Turkish food is yummy, and it has a wide range of dishes. If you are a vegetarian, do not worry because there are several dishes with vegetables in Turkish cuisine. Vegetables and fruits are fairly cheap in Turkey.
Turkish people like eating delicious food. Homemade food is highly preferred though even if you go to the smallest towns, the city would have a lot to offer for you. There are restaurants, cafes, family-owned small food kiosks most of which are open until late hours especially in bigger cities like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. The student cities and towns are full of cheap restaurants and bars as well.
Turkish cuisine is a mixture of different cultures just like the country itself. It has heritages of the Ottoman, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, Balkan and Mediterranean cuisines. You would never lose your appetite in Turkey.
Let’s have a look at the daily eating habits in Turkey:
Breakfast: Normally, breakfast consists of a cup or cups/glasses of tea (There is a special shape of glass to drink Turkish tea. The glass is called “ince belli” meaning a “thin wasted” glass because the shape of the glass is like a female figure with a thin waist), Turkish cheese (Beyaz peynir, kaşar etc.), butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, jam, honey, and kaymak (a Turkish dairy product). The Turkish word for breakfast, kahvaltı, means “before coffee” (kahve, ‘coffee’; altı, ‘under’). The usual breakfast hour at home is between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning. The Turkish breakfast is very rich in ingredients and it is very healthy. For the vegetarians also, it is one of the best meals of the day.
Lunch: Lunch usually falls between 12:00 and 14:00 in the afternoon. Between these hours, lunch is served in any restaurant, bar, or café. The food is lighter or heavier depending on the season and on the region. There are a variety of salad types as well as dishes served with rice. Lunch is fairly less important than breakfast and dinner though in the big cities, people who work tend to have a big lunch and then a small dinner.
balik-izgaraDinner: The dinner hour is between 18:00 and 20:00. There are many types of delicious dips served at lunch and dinner as appetizers. Seafood is also very delicious.
The Turkish cuisine has many specialties including the desserts. It is a wide subject which we will cover later. In the meanwhile enjoy your food. Turkish coffee, dairy products, desserts, kebabs and the appetizers are the subjects of another post.
