Traditional Food

 

 

Turkey is a large and diverse country, best known for being the meeting point of Europe and Asia and thus the connection between East and West. Its cuisine reflects this extensive variation and cultural fusion and shares much with neighbouring regions, including the Balkans and Slavic areas, as well as having heritage links to the Ottoman Empire.

Below are ten dishes that anyone going on holiday to Turkey should experience to get the true ‘flavour’ of the country her there are so examples of traditional food their:

 

 

Kofta

 

 

 

Another meat dish with considerable prominence in Turkish cuisine is the kofta. It is, in its simplest form, a meatball or meatloaf made up of minced lamb or beef and a mix of spices. There is also considerable diversity concerning the other ingredients, with some choosing to add rice, leeks, bulgur wheat or eggs.
A 2005 study showed that there were almost 300 different types of kofta in Turkey, which shows just how much of a staple it is in the national cuisine. One of the most popular varieties is the Inegol Koftesi, which is renowned for its simplicity as it includes no spices and consists of only four true ingredients – a beef/lamb mix, salt, baking soda and onion.

Gozleme

 

 

Another form of dumpling-style dish that is popular in Turkey is the gozleme. This is made by rolling out fresh pastry, adding a filling, then sealing and cooking over a griddle. There are a great number of fillings that can be used in gozleme, ranging from spinach and feta cheese to egg and from minced meat to mushrooms.

Baklava

 

 

 

 

In terms of desserts, Turkey is probably most renowned for baklava. It is a rich pastry dish and is made by combining filo pastry layers with nuts. It is made sweet by adding syrup or honey. It is usually prepared on large trays and then cut and served in a variety of shapes.
There are a number of regional versions of baklava, including the famous Gaziantep variety, which uses pistachio and has been patented within Turkey. Gaziantep is therefore regarded as the home city of this variety, despite having only started producing it in the 1870s.