after Constantine’s death in A.D. 137, the empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine rule lasted more than 700 years.
Turkish cooking is a reflection of Turkish history. The Turks were descendants of nomadic Turkic tribes from Central Asia. Little is known of their diet except that it included unleavened bread or pastry made of wheat flour and various milk products and cheeses. One dish – manti (a kind of ravioli similar to the Chinese wonton that an early Turkic tribe, the Uyghurs, adopted from their Chinese neighbours) – is still eaten in Turkey today. Other dishes that originated in Central Asia are togyar çorbasi (a yoghurt soup thickened with wheat flour), cörek (a ring-shaped bun), early forms of börek (savoury pastries) and tarhana (a kind of dough or soup base made with fermented wheat flour and dried curds). Güveç, a kind of vegetable stew cooked in an earthenware pot, is another pre-Anatolian dish. The name is thought to derive from kömeç or gömmeç, meaning ‘buried’– presumably because the earthenware pot was buried in ashes until its contents were cooked.
The essence of Turkish cooking was already established in the Seljuk Period (1038–1299). The Seljuks, one of the most powerful Turkic clans, ruled Persia and much of the eastern Islamic world before they invaded Anatolia in the eleventh century. Rice pilav, yahni (vegetable stews) and stuffings that included dried fruit and nuts were all adopted from the Persians. The Greeks introduced the Turks to olive oil and showed them how to bake round loaves of bread. The thirteenth-century Sufi poet, Rumi, makes many references to food in his writings, notably to tutmac, a dish of lentils and noodles that was popular all over Anatolia until the nineteenth century, but is little known today. He also mentioned wheat soup, bulgur (cracked wheat), a wide range of vegetables and fruit, pickles, ekmek (bread), savoury pastries coated in honey, halva or halvah made with grape juice or almonds, and zerde, a saffron-flavoured rice pudding.
The Ottoman period was a great influence not only on Turkish cuisine but on the cooking of the whole of the eastern Mediterranean. The Ottoman Empire lasted for over 600 years. At its height it stretched from the Danube, across the Balkans to Syria, Egypt and much of North Africa. Ottoman cooking was primarily developed in the Palaces of the Sultans – in particular the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, where chefs, assisted by a host of apprentices, specialised in the preparation of every classification of food: soups, vegetable dishes, pilav, bread, sweet and savoury pastries, syrups and jams, halva, yoghurt and even pickles. The preparation of these dishes was not just restricted to the palaces, but was also familiar to most of the population of the Ottoman cities. By the mid-seventeenth century, 43 food guilds (esnaf) had been set up in Istanbul to organise the preparation and sale of foods, including cheese and börek makers, pastry cooks, bakers, fritter makers, yoghurt makers, pickle makers, oil merchants, butter merchants, grocers and fruit merchants, with a separate guild of watermelon sellers, many of whom are still in existence today.
Contemporary Turkish cooking is based on the use of fresh ingredients served in season. Mint, dill and flat-leaf parsley are the favourite herbs. Cumin, allspice, cinnamon, kirmizi biber (sweet or hot pepper) and sumac – with its characteristic tart, lemony flavour – are the predominant spices used in the Turkish kitchen
Meals usually begin with a selection of meze (starters) and salads. Meze derives from the Arabic word mezaq, meaning the taste or savour of a thing. Meze include bite-size cubes of beyaz peynir (white cheese) marinated in olive oil, mercimek koftesi (small balls of mashed lentils and bulgur), fasulye piyasi (a white bean salad), tomatesli patlicanli tavasi (fried aubergines in a tomato and garlic sauce) and ezme, a dish of almost any puréed vegetable mixed with olive oil and vinegar or garlic and yoghurt. Meze are usually served with raki – an anise-flavoured drink distilled from grapes.
The Turkish cuisine has a vast repertoire of vegetable dishes. Vegetables are stuffed, made into fritters or gently stewed in olive oil or zeytinyaǧli. Classic dishes include imam bayildi (literally, ‘the priest fainted’) – a dish of aubergines stuffed with onions tomatoes, garlic and parsley and dressed with so much olive oil that the priest was overcome – kabak mücveri (courgette and white cheese fritters) and zeytinyaǧli yaprak dolmasi (vine leaves stuffed with rice, currants, pine nuts and herbs and cooked in olive oil).
All kinds of rice pilav are made, mostly with aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes, peas, currants, pine nuts, carrots and chickpeas. Pilav is also made with bulgur (cracked wheat) instead of rice. Börek (savoury pastries) are made with yufka, thin sheets of dough similar to filo pastry, as well as various puff and flaky pastries. Fillings include spinach, white cheese, potato and onion, pumpkin, courgette, mushroom, and green lentils.
Bread is a staple, especially pide – a soft round bread with a hollow pouch. Pide is sometimes stuffed with cheese or vegetables. In the region around Antalya, pide is often spread with hibes, a paste made with crushed chickpeas, yoghurt, red pepper and onion. Misir ekmeǧi (corn bread) is popular in eastern and central Anatolia. Simit (ring-shaped rolls coated in sesame seeds) are sold by street vendors all over Turkey.
Some traditional desserts include a variety of sweet pastries coated in sugar syrup with such evocative names as kiz memesi kadayif (young girls breasts), kadin göbeǧi (ladies’ navels) and dilber ekmeǧi (beauty’s lips). Aşure is a sweet rice pudding made with whole wheat, legumes, nuts and dried fruit that used to be made to celebrate Noah’s salvation from the flood. Today it is eaten on the tenth day of Muharren to commemorate the martyrdom of Mohammed’s grandsons Hasan and Huseyin. Turks are fond of all kinds of kompostosu (fruit compôtes) and muhallebiler (chilled milk puddings), which are flavoured with almonds, pistachios, coconut, and rose and orange flower water.
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