First of all, we must mention “meze” which is a common type of dishes brought in small amounts before start eating. Meze is often consumed with raki or other alcoholic drinks. Typical meze menu consists of feta cheese, fresh salad, fried mussels, or dried and marinated mackerel and etc. Another important traditional category of Turkish food is the soup because it is a starter for lunch and dinner, and it is mostly made of vegetables, meat or fish. Second on our menu comes “dolama” or “sarma” which is one of the most famous Turkish dishes, which is also found in all Balkan cuisines. Dolma is general expression for stuffed vegetables, and there are two types of dolmas: one stuffed with meat mixture and one stuffed with rice mixture. There are many recipes for dolma such as cabbage, grapevine leaves, tomatoes, stuffed peppers, eggplants and many more.
Also, the important elements of the Turkish cuisine are yoghurt and bread. Another essential Turkish meal which has significance same as bread is “pilav”. There are two most common types of pilav: cracked-wheat and rice. Many Turkish meals are accompanied with “pilav”. What is more is the base of Turkish food: pastry. There are endless pastry recipes like “simit” (pastry rings with sesame seed), “ekmek” (common white bread), “manti” (dumplings), “açma” (soft bread), “pide” (flat bread), and maybe one of the most wieldy broaden pastry is “burek" (thin sheets of dough filled with meat or cheese). Our menu must list up “kebab” which is a huge category of Turkish food. It included roasted, grilled and stewed meals of small or large pieces of meat, or even ground meat. It could be served in bowls, in sandwiches, or on plates. Moreover, there are many types of kebab, but the traditional kebab is made of lamb, but as the time passed kebab started to be made of goat, chicken, pork, beef, fish, seafood or even falafel or tofu depending on the tastes. Furthermore, Turkish cuisine holds many meat dishes such as “lahmacun” (pizza-like, round, thin meal, topped with minced meat and herbs),”adana” (spicy skewered ground meat), “izgara” (mixed grilled meat), "köfte" or “şiş” (minced meatballs with herbs) etc.
The crown of Turkish cuisine is definitely desserts. Turks are crazy about sweets and they have a whole tradition connected with desserts. “Baklava”, “tulumbe”, "muhallebi", "lokma", "helva”, “sütlaç”, “bülbül yuvası”, “saray sarması”, “kadaif”, “künefe”, “şekerpare”, “dilber”, “güllaç”, “aşure”, “tahin-pekmez”, “cezerye”, “macun” are only few desserts that you must try it. They are real delight. Another flavor that you must taste is Turkish coffee. It only takes a drop of Turkish coffee to become a lifetime “addict”. What is interesting about Turks is that they all day long drink tea (“Çay”-black tea) which is made on a very specific way, with two teapots. Other traditional drinks are “boza” (known as millet wine), “sahlep” (made from the roots of wild orchid), and “sherbet” (a syrup made of any herbs, flowers or fruits).
On the alcoholic beverage menu, Turkish cuisine holds very tasty wines same as Balkan wines. Some famous brands are Corvus, Doluca, Kavaklıdere, Kayra, Diren and Pamukkale. Moreover, local brands of beer are Efes Pilsen, Marmara34 and Bomonti, but many international brands like Carlsberg, Skol and Tuborg are produced in Turkey. Also, like in many Balkan cuisines (Albanian cuisine, Serbian cuisine, Macedonian cuisine etc.) so does in Turkish cuisine we could find raki (a kind of a brandy).
It is obvious that Turkish menu has only a beginning but no end. With our huge list of dishes we have proved you that Turkish cuisine absolutely had and will have an endless menu of amazingly tasty dishes.
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