Traditional Turkish Foods

Rooted and Rich Turkish Cuisine

The most beautiful Turkish dishes of our time go back to prehistoric times. Turks lived a very nomadic life especially in Central Asia for a very long time, and they started to have a great agricultural culture since the 5th century. Turks interacted with countries such as Iran, India and China because they lived tribal life and established scattered states. This interaction got its share in terms of Turkish cuisine. Turkish food names contain many different words just because of these interactions.

When it comes to the Ottoman period, traditional Turkish recipes are considered the beginning of our current culinary culture. The natural part of this is that the Ottoman Empire was an empire spanning three continents, and communities with different traditions living within these borders exchanged more culture than other countries. If Turkish recipes are so much in the foreground and if they are at the forefront, the greatest effect should be the cultural exchanges in ancient times.

This kind of Turkish style dishes emerged with important recipes of foreign chefs during the Ottoman period. Friedrich Unger, the Greek royal cook from the Ottoman period, gives the above-mentioned dishes at the end of his book after mentioning most desserts, candies and drinks in Ottoman cuisine. The author presents these dishes under the name of "Turkish food list". These dishes were the most famous dishes of those times. At the same time, such dishes can be shown as forgotten Turkish dishes.

What are Turkish Foods?

Turkish food and recipes have been increasing and developing from past to present. All these recipes and dishes are part of our culture. Although Turkish food seems easy, they are more difficult and complex than many other cultures and countries. Looking at the present day, Turkish dishes and regions are quite different.