Cuisine of Turkey
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Turkish cuisine is well-known, especially in Europe. Frequently used ingredients in Turkish dishes include eggplant, green pepper, onion, lentil, bean, tomato, garlic, and cucumber. Grape, apricot, cherry, melon, fig, lemon, pistachio, pine nut, almond, hazelnut, watermelon, and walnut are among the most abundantly used fruits and nuts. Preferred spices and herbs are parsley, cumin, pepper, paprika, mint, and thyme.
Turkish cuisine is highly influenced by its Ottoman heritage, and thus Greek, Arabic and Persian cuisine. Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm, with particular influence by Middle Eastern cuisines, along with traditional Turkish themes from Central Asia. The best flavored white cheeses and yogurt are prepared from sheep milk which the Turks learned from native Greeks and Armenians. Although rice, which is named as pilav (pilaf), is the essential part of many foods, bulgur (prepared from wheat) can also used for the same purpose. Especially in the western parts of Turkey, where olive trees are grown abundantly, olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking which was learned from Greeks. The bread is prepared from wheat, barley or corn. Pide (broad, round and flat kind of bread made of wheat) and tandır ekmeği (baked on the inner walls of a round oven called tandır) are some examples for authentic types of bread in Turkish cuisine. Another type of bread commonly eaten in Turkey is simit (or "gevrek"), a ring shaped bread covered with sesame seeds, eaten either plain or with cheese or jelly.
Turkish eating habits
Turkish cuisine went through dramatic changes in 20th century and the eating habits of the Turkish people has significantly changed due to the Western influence. An important pillar of a traditional Turkish meal is that the food is served in a little amount compared to Western standards and one has to eat lots of bread. Even other staple foods like rice and bulgur are eaten with bread. In recent years, though, many Turks avoid eating bread with them, apparently due to weight problems.Meat has always been a luxury item for the Turkish people, mainly since milk-fed lambs, the most popular source of meat, have a very low yield. Meat was eaten almost only at the wedding ceremonies and during Kurban Bayramı (Eid ul-Adha), usually not in the form of kebabs but as etli pilav (pilaf with meat). However, after the advent of fast-food chains all around Turkey and introduction of industrial meat production, meat had become a part of the daily diet for most Turks, often in the form of döner kebab eaten at fast-food restaurants. Veal, which was usually shunned, became a familiar kind of meat. However, even today, the main use of meat at cooking is putting kıyma (ground meat) in small amounts to vegetable dishes, thus attaining names such as kıymalı fasulye (bean with kıyma).
Another profound change in Turkish eating habits is the abandonment of traditional ingredients. With the high-level production of sugar beet sugar in Turkey, honey and pekmez were effectively replaced by sugar in making the Turkish desserts. Margarine is widely used for cooking instead of butter, kuyruk yağı (tail fat of sheep), sesame oil or even olive oil. Ketchup is eaten as a substitute to various sauces made from tomatoes, paprika, and spices, known as çemen, acıka, etc. It is also important to note that today Coca Cola is by far the most popular cold beverage in Turkey. Even the famous ayran would be left to oblivion if it were not revived at döner junctions. However, ayran has always fans and it has gained importance again in the last few years and in Burger King restaurants, ayran has become a choice of drink besides Coca Cola.
Soups
A Turkish meal usually starts with a thin soup (çorba) with a low consistency. Soups are usually named after the main ingredient they are prepared with. The most common types of soup are made of lentil (often mashed) called mercimek çorbası and tarhana called tarhana çorbası. Delicacy soups are the ones that are usually not the part of daily diet, like shkembe (işkembe çorbası) and paça çorbası (made with lamb's or kid's feet), although the latter also used to be consumed as a nutritious winter meal. Before the popularisation of the typical Turkish breakfast, soup was the default morning meal for most households. Cacık may also be classified as a soup but it is usually eaten as a side dish.Vegetable dishes
A vegetable dish is the usual main course in a Turkish meal. There is a very large variety of vegetables used. A typical vegetable dish is prepared with a base of chopped onions and garlic sautéed in cooking oil, later with tomatoes or tomato paste. The vegetables or legumes and boiling water will then be added. Vegetable dishes usually tend to be served with a large liquid part (with the cooking water), thus often named in colloquial Turkish as sulu yemek ("watery dish"). Sometimes meat can be added to a vegetable dish but vegetable dishes cooked with olive oil (zeytinyağlılar) are almost always conceived to be strictly vegetarian.Meats
Meats (especially shish kebabs) are usually marinated and grilled over an open fire. Although every kind of halal meat is consumed, lamb from milk-fed lambs is especially favored. A famous beef delicacy is pastirma. Iskender kebap is a relatively recently invented type of döner kebap which is usually consumed in the northwestern parts of Turkey. Döner kebap has established itself as an alternative fast food in Western Europe countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Britain.Today, döner kebab, which is similar to the Greek Gyros, is typically served as a kind of sandwich in pita (flat bread) or in a piece of regular bread. This type of döner kebab has been available in Istanbul since about 1960. The döner kebab with salad and sauce served in pita, which is predominant in Germany and the rest of the world, was invented in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1971, because the original preparation was not appealing enough to the German taste. Lahmacun is the Turkish variant of the Pizza.
List of the types of Kebab
- Döner Kebab
- Iskender kebap
- Shish Kebab
- Adana Kebab
- Izmir Köfte
- Dürüm
- Urfa Kebab
- Tavuk Shish
Meze
Meze which is a selection of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks or sometimes as the main course and consists olives, mature kashar cheese (similar to strong cheddar cheese in flavor) or white cheese, pickles, cacık (tzatziki), köfte (meatballs), pilaki (made of bean, garlic and olive oil), dolma (grape leaves, green pepper or eggplant stuffed with rice or meat), börek (very thin phyllo dough stuffed with cheese, meat or vegetables), hummus (coming from Arabic and prepared from sesame, chickpea, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice), seafood, and several other varieties. Gözleme is a food typical in rural areas, made of lavash bread folded around a variety of fillings -- spinach, cheese, meat, potatoes -- and cooked on a large griddle.Desserts
One of the best-known desserts in Turkish cuisine is baklava (related to the Greek dish.) Rice and starch puddings (muhallebi, sütlaç), helva (halvah), kadayıf (kataifi), revani (made of semolina and starch) are among other varieties. Kaymak (clotted cream) is often served with sweet desserts to cut through the sweetness. Tea or thick Turkish coffee (with or without sugar) is usually served after dinner or more rarely together with desserts. Lokum (or Turkish Delight, in English) is another variant of Turkish well-known desserts. Tavukgöğsü is a sweet, gelatinous, white dessert made from ground up chicken breast.
Summer diet
In hot summer, many Turks prefer to have a "lighter" meal with summer vegetables and fruits. The summer meal is usually made up with fried vegetables (aubergines, potatoes, courgettes, green peppers) served with a yogurt or tomato sauce, sheep's cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, melons, and tahini halva. The type of halva consumed at a summer meal is named yaz helvası (summer halva), which has a lighter and less sweet taste. Sweet black tea often accompanies the summer meal, as in the style of a typical Turkish breakfast.Beverages
Although the majority of Turks profess the Islamic faith, alcoholic beverages are as widely available as in Europe. However, most of the Turks abstain from alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan. There are a few local brands of lager such as Efes and large variety of international beers that are produced in Turkey such as Miller, Becks and Tuborg with a large number of exported beers. There are also a variety of local wines such as Kavaklıdere and Angora which are getting more popular with the change of climatic conditions that affect the production of wine. Rakı, an alcoholic beverage flavoured with anise, is the usual tipple with meze. The other favorite beverages include ayran, boza, and turnip juice.
- See also Turkish beers
See also
- Mangal
- Middle Eastern cuisine
- Balkan cuisine
- Central asian cuisine
- Cuisine of Greece
- Turkish tea
- Turkish coffee
- Sekerpare
- Kadayif
- Manti
- Kumpir
- Gozleme
- Kazan dibi
- Baklava
- Elma tatlisi
- Mongolian Cuisine
External links
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