-
Jul 27, 1299
The start of the Ottoman Empire aka, Turkish Empire
During the five hundred years of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey's dominions extended from North Africa, Persia and the Middle East to the Balkans and Greece. -
Jul 16, 1400
The start of Turkish Cuisines
The perfect climate in Turkey,has allowed crops and animals to grow strong. These advantages have helped the country to establish a strong history and flavorful foods. Foods like fish in olive oil, yogurt salads, and stuffed vegetables have become the basis of Turkish foods. The Ottoman empire actually spread from northern Africa to Austria,the water and land routes helped people to import and export many exotic ingredients of the world. -
Mar 12, 1450
Turkish Breakfast
Common breakfast consists of cheese,butter, olives, tomatoes, eggs, green peppers, cucumbers, honey and jam. Soups are also eaten in the morning with Turkish tea commonly enjoyed as well. -
Dec 31, 1500
The growth of Turkish Cuisine
By the end of the 1500s, the Ottoman court housed over 1,400 live in cooks and passed laws regulating the freshness of food. Since the fall of the empire in World War I (1914–1918) and the establishment of the Turkish Republic, foreign dishes such as French hollandaise sauce and Western fast food chains have made their way into the modern Turkish diet. -
Turkish Delight
The turkish delight was invented by Bekir Effendi, who moved from his hometown Kastamonu to Istanbul and opened his confectionery shop in 1776 based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; the cheapest are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, or lemon.The upper class buy it wrapped in silk handkerchiefs as presents. -
Raki ( famous drink )
In the Ottoman Empire, until the 19th century, run by Greeks and Albanians would mainly serve wine along with meze(a starter dish.) Rakı was produced by distillation of grapes pomace (cibre) obtained during wine fermentation. When the amount of pomace was not sufficient, alcohol imported from Europe would be added. This was also the start of wine, when more alcohol was added to this grape pomace. -
The changes
Salads and mezes are eaten nearly in all the meals also without raki as the main course or as the accompanier of main dishes. Throught out the centuries, the Turkish cuisines has more spice and flavours, as there are more trading places. -
Turkish cuisines were rated as one of the great cuisines of the world, along with French and Chinese.
