COLOMBO The unique location of Türkiye on the crossroads of the east and west has shaped her gastronomy throughout the centuries. As Turks brought their culinary habits from Central Asia, the settled communities in Anatolia, the Seljuks and the Ottomans have immensely contributed to the variety of Turkish cuisine. The modern Turkish cuisine is a subtle combination of Ottoman Cuisine, Istanbul Palace Cuisine and the reach local cuisines.
Turkish cuisine is open to innovation and has an experimental understanding of cuisine, just as its main heir, the Ottoman cuisine which has successfully survived for over 700 years. It can sustain the tradition and transform the new into total harmony by combining the traditional with a simple, self-balanced kitchen.
The uniqueness of the Turkish cuisine is mainly thanks to the diversity of its flavours. With the four climate seasons together with great variety fauna and flora in Türkiye, every region has its own cuisine, offering different tastes and recipes. The Aegean cuisine is rich in olive oil, seafood and vegetables, whereas the Black Sea region is using fish extensively, especially anchovy (hamsi) and maize dishes. The cuisine of the southeast is well known for the variety of kebabs, mezes and desserts such as baklava and künefe. Along with its diverse food choices, Turkish cuisine also offers a variety of beverages, being tea in the first place. As a traditional drink, tea is daily consumed at every household in Türkiye. Turkish coffee, which is as popular as tea, is usually served after meals or with desserts. Other main Turkish beverages, among others, are ayran (yogurt drink), şalgam (fermented black carrot juice) and şerbet (syrup made from fruits, flowers and herbs).
Along with its diversity, Turkish cuisine is also inherently healthy, balanced and highly seasonal. Many dishes are cooked around the multitude of fresh vegetables available. The flavours and spices that are used in Turkish food have antioxidant properties, helping to reduce the cholesterol levels, eliminating toxins and boosting the immunity in the human body. Fresh herbs like dill, parsley, and rosemary are often used to flavour dishes, wild herbs are added to dishes for their perceived health and medical qualities. Olive oil is traditionally used to cook and preserve dishes, providing antioxidants. Thus, many dietitians classify Turkish cuisine as a part of Mediterranean diet, also known as the planetary health diet.
The principles of the Turkish cuisine are very parallel to the basic philosophy of a zero-waste cuisine, which became an important value today. Bread is sacred in our culture and sharing bread is crucial aspect of the Turkish food culture. A striking example to this tradition were the nomadic Turkish Yörük women, who were as good seed carriers as wind and birds. They used to carry seeds they collected from their homelands and combine them with the soil at the places where they migrated. Although it tended to be forgotten in modern city life, this tradition, which has survived to the present day, begun to revive today in the cities.
Another aspect of the zero waste characteristic of the Turkish style of cooking is that almost each part of a product is used to cook multitude of dishes and desserts. Peels of a lemon or orange will be saved to flavour a cake, the removed inside of a zucchini, which will be stuffed, will be combined with cheese, egg and herbs to become zucchini fritters, leftover pilaf will transform into a soup or rice pie. With its quality of producing zero waste, Turkish culinary culture has the capacity to provide an exemplary solution to the food insecurity faced by many communities around the world and to protect and save the resources of our planet today.
Turkish cuisine’s contributions to the strategic objective for a sustainable urban development has been recognized by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). Turkish city of Gaziantep has been selected to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in Gastronomy in 2015. The city of Hatay joined the network in 2017, and the city of Afyonkarahisar in 2019. These cities are one of the many gastro tourism destinations in Türkiye.
