Learn all about the top five dishes you just have to try while traveling in Turkey
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Ece: Merhaba! Welcome back to TurkishClass101.com! Ece here! |
| Gina: I’m Gina, and this is All-About, Lesson 7 - Turkish Cuisine. Ece, what can you tell us about Turkish cuisine? |
| Ece: Hmm, that’s a hard question really… What comes to mind first is the variety. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gina: I’d say kebab! |
| Ece: (laughs) ah yes, but we’ll get to that soon! First let’s talk about the characteristics of Turkish cuisine. |
| Gina: Okay, so tell us what you mean by variety? |
| Ece: Well, today’s Turkish cuisine can be traced back at least 6 thousand years, and was continuously developed across a vast and fertile geography. There are countless cooking and conserving methods, unique ingredients, and sophisticated aromas, and many combinations are possible. |
| Gina: And recently, Turkish Airlines was ranked number 1 for food service among all the star-alliance airlines. Okay, can you tell us how Turkey’s varying geography influences its food? |
| Ece: Very roughly speaking, the Aegean cuisine is dominated by cold olive-oil dishes with vegetables and seafood. In the Black Sea Region, fish and corn are consumed the most. In the South-East, red meat and yogurt dishes, desserts with syrup and kebaps are the most common. In the central areas, pastries are more common, and in North-West, the most delicate dishes are found because of the Palace culture. |
| Gina: How does Turkish cuisine differ from other cuisines in the world? |
| Ece: To begin with, we have categories of foods and dishes that don’t exist anywhere else, or only spread to other cuisines during the Ottoman Era - Milky desserts, delights and candies, syrup pastries, soups, yogurt salads and dishes with yogurt. |
| Gina: Yeah, you’ve mentioned those earlier…What do you mean by dishes with yogurt? |
| Ece: Yogurt was first invented and eaten by Turks, so we also came up with various ways to use it. We don’t have sweetened yogurt or fruit yogurt as often as the rest of the world. We either make our own yogurt at home or buy it at the supermarket, and have it at every meal in cold salads, and salty drinks or as a side dish with kebabs, pastries, or in main dishes with meat, vegetables and legumes. |
| Gina: That sounds interesting, I’d love to try it! |
| Ece: The idea of having salty yogurt might sound weird in the beginning, but trust me, it works well! |
| Gina: How about spices and herbs in Turkish cuisine? |
| Ece: Well, I think Turkish cuisine has a very rich variety of herbs. But we don’t like to drown a meal with many types or massive amounts of herbs. We like the dishes to be balanced. A dish can have a combination of herbs, but they have to be in good harmony. |
| Gina: Moving on, there are many Turkish sweets and desserts, and we use herbs and other aromatics for those too. |
| Ece: Yes, for example - cinnamon, vanilla, coconut, lemon peel, turmeric or rose extract. |
| Gina: Alright, and how about drinking culture? |
| Ece: Well the first thing to mention is obviously the Turkish teas! All the colors, flavors, leaves, fruits, herbs and flowers… it’s hard to keep track! |
| Gina: Especially the black tea, which is actually red when steeped. |
| Ece: Yes, Turkish tea is very famous and unique. Black tea leaves are brewed in a special Turkish way to get that red color. It can be served at any time of the day, for any occasion. |
| Gina: Tea grown in Black Sea Region of Turkey is the only type processed without chemicals. And coffee was introduced to the West by the Ottomans, wasn’t it? |
| Ece: That’s right - the first café in the world was opened in Istanbul in the 16th century. Turkish coffee is also made in a unique way. But it’s usually saved for special occasions, and not consumed as often as tea. |
| Gina: Ok, will you finally tell us a bit about kebabs now? |
| Ece: (laughs) Sure! The word ‘kebap’ refers to all the meats and meat dishes that are cooked directly over the fire. There are hundreds of kebab types, even practical ones for ovens, and pans developed for cooking in standard kitchens. But one thing to remember is that in Turkish, the correct spelling of the word is with a P in the end, not B. |
| Gina: …But the ‘kebap’ we see all around the world is always the same - a large roll of meat pieces, cut with a sword-like knife… |
| Ece: That’s ‘döner kebap’, just one example of the ‘kebap’ family. |
| Gina: It’s definitely one of the most popular fast foods in the world now, especially in Europe. |
| Ece: I know! In France for example, it’s almost like for every hamburger restaurant, there are three döner buffets. It’s sold as "giros" by Greeks and "schawarma" by Arabs, too. It first appeared as ‘lüle kebap’ among the Central Asian Turks about 2500 years ago, and later the Crimean Turks flame-grilled meat on swords. Today's unique method was developed by Iskender Efendi from Bursa in the 1800s. Listeners, if you try a ‘döner kebap’ in Bursa, especially at that original restaurant, nothing else you try will come close to it! |
| Gina: Now I’d like to ask our listeners if they have ever visited a Turkish restaurant. I’m not talking about those fast-food döner kebab places, but the ones where you can sit down and have a proper dinner. |
| Ece: Yes, please let us know in the comments at TurkishClass101.com! |
Outro |
| Gina: Until next time, bye everyone! |
| Ece: Hoşça kalın! |
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