Turkish food and cuisine is often regarded as one of the best in the world. Its culinary traditions have successfully survived for about 1,300 years for different reasons, including its favorable regional location and its Mediterranean climate.
Turkey’s position between the Far East and the Mediterranean Sea has helped immensely to gain complete control of the world’s major trade routes, and a great environment allowed plants and animals to grow and flourish. Such benefits helped to develop and sustain a lasting and influential food and cuisine.
Turkish Food and Origins
The Turkish people are basically the descendants of nomadic tribes from the country Mongolia and western Asia who started moving westward and then became herdsmen around 600 A.D. Early influence from the Chinese & Persians included Chinese noodles and manti, cheese food- or meat-stuffed dumplings cuisine (similar to the Italian ravioli), often covered in a delicious yogurt sauce.
Turkish State of Anatolia is a millennium old & so is the food and cuisine. The reign of the superior Ottoman Dynasty over the period of 600 years, and a seamless traditional transition into the present day of modern-day Turkey, led to the great evolution of a grand food and cuisine through differentiation, refinement and perfection of food dishes, as well as their sequence and combination of the tasty meals.
All these unique flavors and food have bestowed upon the Turkish food and Cuisine a rich and varied number of food dishes, which can be made & combined with other delicious dishes in meals of almost infinite number of varieties, but always in a non-arbitrary way.
Anyone who visits this country or has had a cuisine meal in a Turkish home, regardless of the success of the particular chef, is sure to notice how unique the food is.
Turks basically cultivated wheat and then used it liberally in many types of leavened and unleavened breads and flatbreads baked in clay ovens, particularly on the griddle, or buried in ember. “Manti” (dumpling), & “bugra” (attributed to Bugra Khan of the great Turkistan, the ancestor of “borek” or dough with delicious fıllings), were already among the much-coveted food dishes at this time.
Stuffing the Chinese pasta, as well as all sorts of fresh vegetables, was also a general practice, and still is, as evidenced by dozens of varieties of “dolma”.
Grilled Meats in Turkish Food and Cuisine
Tasty “Kabab” is another delicious food and cuisine category which is quite similar to the yummy borek. Given the varieties of Turkish kebabs, it really helps to realize that you categorize all of the Turkish food by the way the meat is cooked.
The Western World knows the dish “shish kebab” and the “donor” introduced to the Turkish people. Doner kebab is basically made by stacking alternating layers of delicious ground meat and with sliced leg of lamb on a large upright skewer.
Vegetables in Turkish Cuisine
Along with grains, vegetables are also immensely consumed in great quantities in the Turkish food and diet. The simplest and most common type of vegetable food dish is made by slicing a main vegetable like zucchini or eggplant, and then combining it with tomatoes, green peppers & onions, and cooking it slowly in fresh butter and its own juices.
Since the fresh vegetables that are cultivated in this region are extremely delicious, a simple dish like fresh salad, eaten with a sizable chunk of fresh bread, is an extremely satisfying meal for many Turkish people.
