Turkish food culture came about in Ottoman kitchens, nomadic customs and the products of the three seas. Every part of Turkey has its own recipes, and this means that food in Istanbul will be different from food in Gaziantep. Food is among the reasons tourists choose Turkey Tours, and the food memories last much longer than any monument. The information here is about what foods to try, their origin and little tips for eating well.
The first time tourist will think about kebab all the time, but the truth is different. The typical Turkish food begins with a huge breakfast, followed by soup or bread, vegetables or grilled meat for lunch, and then comes the meze, fish or slow meal. Tea is served after every meal. Knowledge of this sequence makes you save room for the good ones.
Turkish breakfast, kahvaltı, includes not one but many small plates on a plate. You will be offered white cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, jams, honey, boiled eggs, bread and kaymak (clotted cream). The hotels provide a certain set of dishes; cafes in Istanbul, Antalya, etc. offer supreme breakfast consisting of 15-25 small plates per table. It should be shared by your friends, because no one can eat it alone. Black tea is served in small tulip glasses for free.
Menemen is the hot dish to order along with it. Eggs, tomato, green pepper are cooked in a small skillet and sent to the table with bread. People discuss if onions should be included in menemen; therefore, ask about the preparation if you have a preference. In Gaziantep, katmer is an indispensable part of the breakfast. It is a thin pastry filled with pistachio and cream.
Simit is a bread roll covered with sesame seeds sold from red-colored carts on every corner of Istanbul and Ankara. Simit is cheap, crunchy outside and soft inside, and fits perfectly as an instant meal to eat between sightseeing. Now, lahmacun will be the next dish for you to try. It is a thin bread with minced meat flavored with spices, and people put lemon on it, garnish it with parsley and roll it with their hands. You should buy it in a bakery with a stone oven, because a freshly made one is way tastier than the ones stored in the bakery’s window.
Balık ekmek is the most iconic fish sandwich in Istanbul. In the vicinity of Galata Bridge and the neighborhood of Eminönü, you can get grilled fish served in bread along with onions and salad. People usually consume it with şalgam, which is a drink with sour flavor made from fermented carrot and turnip.
İskender kebab is a dish created by Bursa. Chefs layer thin slices of meat doner on pieces of bread and cover it with hot tomato sauce and melted butter. A spoon of yogurt serves as an accompaniment to the dish. The local pride of Kayseri is mantı, which consists of very small dumplings filled with minced meat covered with garlic yogurt and red pepper butter. They are made in such a way that many of them can be put onto one spoon, and a good dish requires patience.
The best destination for gourmands is Gaziantep, which was declared a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in 2015. The local baklava uses green pistachios and very thin dough and does not taste as sweet as those produced abroad. You should definitely try beyran, a spicy dish consisting of rice and lamb eaten at dawn by locals. In the southern part of Turkey, in Hatay, you should try künefe, a hot cheese desert dipped into syrup and sprinkled with pistachios.
Every area has its own type of cuisine. Cappadocia is famous for its testi kebab, which is a meat and vegetable dish cooked in a sealed pot made of clay, and opened by the waiter before your eyes. The Aegean region relies heavily on olive oil, wild herbs and cold vegetable dishes. In Antalya, you can find piyaz, which is a bean salad with tahini sauce. Istanbul is a combination of all of these cuisines, along with seafood from the Bosphorus Strait. If you would like to sample more than one of these cuisines in one go, Turkey travel packages connecting Istanbul, Cappadocia and the coast are very convenient.
The meze table is perfect to begin with at a Turkish restaurant. Typical dishes here include haydari, a creamy yogurt sauce with garlic and herbs, ezme, spicy salad made of tomatoes and peppers, patlıcan salatası, roasted aubergine, and dolma, vine leaves stuffed with rice. The waiter serves the dishes on a tray, so you can choose those that appeal most. Order three to four dishes for two people, and then order one main course. A perfect beverage to go with meze is rakı, an aniseed drink which becomes cloudy when mixed with water. Ayran, a salted yogurt drink, is great if you don't consume alcohol.
Sweets should be purchased in a shop which will slice Turkish delight, or lokum, from a big block. It is best to choose rose, pistachio, and hazelnut varieties as they won't let you down. Turkish coffee is prepared in a special pot and poured into a small cup. It became part of UNESCO heritage in 2013. Be aware of the grounds sitting at the bottom of the cup; don't stir them and stop drinking before the very end.
It should be noted that Turkish street food is fresh and always cooked in your presence. Therefore, you need to visit busy stalls where the turnover of food is big enough. You should drink only bottled water and not order salad in very quiet restaurants. Some restaurants can include an additional service fee for bread or meze; therefore, you should study the menu before ordering. The tip for a service which is not included in the price is about 10 percent. For lunch, it is recommended to visit the lokanta restaurant.
Turkish food makes exploring visitors pay off. Begin with a prolonged breakfast, have snacks like simit and lahmacun while touring around, and make one evening for enjoying the meze plate. Visit some regional place, such as İskender from Bursa, mantı from Kayseri, or baklava from Gaziantep, and each journey gets its own culinary tale. Eat where local people eat, point at something that catches your eye, and ask about it in case of any doubts. As a rule, most of the chefs are pleased to introduce their dishes to guests.
