Taste of Turkey
Turkish cuisine along with French and Chinese is one of the three most rich and nutritious cuisines of the world. During a brief visit to Antalya or Istanbul guests of the country usually have time just to be impressed by the taste of kebab, baklava and Turkish delight and think that if they had their own apartment on the Turkish coast, there would be no need to regret the imminent return and it would be possible to combine a seaside holiday with endless tastings and do it without limitation.
After all, except for the “stars” of the Turkish menu you will make many unexpected discoveries. The presence of food that, at first sight, is not related to classical oriental cuisine as we understand it may become the biggest surprise for you. Originally Turkish, Turkic cuisine consists of traditional dishes of nomadic herders of Central Asia: meat cooked on an open fire, milk and dairy products. The word “yoghurt” is of Turkish origin and is translated as “condensed”.
Roaming from Asia to Europe and conquering new territories, the Ottoman Turks brought in all the innovations to their own culture. In modern Turkish cuisine unique traditions of different nations are preserved – Greek, Armenian, Arab, Egyptian and European. The first mention of the dessert created from a variety of the finest dough layers with nuts and syrup occurs even in Constantinople of Byzantine times.
Cereal puddings – prototypes of modern extremely tender rice desserts – were cooked in Ancient Rome. But not only kebabs are the pride of the local gourmets. For lovers of light and healthy food fresh vegetables, fruit, herbs and a wide range of vegetarian dishes cooked with olive oil only are available in Turkey year-round.
Turkish cheese and olives are a different story. They can always be found on the menu and paparazzi reports from secret villas and cottages of local celebrities. Connoisseurs of cheese will always find here the ideal choice: delicate pickled cheeses, and mature aged cheeses with a rich aftertaste and even unique cheeses with mold from goat, sheep and cow’s milk. Cheeses, by the way, are a compulsory component of an authentic Turkish breakfast, which is especially pleasant to taste, sitting on the cool terrace of a villa in Turkey.
A variety of olives is also impressive: from marinated young green olives with bitter taste, so ideal for a glass of martini, to naturally dried black olives with intense olive flavor.