What Do Turkish People Eat?

Walking the streets of New York foreigners would guess that Americans eat a lot of pizza, hamburgers, Chinese food and McDonalds and they would be right. I applied the same concept to the streets of Turkey. Here’s what I found.


Manti
Pinched pillows of pasta stuffed with meat and topped with a yogurt tomato sauce are called manti. Variations on this dish can range from the simple homemade to eye catching decadence. Similar to ravioli, these savory bites are appealing to even the most timid eaters.


Yogurt
Mixed with chopped green beans, cucumbers, garlic or spice, yogurt is a heavy hitter in the Turkish diet.


Burek
Flaky and filled with feta-like cheese, burek is like a fried croissant with its savory layers of pastry. Best hot and fresh, they can also be stuffed with meat.


Kebab
Lamb, chicken and turkey are all popular items on the spinning spit. Stuffed with french fries, tomatoes and lettuce, this on the go meal can be served on regular or flat bread and tastes best with a douse of spicy sauce.


Turkish Bread
Chewy like dense cotton candy Turkish bread is served at every meal with a side of butter. Sold for about 30 cents a loaf, the bread is always fresh and plentiful.


Steamed Corn
Hot dogs, take a step back. Steamed corn sprinkled with salt is the sidewalk cuisine of choice in Turkey.


Simit
Super chewy and covered in sesame seeds these bagel-like bread rings are the ultimate street food. Turks by the snacks from small streets carts or mobile vendors like this guy.


Kofte
Kofte is to Turkey what hamburgers are to the U.S. Like mini meat loaves these lamb meatballs are soft in texture and are seasoned with spices and parsley.


Pide
Called Turkish pizza, pide is more like an open-faced calzone. Toppings like ground meat, veggies, and eggs are popular. Be careful, the quality of pide can range from brick oven beautiful to Domino’s disaster.

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2 comments:

  1. cool but,my brother thinks gross!

    ReplyDelete
  2. this poped up when i typed what do they eat for supper??? this doesnt specify

    ReplyDelete

FOOD IS ONE OF THE MOST VISCERAL ASPECTS OF A CULTURE; IT CAN BE EXPERIENCED WITH NO LANGUAGE SKILLS, NO GUIDE, AND MOST TIMES WITH VERY LITTLE MONEY.