Private guides Turkey – Turkish Food Culture
Private guides Turkey as well as private guided Turkey tours aim at introducing Turkey to you in the best possible way. We give honour to Turkish cuisine this time. Many culinary experts, consider Turkish food to be among the top three greatest cuisines in the world. The other two are French and Chinese. Some may agree with the French and Chinese but find the Turkish one debatable. When looking back at Turkish history, the reason for Turkish cuisine being ranked among the top three cuisines in the world can be understood better. Let’s take a look.
Original Turks lived a nomadic life style. They migrated from the Far East Asia (mainly Western China, Tibet and Mongolia regions) to the current geographic location of Turkey and surrounding areas. That’s how the Turkish ancestors adopted various foods from various cultures along the way. This led to a very diverse though developed and refined cuisine. For instance, manti – small pieces of dough stuffed with minced meat and spices topped with yogurt sauce. It supposedly comes from Chinese dumplings. It is said that the idea of ‘dolma’ (stuffed vegetables) came from manti.
Nomadic Turks
Due to their nomadic lifestyle, the nomadic Turks’ diet was mainly based on animal products such as lamb, goat and game. They invented different techniques of preserving food in order to prevent food from spoiling. Take pastirma, for example, which is dried cured beef mainly made in the city of Kayseri. In Central Anatolia region it came about from the need to preserve meat without spoiling. It is no secret that the integration of nomadic Turks with other civilizations as well as geographic locations and weather, had influenced their culinary traditions. And that brings us to food culture of the Ottoman Empire. This is something like you decide to travel in Bulgaria and like to see many sightseeing in different places. What happens, you dream and share your dreams with us and we help you make your tailor-made Bulgaria tours.
Ottoman Empire
The vast Ottoman Empire, which covered three continents for a length of almost 600 years and controlled the spice road, influenced food culture from North Africa to Eastern Europe (up to Vienna, Austria) and most of the Middle East. Leaving a trace of similarities in the current Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Middle Eastern cuisines. The Imperial Palaces had enormously large kitchens. There were separate cooks for each kitchen specializing in one single type of dish. They developed and perfected every dish over time.
For example, each cook specialized in pilav (pilaf), dolma, baklava, kebabs, desserts and so on. They frequently employed in cooking dried fruits such as apricots, raisins, currants and the best quality spices. Through development and improvisation, the Ottoman Cuisine evolved to be the current Turkish cuisine. After the end of Ottoman Empire, in 1923 the modern Republic of Turkey was founded. It adopted the same delicious cuisine and cooking techniques.
The importance of food during the Ottoman days and now in the current Republic of Turkey cannot be overstated, private guides Turkey will tell you. It is a significant part of the culture and daily life. You can find this solid sense of food culture in every single part of Turkey albeit the food itself is very heterogeneous. Although some dishes are prevalent throughout Turkey, every region, even province has its own type of cuisine, which other regions may not recognize. Did you know that you could try Turkish cuisine in Bulgaria even. Make a daily Sofia tour with us and see for yourself.
Turkish food ingredients freshness
The foundation of Turkish food is based on the freshness of the ingredients. In rural areas the vegetables come right out of people’s garden just before cooking. The meat comes from a farm or local butcher. Society changes and more and more women participate in the work force. Naturally, many urban dwellers are adapting the modern conveniences eagerly leaving behind some of the food traditions. Nevertheless, there are still some people who are living in cities and perform the routine of grocery shopping daily to get the freshest available ingredients. In smaller cities and less populated areas, fresh ingredients are still the biggest factor in cooking.
By now, we surely have convinced to contact us and we arrange a culinary tour for you, as well as many different tours.
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