Instead of evoking Turkish cuisine, I prefer to speak about Anatolian cuisine. Turkish food, as we know it around the world and in Istanbul is not really representative of the wealth and the delicious variety of food in Turkey.

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Across the various regions of Anatolia there are great differences in types of foods and ingredients used.

In the southeastern provinces, sweets based on dough are very common. Rich flavors such as that of pistachios are very popular here. Highly spiced kebabs are another clear specialty of the region. Other dishes characteristic of the area are kısır (a salad based on fine bulgur), as well as stuffed and raw köfte.

In Western Anatolia foods based on greens are common, and in the Istanbul and Aegean regions, milk-based sweets are plentiful. Fish is dominant in the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Marmara regions. Hazelnuts are used in the preparation of several savory as well as sweet dishes.

In Central and Eastern Anatolia, foods based on dough and grain, rice and baked foods are most common. Olive oil is not popular in Eastern Anatolia. In addition, each region has its own unique dishes which are not found in other regions. For example, the “Humus” of the cities in the Çukurova region is unknown in other areas. “Meftune” is a dish prepared only in Diyarbakır, and nobody makes “çiğ köfte” better than the people of Urfa.

In some provinces, women are hired to bake bread. In Van for example, these women are called “keveni”. They are paid either with money or other goods such as wood, old clothes etc. In some villages bread is baked daily. Women wake up before dawn when their husbands are still asleep to knead dough and bake the bread they need for the day. Making fresh bread in time for breakfast is considered one of the village woman’s duties.

Speaking of women, we should mention that kitchen is practically synonymous with woman. Both in the villages and the cities, women spend a great amount of their time preparing food. Although in the cities, modern lifestyle have reduced the time women spend in the kitchen, cooking is still woman’s work, and very few men enter the kitchen. We can say that mezes to accompany drinking and food for guests are all the products of women’s labor.

Foods such as kadınbudu köfte (ladies’ thighs meatballs), and sweets such as dilberdudağı (sweetheart’s lips) and hanım göbeği (ladies navels) are reflections of women’s humor into food names. The good taste of food is a measure of a woman’s skill as a housewife. For this reason the expression “elinize sağılık” (“Health to your hands”), said in appreciation for a good meal, is a proof of this skill.

In Turkey, some foods tend to be spicy and oily with much sauce. Europeans tend to find these foods heavy. Most of these foods stimulate the appetite. A lot of them involve vegetables. All sorts of vegetables are cooked, either with or without meat. Vegetable dishes cooked with ground meat and water are popular in all parts of Anatolia. Vegetables are more consumed in Western Anatolia.

The meat dishes style as yahni (type of stew) and tutmaç (meat cooked with strips of dough and yogurt) was already eaten by the Selçuks and in the Ottoman palaces. The most commonly eaten meats include sheep, lamb, goat and chicken, and kebabs are made from all of them. The importance of kebab culture was developed as a necessity of the nomadic lifestyle. The Turks’ centuries of nomadism and animal husbandry paved the way for a kebab culture. Köftes (meatballs), meat pide (sort of bread) and various kebabs (kebab means grilled/roast meat) are made in different ways according to region.

Pastırma and sucuk (cured meat/pastrami and spiced sausage) were also created as a necessity of nomadism: as these foods keep for an extremely long time, they were extremely well fitted to the nomadic lifestyle.

When slaughtering a sheep, its meat, but its head, feet and even its stomach were cooked as well. Delicious dishes such as tripe soup, feet, and head are also the result of nomadism. As these nomadic tribes survived by animal husbandry, they became experts at utilizing every part of the animal.

Fresh fruits and vegetables have also been preserving for centuries. In rural areas especially, the preparation of winter foods is a necessity of the agricultural economy. A good example of this is salça, a preparation of tomato and/or pepper paste. We can also mention pickles, tarhana and pekmez (see pekmez farther).

Tarhana is a dried preparation to make soup, and exist all around East-Mediterranean countries, even in Bulgaria and Albania. It’s based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk.

Its existence is known since centuries, mentioned around the 11th century by al-Zamakhshari in his dictionary, and in the 13th century in the form Tarkhina in the Jahangiri encyclopedia.

The Turkish tarhana consists of cracked wheat (or flour), yoghurt, and vegetables fermented then dried. In Cyprus, it is considered a national specialty, and is often flavored with bay leaf, wild thyme, and fennel seed.

Tarhana may be stored and sold as small cakes or coarse lumps. It is usually available in packets in shops selling food products from the regions where tarhana is eaten.

Tarhana is made in Anatolian regions, in the villages during summer, by mixing flour, yoghurt or sour milk, and optionally cooked vegetables, salt, and spices (notably tarhana herb), letting the mixture ferment, then drying, and usually grinding and sieving the result. The fermentation produces lactic acid and other compounds giving tarhana its characteristic sour taste and good keeping properties.

Another special food is yogurt, a thick, slightly sour and easily digestible milk product. It is a cultural product of the nomadic lifestyle. With the addition of water, it is one of the Turks’ favorite drinks, ayran.

Anatolia is the homeland of olive oil. The Hittites and other Anatolian nations knew how to prepare and use this oil. For this reason Anatolia is the birthplace of all the olive oil dishes. Olive oil was also used in religious ceremonies. Grapes have also been an important crop since ancient times, and were made into wine. For this reason, both the olive and the grape were considered sacred.

Many sweets are common throughout Anatolia, though they vary according to region. Pekmez is a sweet molasses (from grapes, mulberries or other fruits) made in the villages mostly for the winter months and eaten at breakfast. In areas where grapes are abundant, the boiling of pekmez is traditionally women’s work.

Lokum, or Turkish Delight, is known now all around the world. At the same way, baklava and kadayif are among the major Turkish sweets.

Kabak tatlısı (winter squash dessert) and helva (halvah, made from semolina or flour) and various other sweets are common throughout Anatolia. Zerde is a very old recipe, a sort of sweet pudding from rice and colored yellow with saffron (or curcuma), made in the region of Balıkesir, Konya, Şanlıurfa and Tekirdağ.

Let’s talk about something to drink. First, water is sacred. The tradition of richly decorated fountains, called çeşme, reflects the important place of water in the Turkish mind.

Turkish coffee is a popular drink, traditionally served to guests, but not so often than tea. Tea is common throughout the country, served everywhere, at anytime. In Erzurum tea is drink by the glass, without sugar.

Other popular drinks are Ayran (salted yogurt mixed with water), lemonade, şerbet (fruit drinks) and various fruit syrups which are mixed with water, boza (a fermented drink made from boiled, sieved and sweetened millet or bulgur), and salep (a hot winter drink made with milk or water, thickened with a starch obtained from the tubers of certain orchid plants).

Some words about religious influences. According the rules of Islam, meats not hunted in the proper way are haram, forbidden by the Koran. Some animals are not eaten for religious reasons. For example, all birds of prey, carnivorous mammals and all reptiles are haram. Believers never eat the meat of snakes, frogs, mice, scorpions, crows or magpies.

Donkeys and mules are also haram, while horsemeat is considered mekruh — not forbidden but considered abominable. The milk of both horses and donkeys is haram. Other animals considered haram are pigs, turtles and elephants. The eating of carrion (animals which died rather than being slaughtered) is forbidden as well.

With the exception of fish, all animals living in the water (such as mussels, lobster, shrimp, oysters, snails, crab, seahorses etc.) are considered evil, and eating them is not permissible. However with the exception of some seaside regions, fish is not extremely popular. We can again attribute this to nomadic culture. Although camels are not haram, Turks do not consider it acceptable to eat. However the Arabs enjoy camel meat, and the Tatars eat horsemeat.

In some regions, certain birds are very popular. For example in villages in the Kayseri region, pigeon coops are very common, and their tender meat is eaten; fresh pigeon meat is served to guests.

Eating together on special occasions such as feast traditions or celebrations are common in Turkish history. There was a feast tradition in the religious ceremonies of ancient Anatolia. Feasts were prepared for weddings, when going to war, after successful work, burial ceremonies and in religious organizations. Extensions of this tradition in modern Anatolia include weddings in particular, but also holidays such as Ramadan and occasions such as prayers for rain, migrations, mevlit ceremonies, long journeys, the arrival of guests, holidays, circumcisions, births, and other feasts. On these occasions the best and most loved foods are prepared and eaten in a celebratory atmosphere.

At the beginning of, during or even after a meal, the host says “afiyet olsun”, which means “may you have good health, may it bring you health.” Another expression said by a guest after a meal can be “ziyade olsun,” a wish for God to bring bounty to his hosts.

And now, enjoy your meal !