprak sarması – stuffed vine leaves – and cut mantı. It is an attempt to preserve the region’s culinary heritage and at the same time pave the way for a different future for young women.
The women’s cooperative Tık Tık Kadın Emeği was founded in 2018 with three goals:
- Women should earn their own money
- Traditional dishes from Ürgüp should be preserved
- Young women should be able to study
What sounds abstract is actually reflected in the menu: Tık Tık Mantı or Ürgüp Köfte are available for 400 Turkish lira, various soups for 100 lira. The regional dishes are offered at prices that everyone can afford. In January 2026, 400 lira will be equivalent to eight euros. The profits go towards scholarships for 50 young women from Ürgüp who are studying in cities such as Istanbul or Izmir. The women from Ürgüp cook so well that they have even caught the attention of the Michelin Guide.
Michelin meets modesty
The Michelin Guide listed the restaurant as a Selected Restaurant in 2026. Rarely has such recognition been more modest: red and white chequered tablecloths, creaky wooden floors, an open kitchen with barely enough room for more than three women. The Michelin Guide also praises the meticulous preparation.
Tradition as capital
The women of Tık Tık have realised that their supposed limitation – the rural tradition that sees women in the kitchen – is also their strength. They don’t fight against it, they use it: they cook what their mothers and grandmothers cooked, sell it and give the next generation what most of them were denied – education, mobility, freedom of choice.
This quiet pragmatic strength is palpable, even without feminist slogans. It is a quiet revolution between pasta and tomato sauce, between peravu – dumplings filled with regional cheese – and dolaz, a sweet dessert made from walnuts. The women have understood: Preserving what is in danger of disappearing creates the future. Those who perfect their grandmothers’ recipes open the doors to education for their granddaughters.
The research was supported by GoTürkiye
